Wireless Control

VEX V5 General Discussion Technical Discussion
1

I have been thinking about using a WLAN or bluetooth module to control my robot wirelessly. I realize this has been brought up before and I searched everywhere but couldn’t find what I need. I was looking at the bluetooth module from sparkfun and a WLAN module from Data Hunter. I saw a post from ltk about using this bluetooth module but I need to know how to interface it with the TX/RX ports on the micro-controller, so if ltk or somebody else could tell me how to do that, it would be great! I think I could hook up the WLAN thing to the MC because you can order with TTL level so I would just have to connect it but I was wondering how exactly the module would work. I was sort of leaning towards the bluetooth because somebody has already done it so I know it is possible and can maybe get some help, but I would prefer the WLAN because my laptop doesn’t have built-in bluetooth but it does have built-in wireless so that would be easier for me.
Also, I bought a couple of those Sharp sensors which I realized earlier today ltk used something similar as well and I too, was planning to use for mapping, seeing as the ultrasonic sensor is not very good for. I really have no idea how to make a mapping program and was hoping to get some help with that. My older brother said he could help me but he’s never programmed a microcontroller before. He really good at coding and stuff so I think he can help me if I don’t get any help here. Wow, that was much longer than I intentioned, but anyway, if I could get any help it would be appreciated.:slight_smile:

Jeff.

2

I finally found my programming cord and tried out the infrared sensors. I can’t get them to work. I am just working with one of the two (I don’t know which one because the wires are all zipped tied up and I can’t tell which is the long range and which is the short range.) I set it to analog input 1 and connected the wires to the correct spots ( yellow-white, red-red, black-black) , I think. I put a piece of paper and move it farther and closer but the number just stays around 1018 or if I plug in the other one its 110. If anyone would know why this is help me please.:slight_smile:

Jeff.

3

The sparkfun BlueSmirf connects directly to the Vex TX,RX,+5, and Ground. No interface is necessary. You’ll have to make up a cable or cannibalize a couple of extension cables. Search the forum for Jameco to find the parts to make your own cable. Check the BlueSmirf documentation to find which pins are which on the BlueSmiRF.

The WLAN module you found looks interesting. Basically the same cost as the bluetooth by the time you buy the PC bluetooth adapter and the antenna for the BlueSMiRF. You might get a little better range with the WLAN. I never got more than about 35 ft with the bluetooth rig. And the WLAN rig I tried seemed more stable and just worked better overall. You’ll probably need a RS-232 to TTL converter to work with the WLAN Serial Server.

4

I think on the site it said that you could get it with TTL levels built in. But I don’t really know how that works.

Jeff.