Asked — Edited

Windows8 Remote Desktop To Android + Ezbv4 Wifi

Hello,

engadget windows 8 remote access article.

I was reading an article on windows 8 remote access via wifi, I was wondering....

if my pc is, lets say in my home office, and I am in my patio, can I use the tablet (using remote access) to control the robot?

We no longer need the pc running ezb software to be near the robot since both are using wifi, right?

so as long as my robot and pc are connected using my wifi home network, I can use my android tablet as a "remote control" for my robot anywhere in my home....right?

thanks in advance, Go RedSox!


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#1  

@hoolegan , the pc actually running ARC must be near your robot to connect. You can use remote desktop from a second computer to remotely view the first. There is a bit of lag depending on the internet connection but yes you can do it. Just don't drive your robot down any stairs:)

United Kingdom
#2  

If it's using wifi the robot doesn't need to be that close, it just needs to be on the same network. In theory this could be miles away.

You have always been able to use http server for remote access to ARC, it's nothing new. Simply enable it, set your router up correctly and you can control your robot from anywhere in the world (provided it remains connected to the same wifi network as the pc running ARC is on - I suspect, however can't confirm until I play, that the V4 wifi could most likely be connected to through the internet with the correct settings in place, provided the robot remains in the wifi network range - more on that in about a month or two).

#3  

thanks for the quick replys

@jstarne1 lol i hear ya, but i guess that was only true when the ezb used bluetooth.
now that it uses wifi. the connection point would be the wifi antenna.

so if pc is in my home office, wifi antenna is in living room and robot is in the patio. i can use my android table to connect and control my robot, i think.

@rich that exact theory but within my home....i have a wifi antenna in the living room and a wifi booster in a bedroom. the entire house has a strong wifi signal.

no matter where in the house the pc running the ezb software is. i can still control the robt in any room withthe tablet.

i think

#4  

That would be correct. You may need an additional Wifi dongle to keep it all up and running at the same time, but they arent very expensive. We should have one in our store shortly as well.

PRO
Synthiam
#6  

Also, please be aware that the EZ-B v4 can be connected to your existing network - which means you do not need a dongle. There is an administration interface to EZ-B v4 which allows you to specify your home network settings.

#7  

There are some reasons to use other remote solutions from your tablet to the PC running ARC than Microsoft Remote Desktop (or any RDP client). The good thing is you get very fast performance. The bad thing is that it locks the user session on the desktop and gives you a new user session (or in windows server versions, gives you another session without locking the logged on desktop). This means that at best ARC will restart when you log on and restart again on the desktop when you log off (At least on Windows 7, the remote session is not "session 0" but it's own windows session with its own instances of apps running).

An app like Splashtop or VNC that scrapes the screen of the logged on session doesn't have these issues, but can experience a little more lag (although Splashtop is optimized for videos and games and is virtually lag free when running on the same network as the PC).

However, now that Microsoft if providing a free RDP client (previously, these clients were some of the more expensive Android and iOS apps), it is certainly worth trying and comparing to VNC (also free). Splashtop I believe has a free trial period as well.

Alan

PRO
Synthiam
#8  

Also, with the new EZ-B v4, you can connect it to your WIFI network - just like how a computer connects to your WIFI network. Instead of opening a port to your PC for control, you can open a port to the EZ-B. And speak to the EZ-B v4 directly over the internet:)

United Kingdom
#9  

What I suspected was correct then:) Which is great.

To add to the list from @thetechguru - teamviewer is remote control software that I've used with great success in the past.

#10  

I second what Rich said - team viewer is the remote control desktop software I use and its free for personal use. When I used standard windows RDP I'd always have to open a port in my router to allow RDP traffic through and as mentioned before when I RDPed in it would end the previous session (when connecting from outside my home network). If my external IP addresses changed I was out of luck.

With Team Viewer, you download it and it runs in the background and as long you maintain an active internet connection you can log into your team view account from a web interface or from the app installed on another computer and remote into your computer. And it does not kick the current user off!

United Kingdom
#11  

I use Team Viewer a lot for my own business, basically my clients have it installed and if I need to I can easily pop on to their system and do whatever needs doing, in real time, with them watching. Or I can watch what they are doing and advise them over the phone or web cam. To top it all, you can even brand the client side app with your own company logo etc.

It runs on iOS, Android, Windows, mac, linux...

Seriously I cannot recommend it enough.

#12  

With team viewer and the new v4 really no need to port ezb to android or ios...

i've been thinking of a windows 8 tablet (I have an android one now)

If I can view the ezb software on my android tablet PLUS I dont need to be close to the "master" pc, I think im going to buy 2ezbs instead of a new windows tablet.

this is awesome, since none of my projects are big enough to fit the acer w3

#13  

So I just want to make sure I am reading this correctly.... the controller can be mounted away from the computer the length of my wifi network or I assume I can give the board an ip address that will connect with my home router and connect remotely? So in other words I can use my work computer, remote in to the ezb4 directly through my wifi? And see video? Do I need to set up a vpn to get into my router from a remote location? Thanks again Chris

United Kingdom
#14  

I'm sure I read that the EZ-B V4 Camera doesn't actually display the video (not sure where I read it, it was while skimming over topics).

But the rest is correct, if the EZ-B V4 is assigned an IP address and in range of the router, for instance it's given the IP address of 192.168.0.150 provided the router port forwards traffic on the required port (unsure of the port number at this stage) then you should, in theory be able to connect any ARC connected to the internet to the EZ-B.

A VPN shouldn't be required, I'd assume in the connection dialogue rather than the local IP of 192.168.0.150 (or whatever it is assigned) you would put in your real IP address (or url if you use a DNS service).

If the EZ-Robot team don't provide a tutorial for this I'm sure I will once I have a V4 to play with. However some steps will be router specific so it always helps to either have decent instructions for your router or know what to look for and set up in the router.

For instance, my router (DD-WRT firmware) my forwards currently look like this (I have a lot of forwards)

User-inserted image

The from port is the remotely requested port number (i.e. 87.192.98.10:8082) The IP address is the local IP of the PC or device (i.e. 192.168.0.150) The to port (not always an option) is the local port. (i.e. 80) The above examples are for the heatmiserweb forwarding. Note my remote IP address above is not my real one so don't even think about playing around with my heating:)