Table of Contents
Preface xi
1 Building Robots with Lo-tech Materials 1
Building the SimpleBot 2
Bill of Materials 2
Build Steps 3
Installing Nocle.js Packages 6
Testing the Build with a Basic Program 6
Troubleshooting 6
A Simple Driving Program 8
Troubleshooting 9
Cutting the Cord 10
Building a Wireless SimpleBot 10
Wiring Up 10
Controlling the SimpicBot 12
Troubleshooting 15
What's Next? 15
2 TypeBot 17
Bill of Materials 18
Understanding Your Servomotors 18
Anatomy of a Robot Arm 19
Arm Layout 19
Arm Constraints 20
Building the Hardware 20
The Base and Shoulder 20
The Elbow 21
The Wrist 22
The Finger 23
The Brains 24
Writing the Software 24
Creating the Project Files 24
Controlling the Servos 24
Initialization 28
Sequencing a Key Press 29
Running for the First Time 32
Fine-Tuning the Arm 32
What's Next? 33
3 Getting Started with NodeBoats 35
Bill of Materials 36
Tools 37
The Submarine Motor Pod 37
Why Use a Motor Driver? 37
Motor Pod Components 37
Modifying the Motor 38
Testing the Motor 39
Finishing the Motor 39
Inserting the Motor 40
Drilling into the Motor Pod 41
Closing the Motor Pod 42
Waterproofing Your Wires 42
Setting Up Your Spark 43
Testing the Spark 43
Your First Spark Program 44
Soldering the Motor Driver 45
Wiring Up Your Boat 46
Powering the Motor Driver 47
Connecting the Spark and the Motor Oliver 47
Connecting the Motor 48
Controlling Your Motor: The Code 49
Adding Keypress Events 50
Storing Keypress Stale 50
Floating the Boat 52
Steering with Servos 53
Programming Servo Control 54
Assembling the Rudder 56
Setting Sail 57
What's Next? 57
4 piDuino5 Mobile Robot Platform 59
Bill of Materials 60
Tools 61
Setting Up me Boards and Installing Software 61
Installing Models on the Raspberry Pi 61
Downloading the piDuino5 Code and Dependencies 61
Plug in the Arduino 62
Test Johnny-Five over WebSockets 62
Walk Through app.js 62
Initializing Johnny-Five 63
Controlling the Hardware 63
Low-Latency Control with WebSockets 63
Connect from Anywhere 64
Assemble the Hardware 64
Controlling with a Smart phone 65
Downloading the piDuino5 Web App 65
Post localtunnel to the Web App 66
Try the Web App on a Phone 67
Walk Through app.js and index.html 68
Storing the localtunnel Address and Frontend 68
Serving the Ul 68
Touchscreen Joystick 68
Establishing a Connection 68
Sending Commands 68
What's Next? 69
5 Controlling a Hexapod with Johnny-Five 71
Bill of Materials 71
Controlling the Robot from the Command Line 72
An Introduction to phoenix.js 72
Assembling the Robot 74
Prepare the Chassis 74
Mount the Electronics 74
Prepare the Servos 75
Installing the coxae 76
Installing the Femurs 77
Installing the Tibias 77
The Coordinate System 78
Trim the Servos 78
Trim the coxae 78
Trim the Femurs 79
Trim the Tibias 79
Add Ranges to the Servos 80
Walking Is Hard! 81
Meet the Animation Class 81
An Array of Servos as the Target 82
A Servo.Array as the Target 82
An Array of Servo.Arrays as the Target 82
The First Animation Segment 83
Walking 85
The Row Gait 86
The Walk Gait 86
The Run Gait 87
Turning 87
Command Reference 88
What's Next? 88
6 Building Voice-Controlled NodeBots 89
Bill of Materials 89
BeagleBone Black 91
Budding Our Project 92
Building a Relay Circuit 92
Controlling the Relay Circuit from Johnny-Five 93
Building a Microphone Preamplifier Circuit 93
Connecting the Microphone to the Relay from Johnny-Five 94
Building the Commands Server 95
Simple Voice Control Using the Web Speech API 97
Integrate the Commands Server with the Relay Circuit 99
Advanced Voice Control Using an Android Wearable 100
Android Mobile Application 101
Androsd Wear Application 105
What's Next? 108
7 An Indoor Sundial 111
Bill of Materials 112
Foam Core Structural Pieces 114
Building Our Sundial 115
Cutting and Assembling the Core Structure 115
Assemble the Mounting Board 115
Wiring and Configuring the Servos 116
Wiring the Servos 116
