This is my first arduino project ever. I at first wanted to create a wireless car with a camera mount so that i can drive around the building. I started at the car scrap where I found two wiper motors for 10 EUR total (!). The man told me these things were incredibly strong so I figured why not carry me around then? The idea for a segway rose.
btw: the video is still an old one, i will upload a newer one asap
Thanks to people from the circuits-online forum I soldered my own motor control whose cables frequently melted - a lot - I finally got it working without any heat issues - thanks to the MOSFETs and thick enough wires - I first used ordinary transistors, but they got pretty warm:
After the wiring has been made thicker, it finally worked. here's a video of me standing on it and controlling it using the WASD-keys on my macbook in Processing: http://www.facebook.com/v/1675245211184
To control it, I use my android phone with TouchOSC (just released - 1 dec 2010). It sends the current x,y coordinate of my finger on the touchscreen to my macbook with Processing. This sends a signal through the xbees to the arduino in my segway.
I have a new video of me (standing on it riding it) still in the want-to-edit/upload-queue, so pls wait for more!
update:
I now hooked up an AXIS ip camera and a wifi router. now im able to watch the cam-feed on my iphone and control it with my android phone!!
Brings me everywhere
Actuators / output devices: two opel vectra wiper motors
Control method: WiFi, XBee, through my phone via TouchOSC
CPU: Arduino Duemilanove
Operating system: Mac OSX
Power source: 4Ah 12V battery
Programming language: Arduino, Processing
Sensors / input devices: Touchscreen OSC messages from Android phone, maybe more in future
because this still isn’t a robot I thought adding a webcam - or putting my macbook on it - then maybe program it to follow someone holding a fiducial/marker using reacTIVision or maybe someone else has a good idea?
i went to the local car demolition place ‘autosloop in Dutch’ and there i got two wiper motors for 10 EUR ( ± $15)…Opel is a european brand, i dont think they have it there in the US though… here’s a good site with a lot info:
update: i now mounted an Axis 205 IP-camera and a linksys WiFi Router which both work on the 12V battery. the IP cam needed a voltage regulator (LM7805) in between the cam and the battery (for the 5V .5 A power supply).
Now I can watch the webcam feed on my iPod Touch and control it on my Android HTC Legend xD
for each motor, i use two relays to go back/forward, and a MOSFET to control speed using PWM. Each relay is controlled by a transistor, which is connected to an arduino port.
