New Zealand
Asked — Edited

Connecting To The 'Other' Stuff

Before the age of enlightenment, my discovering EZ-Bot and all the wonder that it holds, I invested my hard earned savings in Arduino... here after mentioned only as the "A" word. Anyway those days of tedious slaving over the "A's" are almost gone and they gather dust looking small and unintelligent in the corner. But the dollars spent on boards and shields that I could have been spending on the EZ-B.... sigh.

Now it is save, save, save to get a second, third and more EZ-B's while I build my empire with Jarvis/Viki the master computer and and my little fleet of robot minions.

Now pureists and and EZ-B fundamentalists please don't be offended when I ask.... Is there any way I can make use of these "A" via the EZ-B Builder interface? Can they be made to communicate with the software or vice versa so their ports can be turned on/off like the digital's on the EZ-B? I have searched the forum repeatedly and some have come close... but has anyone actually done this yet?

Of course to protect the intellectual property of DJ Sures perhaps the Builder app could be coded so that an EZ-B must be connected to a com port then other ports could be connected to Bluetooth devices for similar control. Similar to the unscripted tellnet interface.

I see there is a RS232 send command in the EZ Script ... could this be used to bluetooth to an "A", or the http put/get command used..., etc?

  • Wayne EZ-B Convert


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New Zealand
#1  

Hey how about a reply someone?

Honestly the silence of the forum is foreboding... is there a disturbance in the force because of the 'A' word?

Or is it due to a lack of credibility at my end?

Hope not... I'll post my journey in the projects to show I'm not a lurker or sherker ... lol

Check out my project here

Lawrence

Canada
#2  

Umm would you walk into a Ford dealership and say "Hey I bought all these KIA engines, can you make them work in your frame?"

DJ is an upstart business selling the EZ-B which comes with it's supporting software.

I'm sure there are ways to interface an Arduino into the hardware mix, but i can't see a whole lot of software support at this time for someone elses hardware. You could send digital triggers from your EZ-B to your Arduino's and then have them execute certain routines.

Heck I have an Arduino kicking about, I'm having too much fun with my EZ-B I don't even bother with the Arduino anymore.

My $0.02

P.S. Your project looks pretty cool!

#3  

tameion,

Of course the community wants to hear all about your adventures. I have two Arduinos gathering dust. I LOVE the simpleness of the GUI. But, quite frankly, the thing is TOO SLOW to suite me. I am sure that the EZB could talk to the Arduino. Maybe, have a look by searching for arduino in the forum. I think that the EZB can take an Arduino shield, but only d.j. would know the answer to that. As for me, the EZB is working great for an affordable price. The SUPPORT is just unheard of. Bravo, D.J. and the EZB!

:D :D

#4  

so far i like the arduino,it has alot more you can hook up to it,and has many modules but EZB I ALSO like because its easy to code and great GUI for non programmers,hope soon it will have a lot more modules one main module it doest have and well needed in robots is encoder inputs for motor position,speed and direction for navigation another item needed is two-way digital output to other board ,right is only only has one-way to send commands to another board where the bluetooth is its 2-way but only as a slave, from another board

MEL it really cant take arduino shield,main reason is that the pins are set for arduino board,but some of the arduino sensors and h-bridges can be used

New Zealand
#6  

Thanks Lumpy & Moviemaker, and I hear the Ford Dealership thing .... and yes I also confess to being known for being like the rugby supporter ending up in the other teams stands... saying the wrong thing in the wrong place....lol. It's kind of strange being the Newbie in a forum for a change....

I too am most definitely having toooo much fun to go backwards... when I think about how far I have come in the last three weeks and compare them with the last 30 years of computing this thing is rocking my world. In comparison the Arduino, while still a great product, is cumbersome and limited in the scope of what we are trying to do... The EZ-B is like an Arabian stallion compared to a British Clydesdale... but both have a place.

One other thing I am known for though is asking the left field question... questions that make you take another look at what you are doing or where you are going.

I had been hard out on making a touch screen based home interface system but then came across the EZ-B and now wonder why I was wasting my time when voice commands work so much better... and while we're at it why stop there... we could have an EZ-B in our cars with a Raspberry Pi as well.... not to drive but certainly to manage and respond to all the vehicle needs.... "Sir the left tyre pressure is down 20% please stop at the next garage to rectify the situation..."

I've been thinking about this for a while, and while definitely no expert, there is a good case for both top down and bottom up architectures. By this I mean we most definitely need the big brain of the computer and the interface of the EZ-B but we also need the lower and lesser order boards to pass off the work load.

Eg. You ask your robot to grab the ball and the computer directs the EZ-B to reach out and grip the ball. (Top down) At the same time the tactile detection hardware managed by an Arduino in the palm of the hand could be responsible for monitoring the 5 force sensors, temperature and other resistance sensors in the gripper and continuously generating a response. Then when the EZ-B directs the hand to grip something the background information from the sensors is streamed back to the EZ-B as well formed and information laden. The EZ-B uses this info to manage the overall gripping process and adjusts accordingly, even updating the Arduino as necessary...

EZ-B is most definitely the one board to rule them and in the hardware bind them (Lord of the Rings... well I am from New Zealand after all and Hobbiton is only a Sunday afternoon drive away!)

PRO
Synthiam
#7  
#8  

DJ FITPC is my favorate board,also PICO-ITX PX10000G