Building Robots
using Android and
Arduino
Sudar Muthu
Research Engineer, Yahoo! Labs
http://sudarmuthu.com
http://github.com/sudar
http://twitter.com/sudarmuthu

Agenda
• Let’s start with a demo
• Anatomy of a robot
• Android
• Arduino
• Making them talk
– Over Bluetooth
– Over WIFI
– Over USB wire
– Over Audio Jacket
– Over GSM
• Summary
• Questions

Let’s start with the demo
Demo
http://sudarmuthu.com/arduino/asimi

Anatomy of a Robot
Sensors Motors
Processor

Android can act as a ..
Sensor
– Accelerometer
– Camera
– Magnetic Compass
– GPS
– etc.
Processor
– Native Java App
– Android Scripting Environment (ASE)

Missing part is..

Missing part is..
Motor
(and that’s where Arduino can help)

Arduino
• Visual Basic for hardware
• Includes both Hardware and software
Photo credit Arduino team

We have Android (Sensors &
processor) and Arduino (Motor)

We have Android (Sensors &
processor) and Arduino (Motor)
Let’s make them talk

Making them talk
• Over Bluetooth
– Serial Socket
• Over WIFI
• Over USB
– ADK
– Normal Way
• Over Audio Jacket
• Over GSM
• Over C2DM
• Over NFC
• Others (Intermediate computer etc)

Over Bluetooth
You need
• Bluetooth Shield (or just a Bluetooth Dongle)
• Library – Amarino - http://amarino-toolkit.net
• Or create a Bluetooth Socket
Advantages
• Wired connection is not needed
• Can work from Android 1.5
• Two way communication
Disadvantages
• Power consumption is high
• Slightly slower when compared with others
• Range is limited

Over WIFI
You need
• Wifi Shield
• Wifi Connection
Advantages
• Wired connection is not needed
• Two way communication
• Can work from Android 1.5
Disadvantages
• Both should be present in the same network
• Power consumption is slightly high

Over USB Cable - ADK
You need
• ADK Board or USB Host Shield
• ADK SDK
Advantages
• Native support from Android
• Two way communication
Disadvantages
• Will work only in 2.3.4 +
• Wired Connection is needed

Over USB Cable – Socket & Logcat
You need
• USB Host Shield
• Library – Microbridge - http://code.google.com/p/microbridge/
Advantages
• Works in older versions as well
• Two way communication (Socket & Logcat)
Disadvantages
• Wired connection is needed
• The bandwidth is slower

Over Audio Jacket
You need
• Male Audio Pin
• Pre-encoded Wave/MP3 files
• http://sudarmuthu.com/blog/transferring-data-from-android-
using-audio
Advantages
• Very compact
• Less power consumption
Disadvantages
• Slightly difficult to get it to work
• Baud rate is slow

Over GSM
You need
• GSM Arduino Shiled
• Two sim cards
Advantages
• Range is unlimited
• Very simple to setup
• Two way communication is possible
Disadvantages
• Operating cost (SMS)
• Potential to abuse

Over C2DM
You need
• Ethernet or Wifi Arduino Shield
• C2DM account
Advantages
• Good for notifications
• Very easy to setup in Android side
Disadvantages
• Only one way communication is possible
• Works only from v2.2+
• Need Wifi connectivity

Over NFC
You need
• NFC Shield
• Phone which has NFC
Advantages
• Very easy to setup
• No connection needs to be setup
Disadvantages
• Works only from v2.2+
• Very short range

Other Options
Some notable alternate options
• Using Computer as a intermediate transmitter
• USB Host support (in case of tablet or rooted phones)
• Serial VGA (You can project from an Android phone)

Don’t throw away
your old phones ;)

Links
• Arduino – http://arduino.cc
• Microbridge – http://code.google.com/p/microbridge/
• Amarino – http://amarino-toolkit.net
• USB Host Shield – http://circuitsathome.com/products-page/arduino-
shields/usb-host-shield-2-0-for-arduino/
• Using Arduino as ADK – http://sudarmuthu.com/blog/using-standard-arduino-
board-as-googles-adk-kit
• My articles about Arudino – http://sudarmuthu.com/blog/category/ardino
• Demo source code – http://github.com/sudar/Asimi
• Demo Project page – http://sudarmuthu.com/arduino/asimi
• Cellbots – http://cellbots.com

Questions
Thank You
Sudar Muthu
http://sudarmuthu.com
http://gitbub.com/sudar
http://twitter.com/sudarmuthu