Any good SkyNet starts with a robot. Well, we are in luck…User “badcat89″ posted in our forum about a Web-enabled, Wireless Robot that is controlled via a web interface. We can imagine a swarm of robots controlled by data received from the web.
Web Powered Robot
The robot uses a pair of serial bluetooth adapters to form a wireless link with the ioBridge IO-204. The serial levels of the IO-204 are TTL and a circuit using the MAX-232 was required to allow the serial interface work properly. On the robot is a set of serial servo drivers that control the steering and speed.
IO-204 and Serial Bluetooth Adpater
The interface is standard web page using an embedded ioBridge.com serial widget to make the connection to the IO-204 base station module. You can control the direction and throttle by clicking on the itnerface and using the up and down arrow keys on your keyboard. The interface generates serial strings that the serial servo drivers react to when received. You can see the strings and the serial widget in the debug part of the web interface.
Web-based Robot Controls
Here is a YouTube video of the web powered robot in action -- looks like a lot of fun to drive. One step closer…
Eric Edwards of EJESolar.com created a system that takes solar energy and heats water for his home. He uses Sun Strip Solar panels to heat the water. With a single solar panel Eric is able to heat a 60 gallon tank to temperatures beyond 160°F. He uses the ioBridge IO-204 to data log and actively monitors the water heating system by getting alerts and updates on his mobile phone.
Water Tank and ioBridge IO-204
ioBridge IO-204 with Temperature Sensors
Eric monitors and data logs the temperatures of the the hot water storage tank, the collectors, and the outside temperature in real-time using the ioBridge IO-204 and temperature sensors. This data allows Eric to calculate BTUs collected per day and translate into a dollar figure to track savings. He has surrounded himself with the data to make sure there is no system damage, freezing, etc., by creating a web site to view the data, setting ioBridge message alerts, and using a Google Gadget to display the temperatures collected by the IO-204.
Visit EJESolar.com to see a live view of the data collected by the solar hot water system as well as some more details behind this solar hot water heating system. Ingenious!
Screen Shot of Solar Array and Collected Data (EJESolar.com)
Every year CEA (Consumer Electronics Association) publishes a forecast of the 5 Technology Trends to Watch. The 34-page report for 2010 includes insight into what trends will play a part in the technological landscape for consumers. 2010 trends include The Evolution of Digital Content, The Home Ecosystem, The Future of TV, Connected Cars, and The Smart Grid.
CEA writes about ioBridge technology in relationship to the home ecosystem. 2010 will be the start of the home becoming “smart”, where things start to speak and home automation, monitoring, and control collides with the web, mobile devices, and social networks. The ioBridge platform allows for a secure link between your house and the web – allowing sensors and controls to become a web service. 2010 will bring the integration of our technology into household devices, industrial controls, and enterprise resource management systems.
Those that “Do-It-Yourself ” can get started now and build cloud-based data logging apps, social network controls, and website applications with the ioBridge IO-204 and the ioBridge.com web services. Developers and integrators are already experimenting with and creating next generation products centered around the core technology behind ioBridge. CEA predicts that consumer products of this sort will be ubiquitous in 2010.
To read the entire report, visit CE.org producers of CES.
