Published October 13, 2017 © CC BY-NC-SA

Crawler: A Obstacle Avoidance Rover

This is a project for a little self-driving robot that avoids things. It roams around randomly and sleeps too.

IntermediateShowcase (no instructions)6 hours4,124

5th - 16th

ESP8266 IoT Contest - Simplify the Connected World

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Adafruit Feather HUZZAH with ESP8266 WiFi

TB6612 Motor/Stepper/Servo/Robot Shield PCA9685 I2C v2 Kit w/ PWM Driver

KY-032 4pin IR Infrared Obstacle Avoidance Sensor

Resistor 8k

Resistor 2.21k ohm

3.7 V LiPo Battery

Arduino Proto Shield

Micro Jst 2.0 Ph 2-Pin Connector Male & Female

60RPM 6V 0.3A High Torque Mini Electric DC Geared Motor

PIR Motion Sensor (generic)

Swivel Ball Roller

for rear "wheel"

SparkFun Step-Up Voltage Regulator - 5V

for PIR sensor

Software apps and online services

myDevices Cayenne

Hand tools and fabrication machines

3D Printer (generic)

Story

This project is for a robotic car like thing that roams around from time to time and then sleeps. I originally wanted a "bug" type robot to just roam around. It is controlled via Cayenne and has 3 drive modes. You can select from manual control, drive1, or drive2. Manual is manual control with momentary buttons. Drive1 makes it roam around and avoid objects when it gets close to them. Drive2 is the same as drive1 but it adds random sleep to the mix. It also has a power save mode that cuts the CPU clock in half and radio tx power also in half. Cayenne is also setup to notify myself when the battery gets low which is very handy.

I designed a case to hold the high torque geared motors & battery. I also made wheels that have bumps along the rim for traction. Yes that is electrical tape also around the wheels... for traction. The MCU is a Adafruit Hazzah ESP8266 that drives a arduino motor shield v2 by I2C. The MCU has control over turning the PIR and IR sensors off such as when in manual mode to further save power. Not that they draw a lot but everything helps! It also makes use of a voltage divider to monitor the battery voltage.

When waking from sleep, if the sleep cycle is enabled, it turns on the PIR and checks for motion. If it detects motion it disables the sleep cycle for a random amount of time and moves around. Then sleeps once the timer is over. It also sleeps from 11pm to 10am everyday automatically.

The code needs to be cleaned up a bit just so its easier to follow. I would also like to add a couple more features and fine turn it further so watch for updates.

1 / 2

1 / 3

roaming without PIR

Schematics

Code

crawler.ino

// #define CAYENNE_DEBUG Serial
// #define CAYENNE_PRINT Serial

#include <Arduino.h>
#include <CayenneMQTTESP8266.h>
#include <ESP8266WiFi.h>
#include <time.h>
#include <Wire.h>
#include <Adafruit_MotorShield.h>
#include <EEPROM.h>

extern "C" {
#include "user_interface.h"
}

RF_MODE(RF_NO_CAL);// tells the ESP to just turn on radio, no calibration which extra takes power


char ssid[] = "IoT";
char wifiPassword[] = "open4meplease";

char username[] = "a4f0c830-bf24-11e6-9638-53ecf337e03f";
char password[] = "65733121a106fc7879f76d6c999a90e130858dfe";
char clientID[] = "c82b0a50-9c9a-11e7-b177-579293954599";


Adafruit_MotorShield AFMS = Adafruit_MotorShield();
Adafruit_DCMotor *moto1 = AFMS.getMotor(1);
Adafruit_DCMotor *moto2 = AFMS.getMotor(2);


// resistor values for volt divider
// R1 = 7950;
// R2 = 2176;
// voltFactor = R2 / (R1 + R2);

// float voltFactor = 0.2149; // orginal
double voltFactor = 0.2049;  // adjusted
float voltage;
float rawVolt;


