Arduino Ethernet Shield, Product code : RB-Ard-11?

[egoblitz]

Just a quick question about the Arduino Ethernet Shield. On your store site it says.

To use the Arduino Ethernet Shield, mount it on top of an Arduino board. To upload sketches to the board, connect it to your computer with a USB cable as you normally would. Once the sketch has been uploaded, you can disconnect the board from your computer and power it with an external power supply.

I have a Linksys router inside my tracked robot with a ip cam connected to it. Similar to this setup.

superdroidrobots.com/pictures/network/wifi_ATR1.jpg
superdroidrobots.com/pictures/network/wifi_ATR2.jpg

What if I wanted to remove the rs232 converter and the OOPic and replace it with an Arduino / etherenet shield combo.

1. Am I able to control servos or motor controllers with the ethernet link and a laptop? Not just upload sketches.
2. What kind of access to the Atmel MCU do I have?
3. Has anyone done this yet?
4. Where do I get more info on this?

Thanks, Egoblitz

[carlitos]

Hi Egoblitz and welcome to the RobotShop Community forum.

A “sketch” (in Arduino speak) is a program that will run on the Arduino. The quote you refer to simply explains that you simply need to upload a ready made program, (sketch) into the Arduino microcontroller in order to make immediate use of the Ethernet shield. You can of course modify the program to make it do whatever you want (including controlling servos) since you have full access to the microcontroller. The Ethernet shield, simply provide Ethernet connectivity for you microcontroller and implements the MAC and PHY layers of the communication protocol.

So, in short:

]Yes/:m]
]You have full access to the MCU/:m]
]Yes, most definitelly (see # 4 for refeences/:m]
]You may find further information below:
arduino.cc/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1238880301/:m]
Keep us updated with your project, it looks very interesting!