Configuring the Servos 117
Building the Lower Base 118
Making the Disks 119
Build the Base Walls and Base Disk Support 120
Build the Base Walls 120
Position the Disks 120
Build the Disk Support 121
Finish Parts and Construction 123
Build the Azimuth Arm 124
Construct the Elevation Arc 125
Cut a Gnomon 125
Wire Up the Sun 125
Code to Make It Go 126
Understanding sundial.js 126
Set Up Some Configuration in sundial.js 127
Sundial.js Details 128
Putting it All Together! 130
Making It Go! 131
What's Next? 131
8 Spooky Lights 133
Bill of Materials 133
Choosing a Controller Board 135
Background 135
What's an LED Matrix? 135
Assembling the Lights 136
Tools Required 136
Preparing the Matrices 136
Constructing a Cable Assembly 138
Decorating the Lights 142
Troubleshooting 142
Controlling an LED matrix 142
Preparing the Arduino 142
Running a Test Program 143
Matrix Constructor Options 143
Drawing to the Matrix 143
Developing a Web Application 144
Development Tools 144
Using the Express Generator 144
Developing an API 145
Adding a User Interface 146
Extending the Application 147
What's Next? 147
9 Cheerful J5 149
Bill of Materials 149
Wiring the Circuit 151
The CheerfulJ5 code 151
Connecting to the Arduino 151
Controlling an RGB 152
Using the Node.js Read-Eval-Print Loop 153
Denning the CheerLights Color Map 153
Accessing the CheerLights ThingSpeak API 154
Using the Twitter Streaming API 157
Going Wireless with the Spark WiFi Development Kit 159
Adding the Spark to Your Circuit 159
Using the Spark-io IO Plugin 160
Switching to Battery Power 161
Packaging It Up 161
What's Next? 162
10 Interactive RGB LED Display with BeagleBone Black 163
Bill of Materials 164
BeagleBone Black 164
WiFi USB Adapter (optional) 164
External 5V Power Supply (Semi-Optional) 164
RGB LEDs 165
Sensors 165
Miscellaneous 165
Getting Ready: Software 165
LEDScape 165
Wiring Your LEDs 166
Wiring Up Your RGB LEDs 166
Code Time! Let's Bring in the JavaScript 168
Running a Test Script 169
Adding in Johnny-Five/Beaglebone-io 171
Adding a Photoresistor 173
Changing Colors with an Accelerometer 173
What's Next? 174
11 Physical Security, JavaScript, and You 179
Simple Ultrasonic Sensor Project: Experimental Control Test (SUSPECT) 180
Implementation 180
SMS Augmented Ultrasonic Sensor Application: General Experimentation (SAUSAGE) 183
Implementation 184
Point-of-Entry Monitoring System (PoEMS) 185
Implementation 185
Lasers Impress Both Enemies and Relatives, Thank You (LIBERTY) 186
Implementation 186
Status indicator Necessary, Buttons and Diodes (SINBaD) 188
Implementation 189
What's Next? 192
12 Artificial Intelligence: BatBot 193
Artificial Intelligence: The Basics 193
Remote-Controlled Robots 194
Semi-Autonomous Robots 194
Autonomous Robots 194
BatBot 194
Bill of Materials 195
Some Notes About the Materials 196
Assembly 196
Step 1 Remote Control 198
Moving the Robot 198
Controlling the Robot 200
Pointing and Reading from the Sonar 201
Step 2 Autonomy 202
Implementing the Algorithm 203
Troubleshooting 206
What's Next? 206
13 Delta Robots and Kinematics 209
Bill of Materials 210
Delta Anatomy 211
Building Junky Delta 212
Making It Move 216
Predictable Positioning Through Kinematics 218
More Sophisticated Delta Options 222
TapsterBot 222
Robot Army 222
What's Next? 223
14 Meow Shoes 225
Bill of Materials 225
Parts Explained 227
Making the Sensor Inserts 228
Solder the Sensors to the Wiring 228
Install Sensors into the Shoes 229
Tunnel the Wiring out of the Shoe 229
Connecting the Shoes 230
Prepare the Coiled Connector Cord 230
Connect the Shoes to an Arduino 232
Prepare Wiring 232
Arduino Soidering 233
Attach the Arduino to the Right Shoe 233
Running the Code with Johnny-Five 233
Connecting to Johnny-Five 233
Setting up Sensors 234
Logging Output of Sensors 234
Example Behavior 235
What's Next? 236
Appendix A Appendix 237
Index 243
