ARDrone for Android Test code.

AR Drone provides API for Linux, iPhone and Android.

But if you want to control the AR Drone using simple UDP protocol on your Android. I have prepared a simple test code for you all. It is only tested with AR Drone 2.0 on Android 2.3 or above.

Please check out the code here: https://github.com/senzhk/ARDroneAndroid

Android Robot - Auto pilot project

Android smartphone is a very powerful device, with GPS, digital compass, gyro, and accelerometer inside, which can be a great platform for making robot. Moreover, the dual core processor inside can perform intensive calculations as well.

In order to let my Galaxy Nexus to control the motors, I used the cheap wifi router: TP-LINK WR703N as a wifi to serial bridge to my motor boards. I can simply send tcp packet to control the motors.

My ultimate goal is making an autopilot robot using GPS, but the result is very bad as the best positioning accuracy is only around 10 meters. I think GPS reading should only use as reference, I may need to consider other sensor readings to calculate the best estimated position of the robot during navigation. 




Anyway, here is the screenshot of my app:




Here is the video showing the robot using digital compass on the phone to adjust the orientation:

For GPS and digital compass programming, I would recommend you to read this project:

http://code.google.com/p/bearing/source/browse/#git%2FBearing%2Fsrc%2Fcom%2Falfray%2Fbearing

The source codes show you how to read the compass and gps data, also calculate distance and bearing of two locations.

Finally here is the video showing the robot in auto pilot mode, use GPS and digital compass to navigate.

Brain Wave Sensors with Android OS

 For disabled people, may be has difficulties to control a smart phone, now using Neurosky's MindWave Mobile (Brain wave sensors) as an input device to any Android device. Though the app presents very limited information, it is still a good demostration.

Color Identifier for Android - WhatColor

Found an interesting app on Android, it aims to help people with blindness or color blindness. It captures the images from the Android Phone and tell the user (via Text to Speech) what is the main contributing color on the screen. It should be  a good way for them to explore the world.

Please check out the demo:

Play store :
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.enlighten.colormatcheren

Geminoid F - Female Robot.

Geminoid F - the female robot looks like a real human made by Osaka University's Hiroshi Ishiguro, she can perform many different facial expressions and interact with people. She looks so real, you can see her blinking and singing like a human.

Also, Check out her singing here:

Android USB Host Testing.

 

Since Android 3.1.x (API Level 12), Google introduced an USBManager which is actually a USB host API to talk to usb devices connected to your tablet or phone. It is different to the Android ADK, which requires the other sides have special hardwares and software protocol.

As now your tablet/phone is a complete USB host device, so you can theoretically connect to any USB devices avaliable on the market. But you have to write your own USB driver using USBManager (Java) to talk to the devices.

There is a one example provided by Google called ADB Test, so now you can connect your tablet/phone to another android devices via USB and start debugging. (i.e. adb logcat)

Source code: http://developer.android.com/resources/samples/USB/AdbTest/index.html

I got a Asus Transformer TF101, and a special USB kit which turns the external connector to a USB host connector, so now I can connect my phone to it with the USB cable! Let's see the demo video here:


If you want try it on your tablet/phone, you need to prepare a special usb host adapter if necessary and then download the following from the market:
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.bitartist.usbadb

it is a direct copy of the Google Adb Test,  I put on market just for people to play around.

I have started a little project of interfacing a USB2Serial adapter (based on SiLabs CP210x chipset), so far I can send / receive the data to/from the MCU UART. I hope can finish some basic functions (like setting baud rates) and release it to public later. It is a simple and cheap way to connect your Android devices to your MCU, the only drawback is that you will need a usb host and Android 3.1.x host device.

Android Controlled Robot.

It is a cool project by Radu Motisan, he made a robot and control remotely with his Android Phone via Bluetooth. Source codes for both Android (bluetooth control) & ATmega are available on his website!


Demo here:



Project site here:
http://www.pocketmagic.net/?p=1398

Android controlled wireless lamp.

Previously, we discussed about bluetooth module used with Android Nexus One, so today, we would like to present our latest project here "Android controlled wireless lamp", We want to do somethings meaningful with the bluetooth module with Android, so we modify a small lamp and adding the bluetooth connectivity to it.

