Robot with Esp8266 Shield and Arduino Nano

Dmitriy · December 26, 2015, 10:34am

Also a very nice way to get more girls involved with technology!

Lichtsignaal · December 26, 2015, 10:48am

Unfortunately it’s a fact of life, we need more women involved in technology to keep up with everybody. My wife usually has great ideas, just not the means to execute them from a technological point of view. It’s a waste to let that all go to waste, sort of speak

psoro · December 26, 2015, 3:34pm

Lichtsignaal,thanks for your comments, she loves my “gadgets” and I enjoy showing her what I do just for fun.

Kind regards!

Pavel · December 26, 2015, 6:18pm

Thanks for sharing, Jose. I posted it on our FB page and will do the same on Twitter! I’m amazed how fast the communication between tha app and robot is.

Costas · December 27, 2015, 9:16am

Nice project psoro.

I’m working with Nano’s but just USB Serial at present. Can you please direct me to a decent set up guide for the pinout on the small shield you made and a good source for the Esp8266’s.

psoro · December 27, 2015, 10:10pm

Hi Costas,
The small Shield is based on the next set up:

The small ASM1117 is good enough to feed the ESP8266

I hope it helps.

Costas · December 29, 2015, 8:27am

Thanks for the schematic psoro. I will work through it as soon as possible.

Costas · December 29, 2015, 8:33am

psoro is it not possible to take the 3.3V feed from the Nano pin for the ESP8266?

Lichtsignaal · December 29, 2015, 8:40am

Yes, you can do that, but the ESP needs more power then the Nano can deliver. If you take power from the Nano you possibly blow up your Nano.

Costas · December 29, 2015, 10:43am

Thanks Lichtsignaal. I have about 30 off CH340G USB to TTL adapters with pins for 3.3V and 5V.
I believe the ESP8266 needs around 300mA but 500mA supply is recommended. Do you think I would be OK taking a USB 2.0 (500mA) feed (at 3.3V) through the CH340G’s for the ESP’s?

Lichtsignaal · December 29, 2015, 11:30am

I’m not sure. I’ve done similar things but I’d highly recommend a separate powersupply. My local Blynk projects seem to run way more stable with those. You can get really cheap adjustable dc-dc convertors or get 1A 5v powersupplies combines with pre-made 5v to 3.3v modules which are really timy and cheap (check ebay).

Costas · December 29, 2015, 11:56am

As I don’t know one end of a soldering iron from the other I think I might buy complete modules. Any recommendations for small (project cases already received), reliable and cheap?

Lichtsignaal · December 29, 2015, 5:11pm

These are the ones I got from Ebay. They even appear to work with voltages as high as 8v input without blowing up.

Costas · December 29, 2015, 7:15pm

I was looking at the same a couple of hours ago (2 for a dollar incl delivery).

Also read about USB to TTL which states ok for rx / tx but not power (as you said).

I might have tracked down the module I need, subject to price negotiation.

MakerD · December 31, 2015, 5:22am

This is exactly what I have been searching for. I am using the nodemcu in stand alone mode, but I believe your code will work. I can then start working on the differential steering some more. I am programming using the Arduino IDE so the coding is going to be pretty much the same I think. By the way im using these batteries: Digital Energy

MakerD · December 31, 2015, 5:33am

NodeMCU for $7-10 and theMotor-Shield is $5-$7.

psoro · December 31, 2015, 9:24am

Hi MakerD!
I wanted to use the Nodemcu as you but my Windows 7 (64 bits) doesn’t like it… I wasn’t able to install properly the drivers for CP2102 (It’s a pitty…) that’s why I did this little shield.

Now I’ve done other little board to play with an Arduino Pro Micro and Blynk, the size compared to the Nodemcu is really similar:

MakerD · December 31, 2015, 1:31pm

Thats interesting. I have done it both ways at this point. The CP2102 is only for you to make the ESP8266 communicate with the usb on your computer. It is already built into the NodeMCU so you wouldn’t need it. Basically, you are using the Arduino in place of the CP2102 to configure the ESP8266 and then program the Arduino to pass and receive serial commands through the RX/TX connection. The NodeMCU can be used in the same way, but you can also add libraries to Arduino IDE and program the ESP8266 directly like you would the Arduino, cutting down your project cost and simplifying your circuit depending on your specific goal at the time. I think there are definitely situations where you want both to take advantage of different strengths of each board.

By the way, I am using Windows 10. You may want to look into it. It is a lot more maker friendly since Microsoft is looking to incorporate support for Arduino IDE support into their platform moving forward.

psoro · January 2, 2016, 10:02pm

Hi MakerD,
I ordered two NodeMCU with the the chip CH340G instead of the CP2102, I’ve been using a small converter with the CH340 to flash and program the ESP8266 as Standalone and an Arduino Pro Mini and it works like a charm.
At the moment I use the ESP8266 as a Shield for the Arduino to play with Blynk, I’m not using the Arduino in place of the CP2102, the little converter does this work.

I’ll have a look at Windows 10, many thanks for your advices,

MakerD · January 3, 2016, 5:43am

Sounds pretty awesome. I look forward to many awesome projects to come. I got two of them with the motor driver boards as well. Ive been able to the shield pretty easily with the romeo ble boards that are UNO compatible. I also tried the hardware serial on the Mega that works much better since there are additional serial ports. Software serial is cool, but if your ESP has 115200 baudrate it wont work unless you flash with firmware the does 9600. 9600 is a limitation to software serial since its not a true serial port. Also, it drops the wifi a lot more. If you need to send a lot of signals in a short period of time it will drive you crazy. I think it would be ok for something like data monitoring. You’re more than welcome. Your project is helping me a lot as well.