// pins
const int battPin = A0;
const int ledBluePin = 2;
const int ledRedPin = 0;
const int irPin = 14;
const int irPinPwr = 13;
const int pirPin = 15;
const int pirPinPwr = 12;


// Settings
const int eepromAddress = 0;
const int drive2eepromAddress = 1;
const int sleepTime = 5;  // minutes
const int timezone = -5;  // hours
const int dst = 0;
int maxRandSleepDur = 60;  // minutes

// delays in seconds
const byte objectCountNum = 4;
const byte backupTimeDelay = 3;
const byte rotationTime = 3;
const byte objectZeroReset = 10;


byte disco = 0;
byte randomBackup;
byte objectCount = 0;
byte forwardButton = 0;
byte backwardButton = 0;
byte leftButton = 0;
byte rightButton = 0;
byte manualControl = 0;
byte sleepCycle;
byte timeHour;
byte timeMin;


bool drive1 = false;
bool drive2 = false;
bool sleepNow = false;
bool object = false;
bool objectPIR = false;
bool online = false;
bool drive2FirstRun = true;

byte directionBut;
char direction;



unsigned long time1;
unsigned long time2;
unsigned long time3;
unsigned long onlineTime;
unsigned long prevTime;
unsigned long objectTime = 0;
unsigned long backupTime = 0;
unsigned long randomTime1 = 0;
unsigned long randomTime2 = 0;
unsigned long randomTime3 = 0;








void setup()
{
	pinMode(battPin, INPUT);
	pinMode(pirPin, INPUT);
	pinMode(irPin, INPUT_PULLUP);
	pinMode(irPinPwr, OUTPUT);
	pinMode(pirPinPwr, OUTPUT);
	pinMode(ledBluePin, OUTPUT);
	pinMode(ledRedPin, OUTPUT);
	// pinMode(LED_BUILTIN, OUTPUT);

	digitalWrite(ledBluePin, HIGH);
	digitalWrite(ledRedPin, HIGH);

	wifi_set_phy_mode(PHY_MODE_11N);

	// Serial.begin(9600);
	// delay(10);

	EEPROM.begin(512);
	sleepCycle = EEPROM.read(eepromAddress); //checks for sleep cycle
	drive2 = EEPROM.read(drive2eepromAddress); //checks for drive2 mode

	if (sleepCycle == 1) 
	  {
		  for (byte i = 0; i < 3; i++)
		    {
			    digitalWrite(ledBluePin, LOW);
			    delay(50);
			    digitalWrite(ledBluePin, HIGH);
			    digitalWrite(ledRedPin, LOW);
			    delay(50);
			    digitalWrite(ledRedPin, HIGH);
		    }
		  digitalWrite(pirPinPwr, HIGH);
		  delay(1000);
		  if (digitalRead(pirPin) == 1)
		    {
			    sleepCycle = 0;
			    EEPROM.write(eepromAddress, 0);
			    EEPROM.commit();
			    digitalWrite(pirPinPwr, LOW);
			    digitalWrite(ledRedPin, LOW);
			    digitalWrite(ledBluePin, LOW);
			    delay(1000);
			    digitalWrite(ledRedPin, HIGH);
			    digitalWrite(ledBluePin, HIGH);
		    }
		  else
		    {
			    digitalWrite(pirPinPwr, LOW);
			    moto1->run(RELEASE);
			    moto2->run(RELEASE);
			    ESP.deepSleep(sleepTime * 60000 * 1000);
		    }
	  }


	AFMS.begin();

	setRTC();

	Cayenne.begin(username, password, clientID, ssid, wifiPassword);

	if (drive2 == 1)
	  {
		  Cayenne.virtualWrite(9, 1, "digital_sensor", "d");
	  }
	else
	  {
		  Cayenne.virtualWrite(9, 0, "digital_sensor", "d");
	  }
	Cayenne.virtualWrite(10, 0, "digital_sensor", "d");
	Cayenne.virtualWrite(11, 0, "digital_sensor", "d");
	Cayenne.virtualWrite(14, 0, "digital_sensor", "d");
	Cayenne.virtualWrite(15, 0, "digital_sensor", "d");
	Cayenne.virtualWrite(16, 0, "digital_sensor", "d");
	Cayenne.virtualWrite(17, 0, "digital_sensor", "d");

