Running the robot using Infa Red?

Technical Robotics Education and Curriculum
1

An idea came to mind while I was sitting here just looking at my PPC, controlling the robovation bot using IR, but is this even possible? Maybe not for the actual competition It can’t…I’m pretty sure but for an…extra outside kind of thing? Could it be done?

I would need the reciever on the bot, and the PPC can reach 30feet, if I need more I can build a larger sensor thingy I’m not in the state for technical words, 8 hours of sleep in 2 days But the software for the PPC would have to be programmed, and would it even connect to the robovation computer?

Just a…thought that might be cool to explore. Thanks for any help

2

I know there are infrared modems with serial connections. Plug one in to the Robovation controller, and figure out how to communicate with it and you should be able to read data sent from any compatible IR device.

3

Yes, this can be done. Have a look at the 2004 IR receiver code to see how the receiver side can be implemented, and the beacon code for the transmitter side. It wasn’t just by chance that I named the two different beacon waveforms “0” and “1” <grin>. The code and documentation is kept here: http://kevin.org/frc/2004. Let me know if you need help.

-Kevin

4

Ah, that’s even easier. No need to buy new parts. Mr. Watson, do you know if these two beacon waveforms are used in IR modems in laptops and PDAs to transmit data?

5

No, it’s not likely, but the software can be tweaked to work with just about any protocol if the data rate isn’t too high. What protocol do you want it to work with?

-Kevin

6

Wow, didn’t think I’d get that kind of reply…thanks :slight_smile: I have a lot to look into, but before I do, I want to double check on something…I can’t use IR for the competition to control my robot…correct?

Even if I can’t, I could just build the desired circuit from you’re links on you’re site, but I didn’t get any of those parts in the Kit…so what happens now?

It all looks interesting, I have some reading to do :slight_smile:

7

The parts are pretty inexpensive. Sources are listed in the FAQ.

-Kevin

8

Yeah, the parts are cheap, go for it! We found out the hard way because the ones that came in the kit were FUBARed.