South Africa
Asked — Edited

Microcontroller

hey guys i want to buy the ebb but before i do i wanted to know what micro controller will me nice to use with ezb


ARC Pro

Upgrade to ARC Pro

Become a Synthiam ARC Pro subscriber to unleash the power of easy and powerful robot programming

United Kingdom
#1  

You don't. The EZ-B connects to a PC or mobile device which is used to control it.

Take the time to read about the EZ-B within the explore and learn sections of the site, it is all explained in there :)

#2  

@ society , if you meant. " can another controller talk to ezb" yes , you can use ttl serial connection or you can set digital pins to read " hi or low" which for ezb is digital pin on or off.

United Kingdom
#3  

@Josh, have you successfully managed to control an EZ-B with another microcontroller through the serial connection then? While, theoretically possible as far as I know nobody has successfully controlled an EZ-B or even tried to control an EZ-B through the serial ttl connection... It certainly wouldn't be possible through the digital pins without a host PC/device to deal with what the high/low on each pin is supposed to simulate and I don't see a scenario where this would be feasible in the slightest...

#4  

Though the applications may not be practical you can have a arduino that is programmed to do a specific task like open or close your blinds for example. That way you don't dedicate a whole board for a otherwise simple task. Instead the actions are delegated. This allows for a manual button push as well in case ezb controller option is too far away. For example if you use your tablet to open and close blinds with ezb but your tablet battery is dead you can walk up to your blinds and press a button sending high signal to the embedded controller like arduino and they would still open and close. No i have not done a micro controller to microcontroller setup but the ezb is capable of doing so. I'm not arguing how practical the example is but it is a capability of ezb to trigger functions of other controllers either through serial connection or digital high / low signals.

United Kingdom
#5  

You seem to be going way off base or I'm missing something... Your examples are for Arduino, the question was what microcontroller is nice to use with the EZ-B. The answer to that question is "none" since it doesn't need a microcontroller and adding a microcontroller doesn't really have any advantages.

To use a microcontroller to control the EZ-B you would need to remove the WiFi module and connect the microcontroller there therefore losing Wifi, losing the ability to use ARC and requiring complex coding to be written for the microcontroller - this is not the intention of the EZ-B and if going down that route you may as well just use an Arduino, it would be simpler, cheaper and would require much less work.

That said, you seem to mention the EZ-B controlling other devices at the end of your post, this is the other way around to the first part of your post (other controller controlling the EZ-B through switches if the tablet battery is dead). Control of other microcontrollers is possible and has been done however there are very few uses for this and any control wouldn't have native ARC controls therefore would require a fair amount of programming/scripting. It's far more cost effective to just add another EZ-B (since the only real reason to control another microcontroller is for additional ports or to take the load off the EZ-B) and since you can connect up to 254 V4s (if memory serves me correctly) it's really not going to be an issue.

PRO
Synthiam
#6  

This is a classic case of customers being confused because all other robot products advertise "arduino" and "microcontroller" and "c++" and things that no one should ever care about in robotics. :)

#7  

No , the other way . Ezb can send signals to other controllers . I'm not suggesting that other controllers "power the ezb" . My example was one that ezb sends signals to other controllers to perform a task. It could be anything from a controller powering a lcd display or any other through "send serial" commands for complicated signals to as simple as a digital pin high or low to trigger an event. The Roomba is a common use for this. Ezb "talks" to roombas controller through the serial connection.This thread is going off topic. The simple answer is "Yes ezb can send serial commands or digital high/low signals to other electronic decices. No ezb cannot be powered by itself or another controller"

Edit - and then Dj jumped in lol

PRO
Canada
#8  

I get you Josh :)

It's just like the Sabertooth motor drivers, you have a dedicated microcontroller on board that takes serial commands and uses them for a specific purpose like controlling motors. You could use an Arduino as a "slave" in this manner:D it could be useful in some cases.