Security Robot control through wifi! is it possible?

Thread Starter

Fah89

Joined Jun 9, 2013
4
Hi All
first i would like to thank you all for your help and suggestions.

i am undergoing a project which consists building and controlling a robot through wifi network. the robot is prity basic, only two moters and a camera. the motors are used to direct the camera right and left, up and down (360 degrees rotation). the robot have to be controlled from long distances.
the only problem for me is communication and controlling as it will be a security robot. so the only way i could think of doing it, ''Cheaply'' is by using a wifi router. connecting the joystick controller to it (through wifi) and conecting the robot to the wifi router (MCU to wifi router through Ethernet).
is this possible?
will i be able to recieve data back and forth through the wifi router?
what microcontroller should i use for this Robot?
any other ideas and suggestions can you guys give me?

please help as i am only a newbee and need some support.

thanks alot for your help.

regards
 

Thread Starter

Fah89

Joined Jun 9, 2013
4
tshuck,
first thanks for the pleasent reply!
and second, the other question i have posted on this topic targets networking and comunication, while here in Embedded systems, my question is more about the microcontroller and possibly more ideas with regarding the way this robots should be built.

anyways, no problem, i shall keep my topic under one thread....
 

rkrutz

Joined Dec 2, 2009
29
I don't know what your programming experience is but if you you are a beginner I would recommend looking into Arduino there are a lot of tutorials and support online. If you choose to go down this path then I would suggest looking into using an Arduino with an Xbee. The Xbee will act as you wireless network, the one issue is it is not at the same frequency as a wifi router. If this project needs to be on a wifi network then this won't work but if the controls just need to be on a wireless network and can be isolated then this may be a path you would want to look in. Here is a video of someone doing something like your project using this setup. Also if you want your video to be on a wireless network you can always get a camera that supports wireless and have it on its own network.

I know this is not exactly what you were looking for but it may be an option that you can use since it is pretty reasonable parts wise and shouldn't take that much to build.
 
One way to go is with OpenWRT and say a Lynksys WRT54GL. Better yet get a router that is compatible with OpenWRT and has a built in USB port. I went the WRT54GL route because I found one cheap at the thrift shop, but adding the USB was kind of a pain. I have to think wifi is the way to go with a camera being involved.

Did not get so far as doing a robot, or video. But, was able to get a terminal session up and running, and send commands to a PIC. Just about any micro which can listen to a USART serial stream is going to do the job, be it a PIC, AVR, or the Arduino. I used an FTDI USB driver in OpenWRT, because I had problems getting the second USART up and running.
 
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