Created December 19, 2015 © GPL3+

Origami Arduino Bluetooth Vehicle

Designing a Bluetooth-enabled parade float with an origami chassis

IntermediateShowcase (no instructions)220

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Arduino UNO

nRF8001 Bluetooth Module

Breadboard (generic)

4xAA battery holder

AA Batteries

9V battery (generic)

Jumper wires (generic)

SparkFun Dual H-Bridge motor drivers L298

DC motor (generic)

Zip ties

Generic glass marbles

Actobotics Robotic Wheels

Hand tools and fabrication machines

Soldering iron (generic)

Hot glue gun (generic)

3D Printer (generic)

Laser cutter (generic)

Story

Project Overview

In the process of designing and building a Bluetooth controlled vehicle, I learned a lot. In the past few weeks, I experimented with various chassis designs, built a wired pushbutton remote controller, and upgraded the vehicle to a Bluetooth control system. The vehicle utilizes differential steering, with two motor driven wheels in the front and two marble casters in the back. The STL for the marble casters can be found on Thingiverse. I used generic glass marbles, but the STL may have to resized to fit other marbles. An excellent tutorial about controlling dual motors with the L298 motor controller can be found here.

The previous steps in my prototyping process for this vehicle are linked below:

Stage 1: Initial Chassis Concepts

Stage 2: Implementing Basic Functionality

Stage 3: Creating a Pushbutton Remote Control

Stage 4: Upgrading to Bluetooth Control

Redesigning the Chassis

After achieving the desired functionality of my vehicle, I moved on to design an unique chassis. A laser cutter was perfect for scoring the material, and creating smooth and clean curves. I also found that an x-acto knife and a hard dull edge (I used the rounded tip of my scissor blade) were extremely handy in making the initial quick prototypes. In my designs, I used construction paper, cardboard and mat-board

1 / 2

While the design looked interesting, I still wasn't satisfied. Returning to the drawing board, I remembered that I designed a previous iteration of my vehicle to resemble a parade float for the upcoming holidays. Building upon that idea, I researched various modular origami designs.

My final chassis design is achieved by interlocking modular pieces of stiff construction paper. The motors and electronic components are mounted to a hidden wooden frame. I found that smaller sized units could create sharper curves and smaller diameters. In the end, I used slightly larger units to create an intriguing design of sweeping curves, multi-petaled circular swirls, and variation of light and shadows. The chassis design looks like a flower about to bloom, and reminds me of Cinderella's golden carriage.

Another change I made this time was to use various sized wheels. I had 3D-printed all of my previous wheels, so I was interested if seeing store-bought Actobotic wheels would make a significant improvement. The Actobotic wheels looked very nice, however, the benefit of 3D modeling my own wheels is that I am able to customize the diameter of the wheel, as well as the amount of traction and tires and the length of the axle.

I had a lot of fun with this project, so here's a video of my mini-parade float in action!

Code

Arduino Bluetooth Code

// This version uses call-backs on the event and RX so there's no data handling in the main loop!

#include <SPI.h>
#include "Adafruit_BLE_UART.h"


// Connect CLK/MISO/MOSI to hardware SPI
// e.g. On UNO & compatible: CLK = 13, MISO = 12, MOSI = 11
#define ADAFRUITBLE_REQ 8
#define ADAFRUITBLE_RDY 2 //interrupt pin. on Uno that's #2 or #3
#define ADAFRUITBLE_RST 7

Adafruit_BLE_UART uart = Adafruit_BLE_UART(ADAFRUITBLE_REQ, ADAFRUITBLE_RDY, ADAFRUITBLE_RST);

boolean messageReceived = false;
uint8_t message[20];

// initializing my components
int enA = 10; //LEFT motor enable pin
int in1 = 6;  //L input
int in2 = 5;  //L input
int in3 = 3;  //R input
int in4 = 4;  //R input

int enB = 9; //RIGHT motor enable pin

/**************************************************************************/
/*!
    This function is called whenever select ACI events happen
*/
/**************************************************************************/
void aciCallback(aci_evt_opcode_t event)
{
  switch(event)
  {
    case ACI_EVT_DEVICE_STARTED:
      Serial.println(F("Advertising started"));
      break;
    case ACI_EVT_CONNECTED:
      Serial.println(F("Connected!"));
      break;
    case ACI_EVT_DISCONNECTED:
      Serial.println(F("Disconnected or advertising timed out"));
      break;
    default:
      break;
  }
}

/**************************************************************************/
/*!
    This function is called whenever data arrives on the RX channel
*/
/**************************************************************************/
void rxCallback(uint8_t *buffer, uint8_t len)
{
  
