ESP8266 Robotics Projects E-Book

Pradeeka Seneviratne

• Herausgeber: Packt Publishing
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 130

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017

Beschreibung

The ESP8266 Wi-Fi module is a self-contained SOC with an integrated TCP/IP protocol stack and can give any microcontroller access to your Wi-Fi network. It has a powerful processing and storage capability and also supports application hosting and Wi-Fi networking.

This book is all about robotics projects based on the original ESP8266 microcontroller board and some variants of ESP8266 boards. It starts by showing all the necessary things that you need to build your development environment with basic hardware and software components. The book uses the original ESP8266 board and some variants such as the Adafruit HUZZAH ESP8266 and the Adafruit Feather HUZZAH ESP8266 . You will learn how to use different type of chassis kits, motors, motor drivers, power supplies, distribution boards, sensors, and actuators to build robotics projects that can be controlled via Wi-Fi. In addition, you will learn how to use line sensors, the ArduiCam, Wii Remote, wheel encoders, and the Gripper kit to build more specialized robots.

By the end of this book, you will have built a Wi-Fi control robot using ESP8266.

Leseprobe

ESP8266 Robotics Projects

DIY Wi-Fi controlled robots

Pradeeka Seneviratne

BIRMINGHAM - MUMBAI

ESP8266 Robotics Projects

Copyright © 2017 Packt Publishing

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.

Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy of the information presented. However, the information contained in this book is sold without warranty, either express or implied. Neither the author, nor Packt Publishing, and its dealers and distributors will be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by this book.

Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all of the companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals. However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.

First published: November 2017

Production reference: 1281117

Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.

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Birmingham

B3 2PB, UK.

ISBN 978-1-78847-461-0

www.packtpub.com

Credits

Author

Pradeeka Seneviratne

Copy Editors

Safis Editing

Ulka Manjrekar

Reviewer

Shweta Gupte

Project Coordinator

Kinjal Bari

Commissioning Editor

Gebin George

Proofreader

Safis Editing

Acquisition Editor

Prachi Bisht

Indexer

Pratik Shirodkar

ContentDevelopmentEditor

Trusha Shriyan

Graphics

Kirk D'Penha

Technical Editor

Sayali Thanekar

Production Coordinator

Nilesh Mohite

About the Author

Pradeeka Seneviratne is a software engineer with over 10 years of experience in computer programming and systems design. He is an expert in the development of Arduino and Raspberry Pi-based embedded systems. Pradeeka is currently a full-time embedded software engineer who works with embedded systems and highly scalable technologies. Previously, he worked as a software engineer for several IT infrastructure and technology servicing companies. He collaborated with the Outernet project as a volunteer hardware and software tester for Lighthouse and Raspberry Pi-based DIY Outernet receivers based on Ku band satellite frequencies. He is also the author of five books:

Internet of Things with Arduino Blueprints

[Packt Publishing]

IoT: Building Arduino-Based Projects

[Packt Publishing]

Building Arduino PLCs

[Apress]

Raspberry Pi 3 Projects for Java Programmers

[Packt Publishing]

Beginning BBC micro:bit

[Apress]

About the Reviewer

Shweta Gupte is an embedded systems engineer with 4 years, experience in the robotics field. Shweta has worked with robots both at the software level and with a low-level hardware interface. She has experience of working with embedded system design, RTOS, microcontroller programming, and the low-level interfacing of robots, motion planning, and computer vision.

Shweta has experience in programming in C, Embedded C, JAVA, MATLAB, and microcontroller assembly language. She has worked with low-level controllers, including Renesas RX62, Renesas QSK, Arduino, PIC, and Rasberry Pi.

Currently, she is working at Mathworks to develop MATLAB and Simulink products for robotics and embedded targets, including developing automated test beds and hardware testing. She has a masters degree in electrical engineering and a bachelors degree in electronics and telecommunications.

Her interests include playing with low-cost microcontroller-based robots and quadrotors. She likes to spend her spare time rock climbing and fostering rescued dogs.

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Table of Contents

Preface

What this book covers

What you need for this book

Who this book is for

Conventions

Reader feedback

Customer support

Downloading the example code

Downloading the color images of this book

Errata

Piracy

Questions

Getting Ready

ESP8266EX

ESP-01

Board features and connections

Connections

Connecting with a breadboard

Power supply

Connecting through USB for flashing

Using a serial terminal program

AT commands

Using AT commands

Using the Arduino IDE

Installing the Arduino core for an ESP8266 Wi-Fi chip

Hello world

Listing 1-1 – Blink a LED

Using chassis kits and accessories to build robots

Mini 3-Layer Round Robot Chassis Kit

Zumo chassis kit

Romi chassis kit

Mini robot rover chassis kit

Rover 5 robot platform

Wheel encoder kit

Parallel Gripper Kit A - Channel mount

Summary

Building a Mini Round Robot with Original ESP8266

Things you will need

Assembling the Mini 3-Layer Round Robot chassis kit

Assembling the wheels

Assembling the chassis

Attaching 9V battery box to the chassis layer

Connecting the middle chassis

Attaching 4 x AA battery box to the chassis layer

Mounting the Arduino board

Wiring them together

Connecting the Arduino with motor driver

Connecting the motors with the motor driver

Connecting the ESP01 with Arduino

Writing sketches

Using Blynk

Installing the Blynk library for Arduino

Writing the Arduino sketch

Working with the Blynk Sketch Code Builder

Listing 2-1 – Example code generated with the Blynk Sketch Code Builder

Listing 2-2 – complete sketch for mini round robot

Uploading the sketch

Applying power

Playing the robot

Summary

Using Encoders

Things you will need

The Wheel Encoder Kit

Connecting the encoders with motors

Wiring the encoders with Arduino

Reading encoders

Creating a Blynk app

Writing an Arduino sketch

Listing 3-1 – Displaying average of the pulses generated by the two wheel encoders (the hall-effect sensors)

Calculating the distance traveled

Calculating the average speed

Listing 3-3 – Calculating and displaying the average speed

Playing the 3-Layer Mini Round Robot

Summary

Building a Mini Round Robot with the Feather HUZZAH ESP8266

Things you will need

What is Feather HUZZAH ESP8266?

The DC Motor + Stepper FeatherWing

Downloading the Adafruit Motor Shield V2 library

Assembling the robot

Creating a Blynk app

Writing the Arduino UNO sketch

Listing 4-1 – Arduino sketch for controlling the Mini Round Robot

Testing the robot

Summary

Line-Following Zumo Robot

Things you will need

Assembling the Zumo chassis Kit

Attaching the Feather Doubler

Building a line-following course

Writing Arduino sketch

Listing 5-1 – Arduino sketch for line-following

Uploading the sketch

Playing with your robot

Summary

Building an ESP8266 Robot Controller

Things you will need

Building the Romi Robot

Ball casters

Battery contacts

Motors

Wheels

The battery compartment and power distribution

Attaching the FeatherWing Doubler

Building the Robot Controller

Software

Arduino sketch for the Robot Controller

Coding the Romi Robot

Listing 6-2 – Arduino sketch for the Robot

Play it

Summary

Building a Gripper Robot

Things you will need

Mini Robot Rover chassis kit

Assembling the chassis

Assembling the Gripper Kit

Connecting the gripper to the chassis

Assembling electronics

Controlling the gripper with Blynk

Creating the Blynk app

Software

Testing the gripper

Summary

Photo Rover Robot

Things you will need

Rover 5 chassis

Connecting the electronics

Wiring the ArduCAM with the Feather HUZZAH ESP8266

Software

Arduino libraries

Summary

Preface

This book is all about robotics projects based on the original ESP8266 microcontroller board and some variants of ESP8266 boards. The ESP8266 Wi-Fi module is a self-contained SOC with an integrated TCP/IP protocol stack that can give any microcontroller access to your Wi-Fi network. It has powerful processing and storage capabilities. It also supports application hosting and Wi-Fi networking.

The first chapter explains everything that you need to build your development environment with basic hardware and software components. This book uses an original ESP8266 board and an AdafruitFeather HUZZAH ESP8266 board for all the robotic projects. You will also learn how to use different types of chassis kits, motors, motor drivers, power supplies and distribution boards, sensors, and actuators to build robotic projects that can be controlled via Wi-Fi. You will also use line sensors, ArduCam, wheel encoders, and a Gripper Kit to build more specialized robots.

What this book covers

Chapter 1, Getting Ready, introduces the original ESP8266, that is, ESP-01, sets up a development environment with the hardware and software needed to write code for ESP8266, and explains how to use the Arduino Core to write code for ESP8266 boards with the Arduino IDE. This chapter will also present how to use the AT command with PuTTY to execute on an ESP8266.

Chapter 2, Building a Mini Round Robot with Original ESP8266, explains how to build a Mini Round Robot using the Mini 3-Layer Round Robot Chassis Kit with the ESP-01 board, Arduino, and some electronics. This chapter will also explain how to develop a Blynk app to control the robot through a Wi-Fi network.

Chapter 3, Using Encoders, shows how to modify the Mini 3-Layer Round Robot you built in the previous chapter by integrating a wheel encoder kit to calculate average speed and distance traveled based on the pulses generated by the hall-effect sensors. This chapter will also explain how to modify the Blynk app you built in the previous chapter to show the calculated average speed and distance traveled.

Chapter 4, Building a Mini Round Robot with the Feather HUZZAH ESP8266, shows how to replace the original ESP8266 board with a physically smaller and more lightweight Feather HUZZAH ESP8266 board. The chapter will also explain how to develop a Blynk app to control the robot through a Wi-Fi network.

Chapter 5, Line-Following Zumo Robot, teaches how to build a robot that follows a line, either a black line on a white surface or a white line on a black surface, by integrating a Line Follower Array. The chapter will also explain how to build a line following course.

Chapter 6, Building an ESP8266 Robot Controller, shows how to build an ESP8266-based simple Robot Controller that can be used to control a Romi Robot through a Wi-Fi network using Blynk Bridge.

Chapter 7, Building a Gripper Robot, explains how to build a robot based on the Mini Robot Rover chassis, a parallel Gripper Kit, and a servo motor. The chapter will also explain how to build a Blynk app to control the gripper through a Wi-Fi network.

Chapter 8, Photo Rover Robot, shows how to build a rover robot that can be used to take pictures with an ArduCAM from remote locations and view them using a web browser. The robot uses a web socket server that allows you to control the camera using a simple web-based interface. The same interface can be used to view the captured image as well.

What you need for this book

To get the most from this book, you need a basic knowledge of programming with the Arduino IDE and electronics.

Who this book is for

This book is for those who are familiar with robotics and want to build robotics projects using the ESP8266 microcontroller.

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Customer support

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Downloading the example code

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