Android, ROS, and IOIO-OTG?

[Rudy Rimland, CISSP]

Has anyone worked with with this combination (ROS, Android, IOIO-OTG)?

I'm a ROS and 'droid newb, but I couldn't resist picking up a new
Android phone for $9.00 (at Family Dollar, no plan required).

Just ordered "A Gentle Guide to ROS" for $11.25.

Not sure if Patrick's books will help in this situation, but willing to
get those if they will shorten my learning curve...

Has anyone used this book?:
http://www.amazon.com/Programming-Robots-ROS-Morgan-Quigley/dp/1449323898/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1436117903&sr=1-2&keywords=ros

Thinking about the SparkFun IOIO-OTG for interface, $39.95. If anyone
has worked with this, is it worth it? Is there a better alternative?

While the IOIO is clearly compatible with Android, and ROS Android is
available in Indigo, I'm not sure what I might be getting into by
combining IOIO with ROS...

At this point it is purely a learning exercise. Comments and pointers
appreciated.

Regards,
Rudy

[Marco Walther]

On 07/05/2015 10:40 AM, Rudy Rimland, CISSP wrote:
> Has anyone worked with with this combination (ROS, Android, IOIO-OTG)?

I have no experience with that combination! But I have some questions;-)

>
> I'm a ROS and 'droid newb, but I couldn't resist picking up a new
> Android phone for $9.00 (at Family Dollar, no plan required).

Can you find out iff that phone supports USB-OTG as well? That would
make things somewhat more flexible;-) You just need the right cable and
could connect any MCU/dev board and play with it. Different Arduino's
come to mind and the connection ROS <--> Arduino works very well. That
might eliminate one variable while you try to learn and get a working
setup?!

>
> Just ordered "A Gentle Guide to ROS" for $11.25.
>
> Not sure if Patrick's books will help in this situation, but willing to
> get those if they will shorten my learning curve...
>
> Has anyone used this book?:
> http://www.amazon.com/Programming-Robots-ROS-Morgan-Quigley/dp/1449323898/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1436117903&sr=1-2&keywords=ros
>
>
> Thinking about the SparkFun IOIO-OTG for interface, $39.95. If anyone
> has worked with this, is it worth it? Is there a better alternative?

Did you look at the Arduino Mega ADK? I'm currently not playing with
Android -> external electronics, so not sure how well that would work.
But you get all the Arduino code/libraries/examples and an USB-Host;-)

Makershed sells them currently for $40.49;-)
http://www.makershed.com/products/arduino-adk-mega

Have fun learning;-)
-- Marco (Who needs to write about all his experiments:-()

[Mark Johnston]

Sorting out ROS on ubuntu (a highly used platform) is often a matter of searching on Wiki pages and ROS wiki and looking for others doing what you wish to do.  This is a path that leads to finding all sorts of highly powerful software to 'stand on the shoulders' of and take it from there.    

Getting up to speed on ROS (and linux below it) can be a large enough set of new info to keep one busy for quite a while as there is a high learning curve.

So at a high level it would seem that if you are completely new to ROS and go for a really unusual environment like this PIC based bridge off of USB on top of Android ROS you are very deep over on 'the cutting edge' or rather, 'bleeding edge'.

If you have a very high tolerance to overcoming roadblocks and that is fun for you then go for it.   If your real goal is to learn ROS then consider the more often taken path of running it on linux laptop or raspberry Pi sort of board.   I agree with Marko in that if you do wish that path be sure the phone supports the USB On-The-Go capability.  I use that approach for some canon camera things and some phones require you cobble together external power and other odd things to make it work but some will support it directly with a USB On-The-Go cable (cheap on Ebay).   That may be your first 'challenge'   

It's a matter of just how well you deal with challenges and if the challenge is what you seek I bet the platform you are thinking about will have that in abundance.  Many of us thrive on facing a challenge. 

Sounds like fun

Mark

[Rudy Rimland, CISSP]

On 7/5/15 3:21 PM, Mark Johnston wrote:

Getting up to speed on ROS (and linux below it) can be a large enough set of new info to keep one busy for quite a while as there is a high learning curve.

I felt that, which is what led me to seek counsel here.  I'm comfortable with *nix, have wanted to explore ROS for some time.

So at a high level it would seem that if you are completely new to ROS and go for a really unusual environment like this PIC based bridge off of USB on top of Android ROS you are very deep over on 'the cutting edge' or rather, 'bleeding edge'.

... consider the more often taken path of running it on linux laptop or raspberry Pi sort of board.  ...

It sounds like I might be better off separating my goals.  ROS is one goal, Android is another.  A Raspberry Pi is about the same cost as the USB bridge I was eyeing...

 

Sounds like fun

Mark

On Sunday, July 5, 2015 at 10:40:43 AM UTC-7, Rudy Rimland wrote:

Has anyone worked with with this combination (ROS, Android, IOIO-OTG)?

I'm a ROS and 'droid newb, but I couldn't resist picking up a new
Android phone for $9.00 (at Family Dollar, no plan required).

(snip)

[Rudy Rimland, CISSP]

On 7/5/15 2:06 PM, Marco Walther wrote:
> (snip)
> Can you find out iff that phone supports USB-OTG as well? (snip)
>
Thanks! I knew enough to know I didn't know what I didn't know.

After some research, I found it does not. But someone on Amazon is
selling an adapter specifically for this phone for that purpose. That
would be a useless purchase. This phone is a LG L34C. The hardware
does not support OTG, it can only be a USB slave, not a host.

So that leads to wondering how I can still use it.

The main reason I bought it on a lark is that for $9, I get a java (yet
another language) platform, a camera, color display with touchscreen,
speaker and microphone, wifi, bluetooth, and (it turns out) slave-only
USB. Plus it has its own rechargeable battery, simplifying power
isolation issues. So much cheaper than building the same with Arduino
and shields.

So I will still need a USB host (will look at the mega), but the
IOIO-OTG idea is out for now unless I buy a more expensive phone.
>
>>
(snip)

[James Nugen]

On Mon, Jul 6, 2015 at 6:44 PM, Rudy Rimland, CISSP <rudy.r...@cyber-smarts.com> wrote:

So I will still need a USB host (will look at the mega), but the IOIO-OTG idea is out for now unless I buy a more expensive phone.

Actually, that's not a problem!  The IOIO and ADK boards act as the USB host.  The phone connects as a USB slave.  They should work with pretty much any Android phone.

If you have a newer phone that supports USB host mode, you can bypass the need for one of those boards and talk directly to USB slave devices. such as a regular Arduino.

James Nugen 

[Marco Walther]

The IOIO-OTG would play the role of the host. So it SHOULD work with
your cheap phone as the client. But the other caveats are still valid.

-- Marco

>>
>>>
> (snip)
>

[Mark Johnston]

Good news on you not needing to have USB master on the phone.

My main thought is that you are saving maybe $20 but you are way way out there on the 'uncharted seas'  while at the same time trying to learn ROS.

Lots of people love that sort of challenge and we would follow your posts as to what you learn with interest. I hope you are very good with linux on android, that would come in very handy.

Your saving of $20 is very nice as long as you have a lot of free time and are up for a lot of learning experiences.

Very interesting stuff and let us know of your adventures in 'uncharted waters'.   I too love android, great platform for apps and such.