https://www.amazon.com.au/Technic-Ferrari-42212-Building-Vehicle/dp/B0DWDRX69Q/
Done
Author: directorcia
ACEBOTT ESP32 Smart Car with IR Control
I got my ACEBOTT ESP32 Smart Car Starter Kit with Mecanum Wheel all wired and so the next challenge was to get it to move. Luckily, the kit comes with an Infra Red Remote control. I therefore wrote this code:
https://github.com/directorcia/Azure/blob/master/Iot/Acebott/Smartcar/irbuttonmap.cpp
To show me what all the buttons on the controller mapped to on the ESP32.
With that complete, I now wrote this code:
https://github.com/directorcia/Azure/blob/master/Iot/Acebott/Smartcar/irmovecontrol.cpp
to get the Smart Car to move by using the IR control. I documented the code here:
https://github.com/directorcia/Azure/blob/master/Iot/Acebott/Smartcar/irmovecontrol.md
The next step will be to run a small web server on the ESP32 and connect to that via local WIFI to move the car.
LEGO Art Hokusai
ACEBOTT ESP32 Smart Car Starter Kit with Mecanum Wheel
In my on going quest to get a camera working on a robot car and failing with an Arducam, I cam across an existing kit that has an add on extra of a camera. It is the:
ACEBOTT ESP32 Smart Car Starter Kit with Mecanum Wheel
with
ACEBOTT ESP32 Camera Expansion pack for Smart Car
which is going to make achieving my goal much, much easier.
To get the Smart car working you’ll need to nuy some batteries:
1 x CR2025 for the Infra Red Controller
2 x 18650 to the motors and controller board
Assembling the car is pretty straight forward and the kit give you a few spare items for those that you invariably drop on the floor and lose, which is nice. The main challenge I had was with the wiriing. It is always a good idea of take a photo of the components , both sides, BEFORE you assemble them so you can read the pin settings. Case in point, here is the Ultrasonic senor after I had to disassemble it to get the pin settings.
Hopefully, that saves someone else having to do same.
Here are some more I took of the motor shield board because reading the numbers for the connectors was challenging.
With everything finally assembled and powered up I wanted to wire some code to test all the sensors were working correctly. I used this for my tests:
https://github.com/directorcia/Azure/blob/master/Iot/Acebott/Smartcar/diag.cpp
It will flash the LEDs, move the servo for the ultrasonic sensor, test the IR receiver, play tunes on the buzzer and test all the wheels, forwards and backwards for you.
All teh driver files and the instructions can be downloaded here. This will give you everything you need for all the Smartcar kits and add ons.
My next step will be to code the Smartcar so that it moves in response to commands sent to it via the Infra Red controller. Stay tunes.
Mecanum Motion 2 – Arduino Uno R4 Wifi
Video link = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYcEgvdhoOE
A while back I got the chassis with the mecanum wheels being controlled by an adafruit.io dashboard. I have revamped the controller to now be an Arduino Uno R4 WiFi controller with an Adafruit MotorShield V3, once again controller by an adafruit.io dashboard.
The code for this is here:
and the documentation for the code is now at:
https://github.com/directorcia/Azure/wiki/Arduino-Uno-R4-Wifi-Chassis-Control-Script
which saves me having to explain it here.
Arduino Uno R4 Wifi Wheel test
Video URL = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ed9reoDO2EA
Now that I have my Arduino Uno R4 Wifi connected to the Internet and Adafruit.io, the next challenge is to get the wheels turning so to speak.
To do this I need a motor driver and wanted one that would easily connect to the Arduino Uno R4 Wifi without too much soldering. I therefore chose:
Adafruit Motor/Stepper/Servo Shield for Arduino v2 Kit – v2.3
the instructions for this board are here:
and the software library is here:
Adafuit_Motor_Shield_V2_Library
however. it turns out that I should have also bought:
Shield stacking headers for Arduino (R3 Compatible)
but I’ll come back to that.
With the headers soldered into place, I could then insert the Adafuit Motor Shield directly onto the Arduino Uno R4 Wifi as shown above.
I then uploaded the following code to the Arduino Uno R4 Wifi:
to test all the motors. The results of this are shown in the video at the top.
Using the ‘vibe’ coding and with thanks to Github Copilot, getting the results I wanted was really easy. It even installed the Adafuit_Motorshield drivers for me as well.
Now I know the shield works along with the all the motors. The next was to be to get the DFRobot 1602 LCD display working on teh Arduino Uno R4 Wifi. It was then I realised that I should have used the:
Shield stacking headers for Arduino (R3 Compatible)
as I now didn’t have an easy way to connect the display. Damm! I’ll need to figure something else out to get the display working with the board. However, I am very pleased that the Adafruit Motor/Stepper/Servo Shield for Arduino v2 Kit – v2.3 works well and all the motors on my chassis are all operational again. I am now back to where I was with the S32 controller over a year ago.
If you haven’t worked out yet, I’m trying to get back to this point:
but with a more compact controller and motor driver.
Arduino Uno R4 Wifi Adafruit.io connection
Video URL = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSRVwGGtVZQ
With my Arduino Uno R4 Wifi now connected to the Internet, the next step is to get it connected and receiving commands from my Adafruit.io dashboard.
The code for this is here:
https://github.com/directorcia/Azure/blob/master/Iot/Arduino%20Uno%20R4%20Wifi/Adafruit-IO/main.cpp
and as you can see from the video is now working. Thus, when I push a number on the Adafruit.io dashboard it is communicated down to the Arduino Uno R4 and displayed on the matrix.
The interesting thing is that I ma now ‘vibe’ coding solutions with Github Copilot. This means I am not writing the code by hand any more. I tell Copilot what I want it to so and allow it to generate the code for me. This saves me SO MUCH time as I am not an experienced C developer and all I want is to get my project working as fast as possible.
However, this ‘vibe’ coding approach still presents challenges. When I started out with thsi project the code Copilot developed for me used a HTTP connect to Adafruit.io dashboard which ended up being far too slow. I didn’t notice that fact unit a little ways into this. At that pont I had Copilot redo the code and only use MQTT, whcih now works athe speed expected.
‘Vibe’ coding is such a time saver for me with these projects and help me sort out issues faster that I could without it. However, the lesson here is that you need to understand what you are trying to achieve and help the AI understand as well.
Arduino Uno R4 Wifi Internet connection
After getting the matrix working on the Arduino Uno R4 Wifi, naturally the next step was to get it working and connected to the Internet.
You’ll find the code here:
The secret is to include the WiFiS3.h, which the wifi library for the R4. Aside from that, the other thing that I did was move the settings (i.e. network, password, etc) into a io_config.h file to keep them out of the main code.
The end result is that the R4 now successfully connects to my Wifi and then to the internet. Upon success it wil display a check mark on the LED matrix on the device.
Arducam Mega 3MP failed attempt
I returned to my quest of getting the Arducam Mega 3MP working anf have had no luck at all. I have created the following diagnosis program that might help someone else here:
https://github.com/directorcia/Azure/blob/master/Iot/Arducam/3MP/diag.cpp
My latest attempt was with an Arduino R4 WiFi and all I keep getting is connection failures and incorrect reads. I have tried various wiring changes and testing but still no luck at all.
I used the above wiring but to no avail. The code uses pin 10 for CS, which also doesn’t seem to work.
The result indicate it is detected by any reads and writes come back wrong. I have tried all sorts of timing changes to no avail. Thus, I’m going to shelve this for a while and move on with other things.
It really shouldn’t be this hard and I can only think that perhaps the camera has somehow been damaged in all my testing. Perhaps a new one and fresh start is in order?
CIAOPS Labs 