Sometimes, we may put the phone in bedroom, and we will not know someone is calling. With the bluetooth connectivity, it can communicate with your Android phone at least 10 meters or above. You can put the lamp near your TV or anywhere you stay. Also, you can use Android as a remote control to turn on/off the lamp (or any devices).

Hareware: AVRtiny2313, Bluetooth module, lamp


Ready to go:


Video Demo:

[DIY] Nexus one case (modify from an Iphone case)

Android is becoming more popular in US, but there is still not so many fancy phone cases available on the market like iPhone 3G/3Gs. I found out some Iphone 3G/3Gs cases can be easily modified to fit on Nexus One, so I give it a try.

Here is the iphone 3gs case,



with the right hand side, upper and lower side opened. So you have the USB connector, power button and volume button fit for your nexus one already!

In order to use this case, we only have to drill some holes on the back, so the nexus one camera and the speaker can be used. The size of the case is already quite fit for my case:)

Here is the modified case (attached on Nexus one):
Back:


Front:


Volume keys:

Android & Bluetooth module.

Android phone is becoming more popular, most of the android phones equipped with Bluetooth. Just wonder how we can make use of the powerful android phone to interact with MCU like Atmel AVR, PIC or even Arduino. I think that more interesting projects can be done with the bluetooth connectivity to Android:)

After some studies, I found out that in Android 2.0, Google enhanced the Bluetooth API and come with an Bluetooth Chat sample for communicating devices with RFCOMM (SPP profile). So I did a try and it really works very well!



Let's try it out! The Bluetooth module that I used is a very tiny one with PCB antenna, it can control device over 10 meters at least, good enough for small project:) It is programmed to use as RFCOMM, so it can act as a wireless UART, good fit for all the MCU! With only 4 wires, 3.3v/Gnd/Tx/Rx, no programming needed, you can directly connect the module to your MCU UART.


Here is my demonstration video:


For the bluetooth sample code, you can find it in the Android SDK or here.

BeautyShot for Android.

I just released my new android application called "BeautyShot". It is a camera application which will make you skin looks better. It segments the photo with the skin color and makes it smooth. It is very hard to implement in the android phone, the memory is limited, the processor is not fast enough and the camera API is not portable etc. I tried very hard to make it possible on the Android phone. If you got an Android phone, you can try it. It is free:)






Samples:
Before:

After:



On Android Market:

Android on Beagleboard.

Recently, Moto announced the Android Media Platform (based on TI OMAP processor) which you can get started with Android. I looks good to me too, but no information on the pricing yet.

I tried the porting of Android on OMAP, which is called "rowboat" project. I followed the instructions there, you can build from scratch or simply download the binaries there. It works very well on my BeagleBoard. If you are interested in running Android on your beagleboard, I strongly recommend you to check this out:

Android for OMAP3 (rowboat)

A cool video showing the Android running on BeagleBoard:

Bubbles - Android Game.

I finally finished my first Android game. It is a simple game that uses the microphone to play. It is not so hard to code as many open resources are on the Internet, Android phone may be good for your next interactive art project.






Available freely on Android Market.

More Info:
http://www.cyrket.com/package/game.bitartist.bubbles

Blimpbot controlled by Android G1 wirelessly.

It is controlled by moving the android G1, the directions are calculated from the accelerometer inside the android G1. So you G1 is just like your Wiimote now. Moreover, there is a camera on the blimp, so you can see the video streaming from the blimp in real time also. It is a really cool project. I hope I can play with blimp too! May be later, you all may see my blimp project:) Cheers.


Link:
http://www.surveyor.com/

Android Development is fun.

Hi Readers (If any), may be you found out that I didn't update very often recently. It is because I am busy with my new HTC G1, it is a pretty cool phone! I joined android market and published two free android apps so far.

1) LunarCal
it is a Chinese calendar, so may only useful for Chinese.

2) WallCal
It draws a little calendar showing month, weekdays, date on your wallpaper, it is only a workaround solution to place a widget-like thing on the android phone desktop. So once google released the API to let developers to develop desktop widget, it will be EOL:)

If you are chinese, and also have an android phone, join me @ http://forum.androidhk.com/




Hope I can get back to hardware developments very soon:)