Hi. I would like some help on what parts I would need and maybe a bit of help coding.
I’ve done some coding already on my Arduino flora and Gemma but that’s just for RGB.
What I want to do is make a robot (with 2 or 4 wheels prob 4 with the weight) that I can control with a Bluetooth joystick forward, back, left and right with 4 buttons to control 1, change light on my already programmed flora 2, nice voice 3, angry voice (optional) 4, polite voice.
And if possible a 5th button to mother/pulley to pull on a string to more the arms
I will be using power banks which I believe is 5v power which I’ve been using already
In total I think the max weight of the robot will be 8-10kg
I’ve got nothing. I was looking at the RC kits that you can buy for about £40 but that only works with a phone app and have extra parts I don’t need. Think it will be more practical to buy from scratch. And I can 3d print/wood build the parts I need since they need to be a precise size.
I would like to joystick and buttons to be fitted to a handle that I can hold and control with my thumb.
I know I’m asking a lot, but being looking at parts and coding etc for a year and got no where with it
This would be good if I can use own Bluetooth pad. But since it’s a UNO will I be able to attach a sound card and be able to attach my flora and use my Bluetooth pad to control the audio and RGB
I “think” the shield pinouts are the same, the Flora just has more pins?
When stacking shields you need to know what shield uses what pins / functions.
If two things are trying to use the same pin(s) you’ll have issues.
That’s gone over my head a bit.
Ok so if I get a UNO can I attach the flora to it since it already has all my coding on it. ? Then attach a audio shield and a Moto shield?
Or from what your saying if the flora and Moto shield use the same pin I’ll have issues
Sorry I’m dylexic so my grammar isn’t grate and understanding is slow. Sorry
Big Ops, I thought a Flora was like an Uno, just bigger with more pins but its not. Very, very sorry about that. =(
Arduino shields are not going to work with your Flora, not easily anyway. You would have to remove the UNO and then use jumper wires to connect your Flora. I’m not sure the Flora has enough inputs outputs to do it all to be honest?
The Adafruit Forum may be the place to ask these questions? You’ll have better odds of somebody that has one responding. I am a member there, same username I use here.
It’s ok don’t worry about it you don’t need to apologize your helping that mean more to.me then anything.
I don’t under stand how a UNO works.
From what I thought the Uno will be the mother board that controls everything you attach to it like a motor shield, sound shield, RGB shield and Bluetooth.
So when you press a button on a Bluetooth pad it will tell the Uno to go to the motor shield and move motor 1 etc.
If the flora dosnt work with UNO that’s fine just as long has I can install a RGB unit and use the same code I’ll be fine.
The UNO is an Arduino (micro controller) built to the official spec. Its like your Flora, just a different form factor. The Arduino shields are designed to be used with the official Arduino’s like an entry level Uno to the top of the Line Mega.
Your Flora is an Arduino compatible Micro Controller. It’s compatible in that you can run Arduino code on it, and use other Arduino compatible hardware with it. It’s not plug and play with Arduino shields though. It’s the same Micro Controller used on some Arduino’s, but the board layout is totally different.
The Arduino like your Flora is a Micro controller, it runs the show. The shield is an add on that interfaces with the Arduino. It’s like plugging a Hat onto a PI. It’s just shield onto an Arduino. The Pi is a computer that runs a full OS, the Arduino is a Micro Controller that runs machine code, no OS. Advantages and disadvantages to both depending on what you want to do with them.
Connecting your Flora to the UNO will result in two Microcontrollers talking back and forth. IMHO, that will be a lot of work with no real benefit in the end.
That’s fine I’ll forget the flora.
I was looking at the pi since I know you can install win 10 on it but don’t know if pi will be better for me companies to Uno.
I’ve seen on videos that you can just plug in on top of the Uno with a shield and they ment to work would adding about with cables. with I believe V3 only.
Only Windows 10 iot will run on a Raspberry Pi, and it needs to be a 3B or earlier. Windows 10 iot bears no resemblance to the desktop version of Windows, just so you know. Its very limited in what you can do from its GUI.
The Pi uses an ARM processor which uses the Arm instruction set. Windows uses the Intel x86 or AMD x64 instruction set, neither of which is compatible with an ARM based CPU.
Yes shields like this, https://store.arduino.cc/usa/arduino-motor-shield-rev3 plug in on top of an Arduino Uno etc. You then write your code to control whats on the shield based on what pins the shield uses for what hardware it has. Scroll down the page I linked too and look in the documentation section for details.
I do believe most of the shields like the above will work on more than just an UNO. You should be able to use a Leonardo or even a Mega if you want. The basic pin layout is the same on all of them. The bigger more powerful Arduino’s just have extra pins added to give them more functionality.
That’s great thank you I’ll stick to Arduino rather then pi.
I’ll have a look at the shields and hopefull sort something out. And digger out what shields I need and if they all will work with each other.
When I do my coding I install the coding on that particular shield?
I hope I can work all this out since its been driving me mental for the past year
Thank you
You do your code up in the Arduino IDE, then upload that to the Arduino. Same as you do with your Flora. If you need a special library you include it. Just go to Sketch, Library Include. I haven’t done any Arduino stuff in a while, but it has most of what you need for Official Arduino products. When you compile any libraries you included are added and uploaded to the Arduino with your code.
EDIT: Think of it this way. The UNO is an Arduino, the Flora is an Arduino clone.
The Flora for all intent and purposes is electrically identical, but physically different.
The design of the Arduino is open source, any body can build one. Adafruit builds there own version of just about every Arduino model out there, they just name them different, like the Metro etc. https://www.adafruit.com/product/2488
It’s there spin on it, and accepts Arduino shields. Adafruit is Micro Controller oriented, IMHO. That’s their bread and butter product. It can be a challenge interfacing some items, like your Flora with other hardware. I do believe that was intended to be used with conductive thread etc, wearable?
Right so from what I believe these parts will work together
Adafruit Motor/Stepper/Servo Shield for Arduino v2 Kit - v2.3
Arduino Mega 2560 Rev3
Adafruit “Music Maker” MP3 Shield w/3W Stereo Amp
Adafruit Bluefruit LE Shield - Bluetooth LE for Arduino
All I nee is some think to do my RGB. But from what ive read they all compatible.
So I should be able to stack them on top of each other and they should work.
I think I will need to find some one that I can sit down and talk to. I know I did this back in 2015 when I was building my arc reactor for my hulk buster
I can’t give you a 100% yes they will all work together. That all depends on what pins on the Arduino each one uses. But it does look like you are headed in the right direction.
Posting on the Adafruit forum will likely get you some replies from those in the know.
You have to sign up and become a member like you did here.
I’m a member of their forum, same username I use here.
I go there daily but post here a lot more often. https://forums.adafruit.com/
EDIT: It’s probably 50 50 between what I’ve bought at Adafruit versus here from Pimoroni. Adafruit has stuff I can’t get here and vise versa. I’ve even bought Pimoroni stuff from Adafruit, and Adafruit stuff from Pimoorni. Usually done to save shipping fee’s and having to make two orders to get all the stuff I wanted.
