
asherphil
USA
Asked
— Edited
Has anyone ever used OpenBot? How do I use it on my raspberry pi? Does it allow me to control my robot from my pi?
Has anyone ever used OpenBot? How do I use it on my raspberry pi? Does it allow me to control my robot from my pi?
Like @RichardR said, a little old Windows 7 laptop can be had cheaply. There are also Windows 8 tablets that are capable of running ARC. There's one in particular that the forum members here seem to like and is vetted by many
But unless I am mistaken... isn't this what OpenBot is for? Interfacing with EZ-B via Linux? Will take more programming than ARC probably. But it's always good to learn if you don't know how yet
Understand your dislike of Windows, but there are a lot of issues with distributing consumer level applications for Linux. That's why DJ did publish the Openbot libraries for programmers to perform basic functionality in Linux, but writes the ARC in Windows, where 90% of the consumer market is, and used dotnet framework, because, whether you like Microsoft or not, it provides a very good programming framework and handles a lot of the heavy lifting so the developer can work on features, not back-end functions.
I would not recommend this for EZ-B v3 since accessing Bluetooth from a virtual machine is problematic at best, but with an EZ-B v4 using WiFi, you should be able to run a Windows 7 or 8 instance in VirtualBox or the free version of VMWare (I believe VMWare desktop is still their free version). No need to buy additional hardware, just need a Windows license. If you know anyone with a Windows 7 DVD, you can install and run for 120 days without purchasing a license, so you could get started at no cost until your finances allow the purchase of a license.
http://lifehacker.com/5341666/run-windows-7-for-120-days-without-activation
Alan
I think you have a fundamental mis-understanding of how EZ-B works. It is not like an Arduino where you program the board. It get's its "brains" form a WiFi connected PC (or Android or soon iOS device - although for both of them, with the application built in ARC on Windows). So, yes, you can expand in may ways. Virtually anything a PC can do can be interfaced one way or another to a robot built using an EZ-B. The EZ-B itself can control digital and analog devices, so can be expanded with motor controllers, sensors, and literally thousands of different devices.
And that is not counting the direct support from ARC of several 3rd party robots and devices including Roomba and AR-Drone.
Alan
The EZB4 uses wifi to connect to your PC except for serial in and out there is no way to connect something like a hard drive to the ezb.... Why would you anyway, since you have at your disposal the entire hard drive of your pc to use... On the other hand, like all microcontrollers you can add a host of analog and digital sensors directly to the ebz ... aka input and output. This includes motor controllers, GPS, Gyros, etc....
Correction: OpenBot was not published or created by DJ. It's a community project by Tom Briden.
@Richard R, Looks like we were typing at the same time. You said it better than me.....
Alan
Alan
Alan
You are correct that I don't understand the EZ system, do I need to have the PC running the whole time for the robot to work or does it program the robot and then let the robot do it's thing autonomously? Like if for some reason I turned off the app... I am planning on building a robot that could say go as far, as the batteries allowed, away from me and possibly collect information.... I noticed the quad and I know wifi only reaches so far but radio controlled devices let it go much further... I will have to post a Quadcopter I am building which is capable of autonomous return flight when either power is low or radio signal vanishes.
Thanks for everyone's help by the way. I tend to ask a billion questions so I hope no one gets too annoyed with me. I'm not very talkative in person. Unless you ask me about my projects then I tend to list them off and talk about what they do and how I did them until you shut me up. Ha ha.
another option is to use an iphone or android if you have published the app to ez cloud.
it is best to think of the ez-b as a gateway for your computer to have access to all of the devices attached to the ez-b. this makes the ez-b far more powerful than anything else available. it removes a lot of limitations that other architectures have.
btw, this was typed on a tablet running linux. see, we do like linux on the forum.
the benefit are immense, since it can be used as a standalone computer with hdmi output to screen, support for keyboard and mouse. Best thing for autonomous tasks without restricted range and excessive weight.
im sad =(
i actually got two beaglebones and several rc trucks for locomotion, along with hgates and 4g cellular internet to host a server on beaglebone and connect to main brain for uploading cached data