Balboa and Bluetooth with Cell Phone

Robotics and electronics discussion Share your projects
1

All,

Here is the project I’ve been working on for STEM outreach and the Balboa. We had the students build the robot and follow the instruction provided at: https://www.pololu.com/docs/0J70/4 and https://www.pololu.com/docs/0J70/5.2
and how to make the balboa balance parts 1-5. All very good. https://www.pololu.com/docs/0J70/all

So I thought I would add the ability to drive the balboa via a blue tooth interface and my Iphone. Works with other phones too. I used a Robotis BT-410, (note this is a 3.3 volt device).

Here is the result: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfpY4okhKGA

I use the Adafruit Bluetooth App: “BlueFruit.” In all it was a good experience for me and the students figuring out how to make all of this work. I’ll just provide the final program and any details that anyone wants:

//
// Start on BlueTooth New 11/29/2018
//

#include <Balboa32U4.h>
#include <Wire.h>
#include <LSM6.h>
#include "Balance.h"

LSM6 imu;
Balboa32U4Motors motors;
Balboa32U4Encoders encoders;
Balboa32U4Buzzer buzzer;
Balboa32U4ButtonA buttonA;
//
// Global Constants
//
char c; // Character read one at a time from serial port
char readString[10]; // I put all of the button push in here
int i = 0;
uint16_t leftSpeed, rightSpeed;

void setup()
{
  // initialize both serial ports:
  //Serial.begin(9600);
  Serial1.begin(57600);
  //
  // Turn all of the lights off
  //
  ledYellow(0);
  ledGreen(0);
  ledRed(0);
  balanceSetup();
}

void loop()  { 
  balanceUpdate();
  if (isBalancing())
  {
//
// This gets the data from the phone
//
    if (Serial1.available()) {
      c = Serial1.read();
      i = i + 1;
      readString[i] = c;
      if (i > 4) {
        i = 0;
      }
//
// Drive the Bot with button pushes
//
      if (readString[3] == '5' && readString[4] != '0') {
        leftSpeed = 7;
        rightSpeed = 7;
        ledRed(1);
      }
      else if (readString[3] == '8' && readString[4] != '0') {
        ledRed(0);
        leftSpeed = 3;
        rightSpeed = 0;
        ledYellow(1);
      }
      else if (readString[3] == '6' && readString[4] != '0') {
        ledRed(0);
        leftSpeed = -5;
        rightSpeed = -5;
        ledYellow(1);
        ledRed(1);
      }
      else if (readString[3] == '7' && readString[4] != '0') {
        ledRed(0);
        leftSpeed = 0;
        rightSpeed = 3;
        ledYellow(1);
      }
      else  {
        ledRed(0);
        ledYellow(0);
        leftSpeed = 0;
        rightSpeed = 0;
      }
    }
    balanceDrive(leftSpeed, rightSpeed);
  }
}