After receiving my ioBridge and doing the predictable temperature measurements and flashing of lights testing I wanted to do something a bit more ambitious.
Noticing the VEX robotic system I had sitting on my shelf, I thought about interfacing the remote control with the ioBridge. At first I was going to use the four channels from the ioBridge but with version C3 of the firmware released I could now use just one channel to speak serially with a BASIC Stamp Microcontroller…now we have a project.
Using my Itouch I can now send ‘Forward’, ‘Backward’, ‘Turn Right’, ‘Turn Left’ commands through the ioBridge to the BASIC Stamp which then uses the VEX handheld controller to drive the VEX platform around. This is monitored by a separate Web Camera Feed. There is something satisfying about remotely piloting something from fifty miles away, not to mention freaking out your mother-in-law when one of your ‘devices’ comes alive all by itself. Priceless.
