The ForceTronics blog provides tutorials on creating fun and unique electronic projects. The goal of each project will be to create a foundation or jumping off point for amateur, hobbyist, and professional engineers to build on and innovate. Please use the comments section for questions and go to forcetronics.com for information on forcetronics consulting services.
In this video we look at how we can use Bare Conductive's Electric Paint to create a custom strain gauge.
/* * This code was written for a video on the ForceTronics YouTube channel. This code is public domain and can be used and modified by anybody at your own risk */ #include <Average.h> //Call average library void setup() { Serial.begin(57600); analogReadResolution(12); //Set Arduino Zero ADC to 12 bits for(int i=0;i<4;i++) analogRead(A0); //burn a couple readings since we changed ADC setting Average<int> ave(10); } void loop() { delay(100); Average<int> ave(10); //Create average object for (int i=0; i<10;i++) ave.push(analogRead(A0) - 2700); //get 10 readings and subtract most of the value off to look at small changes Serial.println(ave.mean()); //average the 10 readings together }
In this video series we look at how to use Arduino (ESP8266) and the Amazon Echo to do voice controlled home automation.
Link to project material on GitHub:https://github.com/ForceTronics/Arduino_Echo_Home_Automation //************************************ESP8266 Arduino code********************* /* This sketch was created for a video series called Home Automation with the Arduino and the Amazon Echo Part 2 That was presented on the ForceTronics YouTube Channel. This code is public domain for anybody to use or modify at your own risk Note that this code was leveraged from a Sparkfun example on using their cloud service Phant */ // Include the ESP8266 WiFi library #include <ESP8266WiFi.h> // Include the SparkFun Phant library. #include <Phant.h> //Set your network name and password const char WiFiSSID[] = "NetworkName"; //your wifi network name goes here const char WiFiPSK[] = "NetworkPassword"; //your wifi password goes here //define constants for pin control and node number const int light = 4; //NodeMCU GPIO 4 pin is connected to the WiFi AC Switch control const char parseKey[] = "stamp"; //This is used to parse through data from Phant to find light setting //declare phant address and security keys const char PhantHost[] = "data.sparkfun.com"; const char gPublicKey[] = "YourPublicKey"; //your phant public key goes here const char gPrivateKey[] = "YourPrivateKey"; //your phant private key goes here //specify the rate that you post data to cloud const unsigned long postRate = 1000; unsigned long lastPost = 0; void setup() { initHardware(); //setup arduino hardware connectWiFi(); //Connect your WiFi network digitalWrite(LED_BUILTIN, HIGH); //turn on LED } void loop() { //loop until it is time to post data to phant cloud, variable "postRate" defines the interval in milli seconds if (lastPost + postRate <= millis()) { if (getFromPhant()) lastPost = millis(); //get data from Phant else lastPost = millis(); //Even if we fail delay whole cycle before we try again } } //function used to connect to WiFi network void connectWiFi() { byte ledStatus = LOW; // Set WiFi mode to station (as opposed to AP or AP_STA) WiFi.mode(WIFI_STA); // WiFI.begin([ssid], [passkey]) initiates a WiFI connection // to the stated [ssid], using the [passkey] as a WPA, WPA2, // or WEP passphrase. WiFi.begin(WiFiSSID, WiFiPSK); // Use the WiFi.status() function to check if the ESP8266 // is connected to a WiFi network. while (WiFi.status() != WL_CONNECTED) { // Blink the LED digitalWrite(LED_BUILTIN, ledStatus); // Write LED high/low ledStatus = (ledStatus == HIGH) ? LOW : HIGH; // Delays allow the ESP8266 to perform critical tasks // defined outside of the sketch. These tasks include // setting up, and maintaining, a WiFi connection. delay(100); } } //function that sets up some initial hardware states void initHardware() { pinMode(light, OUTPUT); //turn light off at startup digitalWrite(light, LOW); } //function that handles getting data from phant cloud int getFromPhant() { //Set phant data Phant phant(PhantHost, gPublicKey, gPrivateKey); WiFiClient client; //Create client object to communicate with the phant server
if (!client.connect(PhantHost, 80)) { //Attempt to connect to phant server using port 80 // If we fail to connect, return 0. return 0; } //Get data from phant cloud client.print(phant.get()); client.println(); int cTrack = 0; //variable that tracks count to spell stamp bool match = false; //tracks when we have a match with "stamp" and we can then get control data int pCount = 0; //variable used to track when we have control data while(1) { //loop until we get data and server closes connection if (client.available()) { //if data is available from phant server char c = client.read(); //read a bite of data from server if(!match) { //if true than we have not found the word "stamp" so keep looking if(c == parseKey[cTrack]) //check if we have a character match with word "stamp" { if(cTrack == (sizeof(parseKey)-2)) match = true; //if true it means we found a match for "stamp" in data from phant cloud cTrack++; //iterate this count if a character match was found } else { //if true means no character match so reset count cTrack = 0; } } else { //if true it means we found a match to "stamp" and we are ready to get control data if(pCount == 1) { //if true we are at the point in the data to read control data for node oen int dControl = c - '0'; //convert char data to an int by subtract an ASCII zero if(dControl == 1 | dControl == 0) digitalWrite(light, dControl); //make sure data is a one or zer and set LED pin with it } pCount++; //iterate the parse counter } } // if the server's disconnected, stop the client: if (!client.connected()) { client.stop(); //stop client, if you don't have this you will create too many clients and server won't let you connect anymore break; //This is how we get out of the loop } } return 1; // Return success }
//********************java script code for Lambda Function*************************
var https = require('https') //include https
exports.handler = (event, context) => {
try {
if (event.session.new) {
// New Session
console.log("NEW SESSION") //log this for debugging
}
switch (event.request.type) {
case "LaunchRequest":
// Launch Request
console.log(`LAUNCH REQUEST`)
context.succeed(
generateResponse(
buildSpeechletResponse("Welcome to the ForceTronics Home Automation Skill, say turn light on or turn light off", true), //response for Alexa if you just call the skill without intent
{}
)
)
break;
case "IntentRequest":
// Intent Request
console.log(`INTENT REQUEST`)
switch(event.request.intent.name) { //switch statement to select the right intent
case "TurnLightOn":
var endpoint = "https://data.sparkfun.com/input/YourPublicKey?private_key=YourPrivateKey&lightstate=1" //https string to log data to phant phant
https.get(endpoint, function (result) { //use https get request to send data to phant
console.log('Success, with: ' + result.statusCode);
context.succeed(
generateResponse( //if you succeeded allow Alexa to tell you state of light
buildSpeechletResponse("The light is turned on", true),
{}
)
)
}).on('error', function (err) {
console.log('Error, with: ' + err.message);
context.done("Failed");
});
break;
case "TurnLightOff": //the turn light off intent
var endpoint2 = "https://data.sparkfun.com/input/YourPublicKey?private_key=YourPrivateKey&lightstate=0" // phant string to set light state to off
https.get(endpoint2, function (result) {
console.log('Success, with: ' + result.statusCode);
context.succeed(
generateResponse( //Alexa response if successful
buildSpeechletResponse("The light is turned off", true),
{}
)
)
}).on('error', function (err) {
console.log('Error, with: ' + err.message);
context.done("Failed");
});
break;
default:
throw "Invalid intent"
}
break;
case "SessionEndedRequest":
// Session Ended Request
console.log(`SESSION ENDED REQUEST`)
break;
