Talk about building robots using Android and Arduino which I gave at DroidCon India. More details and video of the talk at http://sudarmuthu.com/blog/building-robots-using-arduino-and-android-at-droidcon

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

2. 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

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

4. Anatomy of a Robot
Sensors Motors
Processor

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

6. Missing part is..

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

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

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

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

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

12. Over Bluetooth
You need
• Bluetooth Shield
• Library – Amarino - http://amarino-toolkit.net
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

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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

16. Over Audio Jacket
You need
• Male Audio Pin
• Pre-encoded Wave/MP3 files
Advantages
• Very compact
• Less power consumption
Disadvantages
• Only one way communication is possible
• Slightly difficult to get it to work

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

18. Over C2DM
You need
• Ethernet or WifiArduino 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

19. Other Options
Somenotablealternateoptions
• NFC (Near Field Communication)
• Using Computer as a intermediate transmitter
• USB Host support (in case of tablet or rooted phones)

20. Don’t throw away
your old phones ;)

21. 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

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