Now, it's time to get krackin'! Leave the elements connected at steps 1 and 2 as they are and upload sonar.ino to the board.
Upload sonar.ino (Right click>Save target as) is uploaded to the board, go ahead and open sonar.pde (Right click>Save target as) into Processing, Then just click on RUN in processing and you should see the following window (figure 3.1) :
NOTE: While uploading the code, make sure you have unplugged the power for the Servo and Sonar module, if not you might see code upload errors.
Figure 3.1
Also, feel free to edit the code to your liking!
Please see below video for example of working application:
If things don't go as planned, please see the debugging section at the end.
HOW IS IT USEFUL?
Don't even get us started! Want to monitor your front door from another room or work? Just connect a longer cable or RDP into the computer connected to the Arduino. Want to make sure your cat stays away from your hamsters? Guess what? No problem! Want to feel like a real sonar operator? Say no more! The green light from the monitor and beeping noise will transport you to the belly of the beast! Just want to look cool? Sporting this kit is the equivalent of 10 years of covert ops on a deep-sea nuclear powered attack submarine! Well not really, but hey, the sky is the limit with this thing!
Just browse this website for possible projects you could add this to. One would be the Mars Rover Kit. Adding this module to the kit would enable your robot for 180 degree vision. Further possibilities for this include mapping of areas, smart line/wall follower robots, obstacle detection, best path calculation, etc.
Adding this kit to the Room Monitor/Home alarm gives the application a much larger area of surveillance. This will allow you to monitor a much larger area of your home from a internet-enabled device. If you're interested in short-distance communication, you can use a Wireless sensor and Data logger.
DEBUGGING TIPS:
The following are known issues you might encounter and below are tips to address them:
Symptom : The processing app suddenly stops working
- The Arduino FTDI COM interface could have reset itself. In that case the COM port would have changed from COM1 to COM2 etc, It as simple as restart the processing app
Symptom : Arduino is not able to download the code
- If you aren't able to program the Arduino, check the cable. Remove the power supply for Servo and the Sonar sensor and try programming, it should work.
Symptom : Sensor behaves erratic, getting wrong readings
- Power-hungry servos eh? Nothing new, cave paintings were found on the subject. Unlike cave men however, we do have this. Plug this into a wall socket and then the Arduino. You can't get this wrong, the plugs don't fit anywhere else.This is necessary because the USB-powered Arduino doesn't allow you to draw more than 300mA maximum.
- And the answer is YES. You can still have the USB connected to the PC while powering the Arduino from a wall socket.
If the above don't help, please contact us and we'll get our team right on it.