}








void loop()
{
	Cayenne.loop();
	maint();
	pollSensors();
	// randomSleep();

	yield();




	if (manualControl == 0)
	  {
		  digitalWrite(irPinPwr, HIGH); //turn on IR and PIR
		  digitalWrite(pirPinPwr, HIGH);

		  if (drive1 == true)
		    {
			    moto1->run(FORWARD);
			    moto1->setSpeed(255);
			    moto2->run(FORWARD);
			    moto2->setSpeed(255);

			    checkIR();
			    timers();
		    }

		  if (drive2 == true)
		    {
			    if (drive2FirstRun == true)
			      {
				      drive2FirstRun = false;
				      randomActions();  // get random times
			      }

			    checkIR();
			    timers();

			    if (randomTime2 - millis() >= 0)
			      {
				      moto1->run(FORWARD);
				      moto1->setSpeed(255);
				      moto2->run(FORWARD);
				      moto2->setSpeed(255);
			      }

			    if (randomTime3 - millis() >= 0 && randomTime2 - millis() >= 0)
			      {
				      moto1->run(RELEASE);
				      moto2->run(RELEASE);
				      sleepCycle = 0;
				      EEPROM.write(eepromAddress, 0);
				      EEPROM.commit();
				      ESP.deepSleep(randomTime3 * 1000);

			      }

		    }

		  if (drive1 == false && drive2 == false)
		    {
			    moto1->run(RELEASE);
			    moto2->run(RELEASE);
		    }
	  }
	else
	  {
		  digitalWrite(irPinPwr, LOW);
		  digitalWrite(pirPinPwr, LOW);
		  manualDrive();
	  }
}







void manualDrive()
{
	if (forwardButton == 1)
	  {
		  moto1->run(FORWARD);
		  moto1->setSpeed(255);
		  moto2->run(FORWARD);
		  moto2->setSpeed(255);
		  delay(1000);
	  }

	if (backwardButton == 1)
	  {
		  moto1->run(BACKWARD);
		  moto1->setSpeed(255);
		  moto2->run(BACKWARD);
		  moto2->setSpeed(255);
		  delay(1000);
	  }

	if (leftButton == 1)
	  {
		  moto1->run(FORWARD);
		  moto1->setSpeed(255);
		  moto2->run(FORWARD);
		  moto2->setSpeed(50);
		  delay(1000);
	  }

	if (rightButton == 1)
	  {
		  moto1->run(FORWARD);
		  moto1->setSpeed(50);
		  moto2->run(FORWARD);
		  moto2->setSpeed(255);
		  delay(1000);
	  }

	if (forwardButton == 0 && leftButton == 0 && rightButton == 0 && backwardButton == 0)
	  {
		  moto1->run(RELEASE);
		  moto2->run(RELEASE);
	  }

	Cayenne.virtualWrite(10, 0, "digital_sensor", "d");
	Cayenne.virtualWrite(14, 0, "digital_sensor", "d");
	Cayenne.virtualWrite(15, 0, "digital_sensor", "d");
	Cayenne.virtualWrite(16, 0, "digital_sensor", "d");
	Cayenne.virtualWrite(17, 0, "digital_sensor", "d");
	forwardButton = 0;
	leftButton = 0;
	rightButton = 0;
	backwardButton = 0;
}





void checkIR()
{
	pollSensors();

	objectTime = millis();

	if (object == 0)
	  {
		  objectCount++;

		  moto1->run(RELEASE);
		  moto2->run(RELEASE);

		  delay(150);

		  randomBackup = random(1);

		  if (objectCount > objectCountNum)
		    {
			    Cayenne.loop();
			    backupTime = millis();
			    while (millis() - backupTime < ( backupTimeDelay * 1000 ))
			      {
				      moto1->run(BACKWARD);
				      moto1->setSpeed(255);
				      moto2->run(BACKWARD);
				      moto2->setSpeed(255);
				      yield();
			      }

