Slides from a presentation on frameworks employing javascript as a language for programming robots.

2. Javascript on Arduino
Keith Bloomfield - Dev9

3. Javascript on Arduino
● Told from experience
– motivation
– approach
– lessons learned
● Talking points:
– hardware
– software
– design patterns
– hardware/software
integration
– code samples

4. Javascript on Arduino
Motivation

5. Javascript on Arduino
Motivation
SainSmart palletizing
robotic arm

6. Javascript on Arduino
Motivation
SainSmart palletizing
robotic arm - $118.23

7. Javascript on Arduino
Motivation
SainSmart palletizing
robotic arm - $118.23
Pros
● Much cheaper than rival
hobby robotic arms
● Performs surprisingly well
in terms of speed

8. Javascript on Arduino
Motivation
SainSmart palletizing
robotic arm - $118.23
Cons
● Not much lifting power
● Difficult to replace parts
● No instructions

9. Javascript on Arduino
Motivation
IoT is the buzzword of the day

10. Javascript on Arduino
Motivation
IoT is the buzzword of the day

11. Javascript on Arduino
Motivation
IoT is the buzzword of the day
But it isn't entirely new
● Parts are cheaper
● Tutorials are available
● Technology is more developer friendly
● Similar reasons why many people became
software developers
● We will get back to this

12. Javascript on Arduino
Arduino
- Is a microcontroller (Open source prototyping platform) – A small
computer on a single integrated circuit (memory, processor, I/O peripherals).
- One of several competing products
Shield
- Extends capabilities of the Arduino
- Requires a driver
- Requires soldering

13. Javascript on Arduino
Javascript is powering devices
● Johnny-five http://johnny-five.io
● Cylon http://cylonjs.com
● Espruino (Javascript on the metal) http://www.espruino.com/
● and more!

14. Javascript on Arduino
Javascript is powering devices
Firmata: It's a protocol, it's a library...

15. Javascript on Arduino
Javascript is powering devices
Firmata: It's a protocol, it's a library...
- Enables communication between a
computer and a microcontroller using the
midi message format:
http://www.midi.org/techspecs/midimessages.php

16. Javascript on Arduino
IoT is the buzzword of the day?

17. Javascript on Arduino
IoT is the buzzword of the day?
The cloud acts as the OS of the device.

18. Javascript on Arduino
Software:
johnny-five: JS Robotics & IoT framework
compulsive ('13) – Loops and delays without traditional
timers. Time based event loop process queue
temporal? (TODO '14) – Non-blocking, temporal task
sequencing.
Javascript is powering devices

19. Javascript on Arduino
johnny-five
- has a useful REPL
(read-eval-print loop)
- supports a growing number of
boards, shields, sensors,
actuators
Javascript is powering devices

20. Javascript on Arduino
Hardware: Arduino Mega 2560
AdaFruit Servo Shield
Servos
IR motion sensor
Javascript is powering devices

21. Javascript on Arduino
Hardware: Load Sensor
HX711 Load Cell Amp
MultiColor Led
HUZZA ESP8266 Wifi breakout
Javascript is powering devices

22. Javascript on Arduino
Powered by:
Arduino: Basic arm motion only
(4) 1.5V AA Batteries: Arm with augmented body
5V 2A power supply: Arm, lid, motion sensor. Struggles lifting
when all 3 in operation at the same time.
5V 10A power supply: Sufficient
Servos require lots of power!

23. Javascript on Arduino
Be careful about mishaps. The larger/stronger the robot, the
more severe the accident.
Accidents can quickly disable functionality.
Servos require lots of power!

24. Javascript on Arduino
Be careful about mishaps. The larger/stronger the robot, the
more severe the accident.
Accidents can quickly disable functionality.
Recovery may take several days (new hardware in the mail)
Servos require lots of power!

25. Javascript on Arduino
Be careful about mishaps. The larger/stronger the robot, the
more severe the accident.
Accidents can quickly disable functionality.
Recovery may take several days (new hardware in the mail)
+ Add an emergency stop early
Servos require lots of power!

26. Javascript on Arduino
When composition relies heavily on found
components, and the idea is ad hoc, hardware
refactoring/reassembly is frequent.
Lesson: It's easy to end up in
the weeds

27. Javascript on Arduino
When composition relies heavily on found
components, and the idea is ad hoc, hardware
refactoring/reassembly is frequent.
+ Plan well, measure accurately and thoroughly.
Lesson: It's easy to end up in
the weeds

28. Javascript on Arduino
When composition relies heavily on found
components, and the idea is ad hoc, hardware
refactoring/reassembly is frequent.
+ Plan well, measure accurately and thoroughly.
+ Expect to spend considerable time refactoring if you
are planning as you go.
Lesson: It's easy to end up in
the weeds

29. Javascript on Arduino
+ Refactor small, iterative/incremental, stable as possible
Lesson: It's easy to end up in
the weeds

30. Javascript on Arduino
+ Refactor small, iterative/incremental, stable as possible
+ Use a board to track tasks
Lesson: It's easy to end up in
the weeds

31. Javascript on Arduino
+ Refactor small, iterative/incremental, stable as possible
+ Use a board to track tasks
+ Keep changes in sync with the REPL
Lesson: It's easy to end up in
the weeds

32. Javascript on Arduino
Couples sensory information to action selection (what to do next)
in an intimate bottom-up fashion.
Subsumption Architecture

33. Javascript on Arduino
Subsumption Architecture
Couples sensory information to action selection (what to do next)
in an intimate bottom-up fashion.
Behaviors prioritized and interruptive.

34. Javascript on Arduino
Subsumption Architecture
Couples sensory information to action selection (what to do next)
in an intimate bottom-up fashion.
Behaviors prioritized and interruptive.
Lejos: Robot accessed directly through behaviors, focus on
looping actions broken by flipping a boolean to false. Static
methods/fields for convenience

35. Javascript on Arduino
Couples sensory information to action selection (what to do next)
in an intimate bottom-up fashion.
Behaviors prioritized and interruptive.
Lejos: Robot accessed directly through behaviors, focus on
looping actions broken by flipping a boolean to false. Static
methods/fields for convenience
Challenge: Action selection implementation
Subsumption Architecture

36. Javascript on Arduino
Hardware in terms of stateful objects
On node.js?
Subsumption Architecture

37. Javascript on Arduino
Johnny-five:
Animation
Subsumption Architecture

38. Javascript on Arduino
REST + JSON?
●

39. Javascript on Arduino
REST + JSON?
● CoAP (Constrained Application Protocol)
http://coap.technology/
● QUIC (Quick UDP Internet Connections)
https://www.chromium.org/quic
● CBOR (Concise Binary Object Representation)
http://cbor.io/
● Apache thrift
https://thrift.apache.org/
● protobuf (Protocol Buffers – serializing structured
data)
https://github.com/google/protobuf

40. Javascript on Arduino
- Costly,
prohibitive
ramp-up time
● Inexpensive,
interoperable, plug-and-
play components
● Expensive computation
occurs in the cloud
● The only limitation is
creativity

41. Javascript on Arduino
The Robot...

42. Javascript on Arduino

43. Javascript on Arduino
- Detects presence of cat

44. Javascript on Arduino
- Detects presence of cat
-Waits for cat to do its business

45. Javascript on Arduino
- Detects presence of cat
-Waits for cat to do its business
-Warns off nearby cat(s)

46. Javascript on Arduino
- Detects presence of cat
-Waits for cat to do its business
-Warns off nearby cat(s)
-Scoops the clumps, deposits
them in bin

47. Javascript on Arduino
- Detects presence of cat
-Waits for cat to do its business
-Warns off nearby cat(s)
-Scoops the clumps, deposits
them in bin
- Levels the mounds

48. Javascript on Arduino
- Detects presence of cat
-Waits for cat to do its business
-Warns off nearby cat(s)
-Scoops the clumps, deposits
them in bin
- Levels the mounds
(v2) Tracks litter level in bin
(v2) Notifies user once bin is full
(v2) Detects clumps
(v2) Wireless

49. Javascript on Arduino
Demo + Q&A
Github:
github.com/kthblmfld/poopscavator
Demo:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCbXBw0zStk