Interacting with robot (Sphero) through Node.js

 Sphero is a sophisticated and programmable robot housed in a polycarbonate sphere shell.

The cylon-sphero adaptor makes it easy to interact with Sphero using Node.js. Once you have your Sphero setup and connected to your computer, you can start writing code to make Sphero move, change direction, speed and colors, or detect Sphero events and execute some code when they occur.

We have created a interactive game using three Spheros. Controlling multiple Spheros , Spheros will roll in a random direction and change their colors when it has a collision.

For this Cylon example, we're going to set up a Sphero such that it will change it's color and roll in a random direction when it has a collision.

Before we get started, make sure you have the cylon-sphero module installed.

First, let's load up Cylon:

var Cylon = require('cylon');

With that loaded, we can begin defining our robot.

Cylon.robot({

We're going to have one connection, and one device for this robot, both the same Sphero.

  connection: { name: 'sphero', adaptor: 'sphero', port: '/dev/rfcomm0' },
  device: { name: 'sphero', driver: 'sphero' },

With the necessary hardware defined, we can now start telling Cylon about the work our robot will be performing.

  work: function(me) {

We'll assign some variables here for later, a basic color for our sphero and a variable we'll use for a bitwise math operation later.

    var color = 0x00FF00,
        bitFilter = 0xFFFF00;

When our Sphero emits the 'connect' event, we're going to hook up collision detection, make sure it's not moving, and set a color.

    me.sphero.on('connect', function() {
      console.log("Setting up Collision Detection...");
      me.sphero.detectCollisions();
      me.sphero.setRGB(color);
      me.sphero.stop();
    });

And when our Sphero detects a collision, we want to notify the user of this via the console.

    me.sphero.on('collision', function(data) {
      console.log("Collision:");

We get the new color for a Sphero by doing a bitwise XOR operation on it, using the bitfilter above.

      color = color ^ bitFilter;

With our new color in hand, we can let the user know what color we're using now, and change the Sphero to that color. We'll also tell the Sphero to roll in a random direction, at speed 90.

      console.log("Color: " + (color.toString(16)) + " ");
      me.sphero.setRGB(color);
      me.sphero.roll(90, Math.floor(Math.random() * 360));
    });
  }

And with all that said and done, we can now start the robot.

}).start();

Code snippet :

	var Cylon = require('cylon'); Cylon.robot({
	connection: { name: 'sphero', adaptor: 'sphero', port: '/dev/rfcomm0' },
	device: { name: 'sphero', driver: 'sphero' },
	work: function(me) {
	var color = 0x00FF00,
	bitFilter = 0xFFFF00;
	after((1).seconds(), function() {
	console.log("Setting up Collision Detection...");
	me.sphero.detectCollisions();
	me.sphero.setRGB(color);
	me.sphero.stop();
	});
	me.sphero.on('collision', function(data) {
	console.log("Collision:");
	color = color ^ bitFilter;
	console.log("Color: " + (color.toString(16)) + " ");
	me.sphero.setRGB(color);
	me.sphero.roll(90, Math.floor(Math.random() * 360));
	});
	}
	}).start();