			    Cayenne.loop();

			    while (millis() - backupTime >= ( backupTimeDelay * 1000 ) && millis() - backupTime <= ( rotationTime * 1000 ))
			      {

				      moto1->run(FORWARD);
				      moto1->setSpeed(255);
				      moto2->run(BACKWARD);
				      moto2->setSpeed(255);
				      yield();
			      }


		    }

		  while (object == 0)
		    {
			    Cayenne.loop();
			    backupTime = millis();

			    switch (randomBackup)
			      {
			      case 0:
			      {
				      moto1->run(BACKWARD);
				      moto1->setSpeed(100);
				      moto2->run(BACKWARD);
				      moto2->setSpeed(255);
				      yield();

				      while (( millis() - backupTime ) < 1500)
					{
						delay(0);
						Cayenne.loop();
					}
			      }

			      case 1:
			      {
				      moto1->run(BACKWARD);
				      moto1->setSpeed(255);
				      moto2->run(BACKWARD);
				      moto2->setSpeed(100);
				      yield();

				      while (( millis() - backupTime ) < 1500)
					{
						delay(0);
						Cayenne.loop();
					}
			      }
			      }

			    object = digitalRead(irPin);
		    }

		  if (randomBackup == 0)
		    {
			    moto1->run(FORWARD);
			    moto1->setSpeed(255);
			    moto2->run(FORWARD);
			    moto2->setSpeed(50);
		    }
		  else
		    {
			    moto1->run(FORWARD);
			    moto1->setSpeed(50);
			    moto2->run(FORWARD);
			    moto2->setSpeed(255);
		    }

		  Cayenne.loop();
		  delay(1000);


	  }
	else
	  {
		  Cayenne.virtualWrite(20, 0, "digital_sensor", "d");
	  }
}



void pollSensors()
{
	object = digitalRead(irPin);
	objectPIR = digitalRead(pirPin);

	if (object == 0)
	  {
		  Cayenne.virtualWrite(20, 1, "digital_sensor", "d");
		  digitalWrite(ledRedPin, LOW);
	  }
	else
	  {
		  Cayenne.virtualWrite(20, 0, "digital_sensor", "d");
		  digitalWrite(ledRedPin, HIGH);
	  }

	if (objectPIR == 1)
	  {
		  Cayenne.virtualWrite(21, 1, "digital_sensor", "d");
	  }
	else
	  {
		  Cayenne.virtualWrite(21, 0, "digital_sensor", "d");
	  }
}



void timers()
{
	if (millis() - objectTime > ( objectZeroReset * 1000 ))
	  {
		  objectCount = 0;
	  }

	if (timeHour > 23 || timeHour < 10)
	  {
		  moto1->run(RELEASE);
		  moto2->run(RELEASE);
		  ESP.deepSleep(sleepTime * 60000 * 1000);
	  }

}


void maint()
{
	if (millis() - time2 > 10000)
	  {
		  Cayenne.virtualWrite(23, disco);

		  time1 = ( millis() / 1000 ) / 60;
		  Cayenne.virtualWrite(24, time1);

		  onlineTime = ( ( millis() - prevTime ) / 1000 ) / 60;
		  Cayenne.virtualWrite(25, onlineTime);

		  int reading = analogRead(battPin);
		  rawVolt = float(reading) / 1024;
		  voltage = ( rawVolt / voltFactor );
		  Cayenne.virtualWrite(22, voltage);

		  Serial.println(reading);
		  Serial.println(rawVolt);
		  Serial.println(voltage);

		  refreshRTC();

		  Cayenne.virtualWrite(5, timeHour);
		  Cayenne.virtualWrite(6, timeMin);



		  time2 = millis();

