mBot and Omega

Reply to mBot and Omega on Sat, 19 Dec 2015 18:16:03 GMT

Alexander Soto — Sat, 19 Dec 2015 18:16:03 GMT

Greetings,

I have in my possession an mBot and a Omega with the expansion dock. I was wondering if it would be possible to use the Omega and mBot together?

I envision using the parts from the mBot with the Omega and program the robot with a high-level programming language like Javascript and Ruby. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Reply to mBot and Omega on Sat, 19 Dec 2015 22:00:21 GMT

Boken Lin — Sat, 19 Dec 2015 22:00:21 GMT

Hi @Alexander-Soto, that's an interesting proposal! Unfortunately, we are not very familiar with the mBot, but if you can describe the way you program the mBot as well if it has method of communicating with other boards (i.e. through I2C or SPI, etc), then we'll be able to help you come up with a way to use the Omega to control it. Also, currently how are you controlling the mBot?

Reply to mBot and Omega on Sat, 19 Dec 2015 23:58:15 GMT

Alexander Soto — Sat, 19 Dec 2015 23:58:15 GMT

Hello! @Boken-Lin thank you for your response! I just received the mBot so I am playing with it now. The mBot can be programmed though their graphical programming environment mBlock (modified version of Scratch) and also the Arduino IDE. I found the Makeblock-Library

The mBot comes with a micro controller mCore (based on Arduino Uno) and electronic modules that were included. While I don't think the microcontroller mCore, can work with Omega, I have another idea.

I just ordered the Arduino Dock, I am thinking of using the Arduino Dock with the Me UNO Shield.

I believe this would then allow me to use the Omega in combination with the Arduino Dock to use the UNO Shield, which would then allow me to use the makeblock electronic modules.

@Boken-Lin, is the idea I mention above possible?

Reply to mBot and Omega on Sun, 20 Dec 2015 00:32:38 GMT

Boken Lin — Sun, 20 Dec 2015 00:32:38 GMT

@Alexander-Soto Ah, if you can program the mBot with the Arduino IDE, you should be able to connect the Omega with the mBot via I2C. This might even be easier than using the UNO Shield. The Makeblock library seems to provide an API that allows you to tell the Makeblock where to go, how to turn, etc. You simply need to create a simple sketch on the mBot that listen to I2C commands from the Omega, and act accordingly. I2C commands can be sent as bytes. For example, you might be able to send a 0x01 byte from the Omega, and whenever you receive 0x01 on the mBot, you would use the library to tell the mBot to move forward. You can then program the mBot to respond to other commands to perform other actions.

Please let me know if this makes sense.

Reply to mBot and Omega on Sun, 20 Dec 2015 01:10:40 GMT

Alexander Soto — Sun, 20 Dec 2015 01:10:40 GMT

@Boken-Lin

I understand what you are saying to an extent, I am an unsure about how I would do the process with the Omega and mBot and the specifics of I2C of how to send the byes.

I'm running Debian and I'm trying to connect the mBot with the Arduino IDE but running into some problems with gcc-avr.

I'll do my best to understand all of this and see what I can do.

@Boken-Lin, Thank you for all of support and help. I'm glad I supported you guys on Kickstarter also great that you guys are from Boston too

Reply to mBot and Omega on Sun, 20 Dec 2015 04:54:27 GMT

Boken Lin — Sun, 20 Dec 2015 04:54:27 GMT

@Alexander-Soto Ok. Try to get basic functions of the mBot working with the Arduino IDE, and we'll help you to connect it to the Omega