  Serial.print(F("Received "));
  Serial.print(len);
  Serial.println(F(" bytes: "));

  // constantly check if these are happening
      switch(buffer[2]) {
      case 53:
        Serial.println ( "up");
        if(buffer[3] == 49){
          digitalWrite(in1, HIGH); //left
          digitalWrite(in2, LOW);
          digitalWrite(in3, HIGH); // sets motor to forward.
          digitalWrite(in4, LOW);
          analogWrite(enA, 200);
          analogWrite(enB, 255); // write enable pin to highest speed (0-255)
        }
        if(buffer[3] == 48) { //button released, turn all motors off
          digitalWrite(in1, LOW);
          digitalWrite(in2, LOW);
          digitalWrite(in3, LOW);
          digitalWrite(in4, LOW);
          analogWrite(enA, 0);
          analogWrite(enB, 0);
        }
        break; // will stop the code so that the following code in the loop does not run
      case 54:
        Serial.println ( "down");
        if(buffer[3] == 49){
          digitalWrite(in1, LOW);
          digitalWrite(in2, HIGH);
          digitalWrite(in3, LOW); // sets motor to backwards.
          digitalWrite(in4, HIGH);
          analogWrite(enA, 220);
          analogWrite(enB, 255); // write enable pin to highest speed (0-255)
        }

        if(buffer[3] == 48) { //button released, turn all motors off
          digitalWrite(in1, LOW);
          digitalWrite(in2, LOW);
          digitalWrite(in3, LOW);
          digitalWrite(in4, LOW);
          analogWrite(enA, 0);
          analogWrite(enB, 0);
        }
        break;
      case 55: 
        Serial.println ( "left");
        if(buffer[3] == 49){
          digitalWrite(in1, HIGH);
          digitalWrite(in2, LOW);
          digitalWrite(in3, LOW);
          digitalWrite(in4, HIGH);
          analogWrite(enA, 255);
          analogWrite(enB, 255); // write enable pin to highest speed (0-255)
         }
        
        if(buffer[3] == 48) { //button released, turn all motors off
          digitalWrite(in1, LOW);
          digitalWrite(in2, LOW);
          digitalWrite(in3, LOW);
          digitalWrite(in4, LOW);
          analogWrite(enA, 0);
          analogWrite(enB, 0);
        }
        break;
      case 56:
        Serial.println ( "right");
        if(buffer[3] == 49){        
          digitalWrite(in1, LOW);
          digitalWrite(in2, HIGH);
          digitalWrite(in3, HIGH);
          digitalWrite(in4, LOW);
          analogWrite(enA, 255);
          analogWrite(enB, 255); // write enable pin to highest speed (0-255)
         }
         
        if(buffer[3] == 48) { //button released, turn all motors off
          digitalWrite(in1, LOW);
          digitalWrite(in2, LOW);
          digitalWrite(in3, LOW);
          digitalWrite(in4, LOW);
          analogWrite(enA, 0);
          analogWrite(enB, 0);
        }
        break;
    }
     
  /* Echo the same data back! */
  uart.write(buffer, len);
}

/**************************************************************************/
/*!
    Configure the Arduino and start advertising with the radio
*/
/**************************************************************************/
void setup(void){
  Serial.begin(9600);
  while(!Serial); // Leonardo/Micro should wait for serial init
  Serial.println(F("Adafruit Bluefruit Low Energy nRF8001 Callback Echo demo"));

  uart.setRXcallback(rxCallback);
  uart.setACIcallback(aciCallback);
  uart.setDeviceName("MYCAR"); /* 7 characters max! */
  uart.begin();

// setup the pinmodes for the L298 Motor controller
  pinMode(enA, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(enB, OUTPUT); // all three pins are output pins
  pinMode(in1, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(in2, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(in3, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(in4, OUTPUT);
}

/**************************************************************************/
/*!
    Constantly checks for new events on the nRF8001
*/
/**************************************************************************/


void loop()
{
  uart.pollACI();
}

Credits

Jennifer Chen

13 projects • 12 followers

Origami Arduino Bluetooth Vehicle

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Hand tools and fabrication machines

Story

Schematics

Bluetooth Arduino Wiring

Code

Arduino Bluetooth Code

Credits

Jennifer Chen

Comments

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Origami Arduino Bluetooth Vehicle

Origami Arduino Bluetooth Vehicle

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Hand tools and fabrication machines

Story

Schematics

Bluetooth Arduino Wiring

Code

Arduino Bluetooth Code

Credits

Jennifer Chen

Comments

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