			Cayenne.loop();

		  if (sleepCycle == 1) // if sleep is active, chip sleeps after data transmit
		    {
			    ESP.deepSleep(sleepTime * 60000 * 1000);
		    }
	  }

	// if (millis() - time3 > 5000 && online == true)
	//   {
	//        time3 = millis();
	//   }
}




void redLED()
{
	if (digitalRead(ledRedPin) == 0)
	  {
		  digitalWrite(ledRedPin, 1);
	  }
	else
	  {
		  digitalWrite(ledRedPin, 0);
	  }
}


void setRTC()
{
	WiFi.mode(WIFI_STA);
	WiFi.begin(ssid, wifiPassword);

	while (WiFi.status() != WL_CONNECTED)
	  {
		  delay(1);
	  }

	configTime(timezone * 3600, dst, "pool.ntp.org", "time.nist.gov");
	delay(500);

	WiFi.disconnect();
}

void refreshRTC()
{
	time_t now;
	struct tm * timeinfo;
	time(&now);
	timeinfo = localtime(&now);

	timeHour = ( timeinfo->tm_hour );
	timeMin = ( timeinfo->tm_min );
}




void randomActions()
{
	randomTime1 = millis() + random(120000);
	randomTime2 = millis() + random(120000);
	randomTime3 = random(3600000);
}










CAYENNE_CONNECTED()
{
	online = true;
	digitalWrite(ledBluePin, 0);
}


CAYENNE_DISCONNECTED()
{
	online = false;
	digitalWrite(ledBluePin, 1);

	prevTime = millis();
	disco++;
}





//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

CAYENNE_IN(9)
{
	drive2 = getValue.asInt();

	if (drive2 == 1) // save sleep cycle status to eeprom to read after reboot
	  {
		  drive2FirstRun = true;
		  system_deep_sleep_set_option(2);

		  EEPROM.write(drive2eepromAddress, 1);
		  EEPROM.commit();
	  }
	else
	  {
		  EEPROM.write(drive2eepromAddress, 0);
		  EEPROM.commit();
	  }
}

CAYENNE_IN(10)
{
	drive1 = getValue.asInt();
}



CAYENNE_IN(11)
{
	sleepCycle = getValue.asInt();

	if (sleepCycle == 1) // save sleep cycle status to eeprom to read after reboot
	  {
		  system_deep_sleep_set_option(2);

		  EEPROM.write(eepromAddress, 1);
		  EEPROM.commit();
	  }
	else
	  {
		  EEPROM.write(eepromAddress, 0);
		  EEPROM.commit();
	  }
}

CAYENNE_IN(12)
{
	byte restartChip = getValue.asInt();

	delay(500);

	if (restartChip == 1)
	  {
		  Cayenne.virtualWrite(12, 0, "digital_sensor", "d");
		  Cayenne.loop();
		  delay(1500);
		  ESP.restart();
	  }
}

CAYENNE_IN(14)
{
	backwardButton = getValue.asInt();
}

CAYENNE_IN(15)
{
	forwardButton = getValue.asInt();
}

CAYENNE_IN(16)
{
	leftButton = getValue.asInt();
}

CAYENNE_IN(17)
{
	rightButton = getValue.asInt();
}

CAYENNE_IN(18)
{
	manualControl = getValue.asInt();

	if (manualControl == 0)
	  {
		  digitalWrite(ledRedPin, HIGH);
	  }
}

CAYENNE_IN(19)
{
	int powerSave = getValue.asInt();

	if (powerSave == 0)
	  {
		  system_update_cpu_freq(160);
		  system_phy_set_max_tpw(82);
		  wifi_set_sleep_type(NONE_SLEEP_T);
	  }

	else
	  {
		  system_update_cpu_freq(80);
		  system_phy_set_max_tpw(35);  //0-82  tx pwr
		  wifi_set_sleep_type(MODEM_SLEEP_T);
	  }
}