Book Image

ESP8266 Robotics Projects

By : Pradeeka Seneviratne
Book Image

ESP8266 Robotics Projects

By: Pradeeka Seneviratne

Overview of this book

The ESP8266 Wi-Fi module is a self-contained SOC with an integrated TCP/IP protocol stack and can give any microcontroller access to your Wi-Fi network. It has a powerful processing and storage capability and also supports application hosting and Wi-Fi networking. This book is all about robotics projects based on the original ESP8266 microcontroller board and some variants of ESP8266 boards. It starts by showing all the necessary things that you need to build your development environment with basic hardware and software components. The book uses the original ESP8266 board and some variants such as the Adafruit HUZZAH ESP8266 and the Adafruit Feather HUZZAH ESP8266 . You will learn how to use different type of chassis kits, motors, motor drivers, power supplies, distribution boards, sensors, and actuators to build robotics projects that can be controlled via Wi-Fi. In addition, you will learn how to use line sensors, the ArduiCam, Wii Remote, wheel encoders, and the Gripper kit to build more specialized robots. By the end of this book, you will have built a Wi-Fi control robot using ESP8266.
Table of Contents (15 chapters)
Title Page
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewer
www.PacktPub.com
Customer Feedback
Preface

Building the Romi Robot


The Romi chassis (Figure 6.2) is a differential-drive mobile robot platform with a diameter of 6.5" (165 mm) and an integrated battery holder for six AA batteries. The drive wheels are located on a diameter of the circular base plate, allowing for turns or spinning in place. A large, fixed ball caster in the rear provides a smooth third point of contact and a second ball caster can be optionally added to the front.

The Romi chassis has plenty of general-purpose mounting holes and slots intended for various screw sizes, such as #2-56, #4-40, M2, and M3. These holes can be used for mounting your electronics, such as your microcontroller, motor drivers, and sensors:

Figure 6.2: The Romi Chassis Kit -Black. Image courtesy of Pololu—https://www.pololu.com

The Romi chassis kit (Figure 6.2) comes with the following things and requires assembly:

  • One black Romi chassis base plate with battery cover
  • Two mini plastic gearmotors (120:1 HP with offset output and extended motor shaft...