New project need some ideas.

[dl_evans]

I'm looking for a microcontroller with bluetooth or at least able to add on bluetooth cheaply. I want to hook up a wiimote and control an oLED display. I've used Arduinos before but if there is anything else that might work better I'm all ears.

Thanks!

[cstratton]

It's tended to be that commodity USB bluetoth dongles are about $10 cheaper than the serial or SPI ones people use with microcontrollers, but micocontrollers with USB host have been about that much more expensive than those without. When the raspberry pi $25 linux board ships, it might change that, but you'd be on the cutting edge with a new board and large software stack you may spend some effort talking into getting out of your way, vs the arduino/avr or comparable plus serial bluetooth module being something people have worked with a lot.

The real deciding factors might be if you have substantial other software and resource needs that could point to the more powerful near-future platform, and if you can wait a few months for it to come out and gain reference projects (or be a creator thereof yourself)

[Kong_Harry]

Hi!

I'm just starting out with robotics, and on my "online road trip" to find good stuff to start out with, I came across the EZ-B Bluetooth Controller. Maybe that's something you could check out. Their website is at EZ-Robot.

I have just ordered one, myself, so I can't give you any feedback or reviews. Still, it seems to be quite good and also easy to program.

Regards from Norway
Frode

[dl_evans]

Thanks for the feedback guys.

Here's the parts list I've got so far:
http://www.sparkfun.com/wish_lists/28602

I'm wanting to make something like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jk5M0YjJ0kA

only wireless.

I would like to update the image over bluetooth from my phone if possible but if not I'd like to at least change the picture (like a slideshow) from my phone / wiimote.

[cstratton]

Seems plausible to me, I'm pretty sure there are wii-stuff + arduino via blueooth projects out there that you can look up for confirmation of the degree of difficulty you are likely to face on the software side.

That blueooth module strikes me as a bit pricey - I was under the impression there were some for a bit over half that cost, but haven't used any of them, so if that one comes recommended it may be a reasonable choice. I also think there may be some arduino-compatible boards with bluetooth on board out there.

Just an an economic cross-check, your shopping cart total is in the range where you could pick up a first-generation android phone to use as an already integrated processor-bluetooth-display-battery solution instead. Or a chumby and a usb blueooth dongle.

[dl_evans]

Yeah the price tag is the reason why I've been asking for help to make sure it's what I'll need and why I haven't bought them. I honestly hadn't thought about a cheap phone... good idea.

[speekr]

To expand on that line of thought, the nook uses the android software. Ive seen a few phone controlled gadgets. Is it possible to use an ereader instead? Maybe not bluetooth wise but with the data cable?

[cstratton]

To expand on that line of thought, the nook uses the android software. Ive seen a few phone controlled gadgets. Is it possible to use an ereader instead? Maybe not bluetooth wise but with the data cable?

Possibly. The two criteria for success in a reasonable amount of effort would generally be:

- Is there a community of people on the net who know how to load custom software onto the device, especially kernel-mode software? Or to use the common term, is there a known method to "root" it? Depending on what you want to do, "app" level customization may be sufficient, but particularly where I/O is concerned being able to do privileged (root) things or change the kernel may be needed. Somewhat included is, "are the kernel sources available?" - which unfortunately is not the case for some of the no-name import android tablets (and without which the manufacturer has no license for the operating system kernel and is thus shipping pirated software). I think the answer for the nook line is that it is known how to root them, and sources are available, but check for the specific model/revision before buying.

- Is there a sufficient I/O channel into the device to accomplish what the project needs? As you noted, e-readers may not have bluetooth. The nook color sort of has a vestigial bluetooth in its chipset (not mentioned anywhere in the official specs) that doesn't work very well. USB can be an option, but the external device may have to be the USB host - ie, IOIO board, adk, usb host shield, etc. There are some android and other portable devices which can be USB hosts, in which case a simpler external USB device can be used. And there's wifi, but that has complexity and battery life implications. For minimal amounts of data, there's the headphone jack, though e-readers may not have a microphone channel in theirs making it output only.

[HughJohnson]

There is an official Bluetooth Arduino, I have one, it's not very reliable with my Mac. It might work better on Windows but from my (very limited) experience I'd suggest looking at a more reliable solution.

You'd probably be much better looking into a wifi solution IMO. It would also make your android app much easier to code, and perhaps allow other non-android phones/computers to also easily connect. An html5 interface could work everywhere and connect via http.

From what I see (very limited experience mind you) the only advantage of a Bluetooth Arduino over a wifi enabled Arduino is the ability to reprogram the Arduino wirelessly. If your sketch already supports what you want it to do then no need to reprogram it.

I'd say my 2 cents is only worth 1 but that's my 2 cents.

[cstratton]

Wifi will kill batteries in short order compared to bluetooth

[HughJohnson]

He mentioned hooking up to a display. I guess I should've considered that displays come in all sizes and are often battery powered. Soon as you fellas started talking about using Android and rooting it and all that, I thought about how much simpler and reliable my experience with wifi was compared to Bluetooth. I didn't consider battery life at all.

[cstratton]

I was assuming that the android device's screen would be the display. Hooking up an external display would be non-trivial, unless it's a phone with HDMI out or something like that.

Obviously having the screen on does consume power, though less I think than the wifi. Where bluetooth really shines is if the radio needs to be monitoring in the background when not in active use - it's designed for that, while wifi isn't. Also the wiimote is natively bluetooth, making it wifi would require a lot of modification.

With wifi there's also the problem of needing something able to run as an access point, or convincing both devices to work in adhoc mode. OTOH if you want to use an iDevice with it's proprietary blueooth gatekeeper, wifi is probably simpler to get going.

[ytai]

Not sure if you're aware of IOIO over Bluetooth. It uses a dongle as suggested above.
http://ytai-mer.blogspot.com/2011/10/ioio-over-bluetooth-or-who-needs-cables.html