Just received my production EVIVE and the Starter KIT for it generously donated for the Visuino development :-)
The EVIVE is Arduino Mega based educational platform with builtin LiPo battery, Color Display, ADC, DACs, RTC, Touch Sensors, Motor Drivers, MicroSD, Buttons, Switches, Potentiometers, and more...
It even has built in small breadboard for prototyping, and read connectors for Bluetooth HC-05/06, ESP8266 WiFi and XBee.
I already have implemented support for most of the EVIVE functionality in Visuino , and now that I have the latest version of EVIVE, I will see to add the rest of the Visuino support in the next few days.
I am preparing the rest of the Assembly videos and will post them in the following days.
I am also looking into what is the best way to map the Robot functionality in Visuino .
After that I will try to make some Visuino tutorials for the Robot.
Couple of days ago, I received another great surprise. 2 Maduino 868/915 MHz LoRa Radio Modules from my good friends at Makerfabs generously donated for the Visuino development:-) .
The modules are small form factor Arduino compatible controllers with RFM95W LoRa on the board, and LiPo Battery support, which makes them perfect for implementing remote sensor or actuator projects, especially in areas that lack any other connectivity infrastructure.
Makerfabs also have 433 MHz RFM98W version of the modules.
Here are some pictures from the modules. As you can see they are, as expected from Makerfabs, of very good quality :
Each module comes with gold plated pin headers, and small antenna:
I am very thankful to my friends from Makerfabs, and I have already added support for them in Visuino . The support will be included in the next Visuino version :-)
I am preparing the rest of the Assembly videos and will post them in the following days.
I am also looking into what is the best way to map the Robot functionality in Visuino .
After that I will try to make some Visuino tutorials for the Robot.
Last week I received a Teensy 3.6 generously donated by Rafal Czachurski for the Visuino development :-)
Thank you Rafal for your continuous support!
This should allow me to add and test support for the MicroSD on the module, and I am already working on this :-)
The work on the MicroSD support has started, and I hope to have it available in the next Visuino release, so stay tuned... ;-)
I am preparing the rest of the Assembly videos and will post them in the following days.
I am also looking into what is the best way to map the Robot functionality in Visuino .
After that I will try to make some Visuino tutorials for the Robot.
My first impression is that the set is of very high quality! Also includes all the necessary tools for the assembly - 2 Slamm Philips type Screwdrivers, and a Hexagonal tool for some of the bolts.
There are a lot of improvements in this version! Here are the main ones:
The Line Following sensors now are on a single board, and connect with a single cable to the Sensor Shield
The Infrared Receiver is mounted directly on the Sensor Shield
There are now spacers included in the KIT allowing the boards to be properly separated from the chassis when mounted
The Ultrasonic Ranger mount has built in spacers, and can be mounted directly on the servo without the need of a seat
The battery box has pre soldered connector, and connects directly to the sensor shield. The Arduino is powered from the shield reducing considerably the cable clutter
It comes with newer version Bluetooth Module, with connector that makes it impossible to connect wrong way the module
The Motor Mounts have threads on both sides, so it is not possible to install them the wrong way. Now they are fully symmetric and will work no matter how you orient them during the installation
The Wheels have screws to secure them in place not relying purely on friction to hold them
There are other small improvements too, including a nicer battery charger for example.
The components are well packet and organized in the 2 layers of the box:
Comes in nice box with handle, and well packed components:
I have already recorded Assembly Videos, and editing them. I plan to post them soon. I am also working to test the robot, and map the Shield in Visuino, and after that I will make some tutorials with it.
Once again, many thanks to the great people at Elegoo for making such a great Robot and donating one for Visuino ! :-)
I am preparing the rest of the Assembly videos and will post them in the following days.
I am also looking into what is the best way to map the Robot functionality in Visuino .
After that I will try to make some Visuino tutorials for the Robot.
It was quite a busy week, but I finally had a chance to post some of the pictures from the event. I brought as usual some of my robots with me, and after the event I was showing them and Visuino to few people including Bing Jiang from Rolling Robots, and Bridgeman Carney from Microduino.
They were video recording the event the so Melody took pictures only of me at the end of the event.
Here are some of the pictures:
It was a great event, with good speakers, and I they were recording video during the event, but it does not appear to have been posted yet :-( . If I find it, I will post link here.
Looking forward to more fun Hub101 events in the future, and to meet Bing Jiang, and Bridgeman Carney again :-)
I already soldered the modules. However, I soldered the ICSG007 not the best possible way, and will change the header soon. For now I used 2 additional wires with the current L header so I can test. I already did the first test project:
You can see that the sensor picks the pulse quite nicely :-) . Next, I will be testing the MAX30100 Heart Rate and Oximeter sensor , and then will start working on filters, and pulse detector components, so I can make complete projects. My plan is to use the modules with a SparkFun nRF52832 Breakout controller so I can implement Bluetooth LE Heart Rate Monitor, and connect to it from Smartphone App over BLE :-)
I plan to post the complete project once done, so stay tuned ;-)
The is the last Assembly video. I will post one more video on installing the HC-06 Bluetooth Module in the next few days. I have also already mapped the Robot's Shield functionality in Visuino, and I have done few projects with it :-) . Hope to post video tutorials on them too.
This week I received another Cool Arduino Robot SM2 KIT from Kuman donated for the Visuino development :-).
This is actually quite nice flexible kit for robot experiments. It has fair number of built in sensors, that can easily be connected in different ways to the Arduino, the Ultrasonic ranger can be installed directly on the chassis, or on top of easily detachable Servo, and there is on board breadboard area. It looks like a perfect platform for experimenting with variety of sensors on the breadboard area. Since the Arduino board is easily detachable, it should be easy to upgrade the board to Mega of other more powerful Arduino, or even install and use Teensy, ESP8266 or ESP32 in the breadboard area.
I will be posting assembly instructions soon, but here is a short unboxing video, and some picture from the parts :-)
This is a stock photo of how the assembled robot looks like:
Here is a picture of the unboxed parts:
And here is the unboxing video:
I hope you have enjoyed the video :-).
Looking forward to assemble it and start programming it with Visuino :-) .
Recently I received a full set of chipKIT modules for the chipKIT support in Visuino, thanks to Guy McCarthy.
After couple of weeks the rork on the modules is completed, and all of them are fully supported by Visuino:-). I have added even a full support for the controllers, and the Basic I/O Shield including its OLED Display, and here is a video of it programmed with Visuino:
