This is an interactive art project that I have been building for an upcoming exhibition. The idea for a web-controlled watering can come from the first "iphone watering can" that I helped build with a friend for Maker Faire a couple years ago. Search the internet/youtube for "iphone watering can" for details.
This new version uses a different drive mechanism and a PD control loop to make the watering can track the desired position in realtime. The interface works with any webkit browser. My collaborator and I have discussed using the iphone or android accelerometers to achieve control through phone tilting. I'm not sure if the tilt data is available to the web browser, though, and we are trying to make the interface run on as many platforms as possible. Any ideas?
The siteplayer webserver is extremely old technology and has many problems, but does work. I would explore using a hacked WRT router in the future for similar projects.
HTML file from Siteplayer webserver:
http://www.magconcept.com/watering/can.htm.txt
SPI file from Siteplayer webserver (simply to establish a server response):
http://www.magconcept.com/watering/serial.spi
Arduino code to get serial data from webserver and effect the PID control loop
http://www.magconcept.com/watering/watering_can.pde
"I'm not sure if the tilt data is available to the web browser, though, and we are trying to make the interface run on as many platforms as possible. Any ideas?"
ReplyDeletetry phonegap
Oh.. it is great work..:-) im realy iterested in it..:-) how u do the web interface.. i hope it is ajax..? i tryed to do something like this but it works badly.. (sorry, my english is bad..)
ReplyDeleteGreat project, nicely designed too love the wood and shape. Would be fun to connect it to http://www.botanicalls.com/
ReplyDelete@Tomas, yes the client uses AJAX to send server GET requests without reloading the web page. The code checks to see if the server has finished processing a request, then waits to send the next one. The server and serial link are fast enough to achieve near real-time control of the watering can with this method.
ReplyDeleteJohn and sanpedro, thanks for the suggestions. -Ben
to Ben: can u pleas show me example of your script..? :-)
ReplyDeleteTomas, I have uploaded some code.
ReplyDeletethe spi website is gone...
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, the contents of the .spi file is an http message, 302 FOUND. You can still download the file.
ReplyDeleteIt's a great work! Thank you for sharing your ideas!
ReplyDelete