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Learning Javascript Robotics
Learning Javascript Robotics

Learning Javascript Robotics: Design, build, and program your own remarkable robots with JavaScript and open source hardware

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Learning Javascript Robotics

Chapter 1. Getting Started with JS Robotics

Welcome to the world of JavaScript robotics! Let's explore how easy it is to get started with writing robotics programs in JavaScript using Arduino and Johnny-Five.

In this chapter, we will do the following:

  • Explore JS Robotics, NodeBots, and Johnny-Five
  • Set up our development environment
  • Blink an on-board LED

Understanding JS Robotics, NodeBots, and Johnny-Five

JavaScript as a robotics language truly began a few years ago with the creation of node-serialport—an NPM module written by Chris Williams. This module allows Node.JS to communicate with devices over a serial connection; this can include the typical serial connections from older computers, or the USB and Bluetooth connections that we use every day. What exactly is a NodeBot though, and how do we get started with using them with Johnny-Five?

What a NodeBot is, and other basic vocabulary

A NodeBot is any piece of hardware that is controlled using JavaScript and/or Node.JS. This can encompass a wide variety of projects; there are hundreds of ways to create a NodeBot. In this book, we are going to use the Johnny-Five library, an open source project created by Rick Waldron.

Note

For those readers who are new to robotics, a microcontroller is a small computer that contains a processor, memory, and input/output pins. This serves as the brain of our project—our programs will communicate with or will be loaded onto this microcontroller. Microcontrollers come in many shapes and sizes, and with multiple capabilities.

We're going to use a microcontroller for our projects. What microcontroller should you use? Luckily, our use of Johnny-Five means that we can choose from a large array of different microcontrollers and still write the same code as you'll see in this book!

What exactly is Johnny-Five, and how does it make our lives easier?

Johnny-Five and the NodeBot revolution

Johnny-Five (http://johnny-five.io) is an open source robotics library for Node.JS. It was created by Rick Waldron and has a thriving community of contributors and supporters. This module has been known to work on Windows, Mac, and Linux computers without any issues at the time of writing this book using Node.JS version 4.x.

Johnny-Five was built on top of node-serialport and allows us to write JavaScript applications that communicate with different microcontrollers using different types of connection. For some microcontrollers, such as Arduino-compatible boards, Johnny-Five uses a serial connection. For some newer boards, Johnny-Five emulates this serial connection over an Internet service!

The capability of Johnny-Five to use multiple board types is implemented using its wrapper system. Once the core system is installed, you can install a wrapper for your particular microcontroller, and the APIs will remain the same. This is a powerful concept—you can write code for one platform and quickly move it to another without having to change it.

What we'll be using in this book

For the examples in this book, we'll use an Arduino Uno board. You can get these boards from sites such as Adafruit (www.adafruit.com), SparkFun (www.sparkfun.com), and so on. You can also use a board that is Arduino Uno-compatible. SainSmart, for instance, sells Uno-like boards that will work fine for our purposes. For this chapter, you'll need the board itself and a USB cable for it.

In later chapters, we'll be using other components—there will be a table in each chapter with an accessible list of materials for the projects within.

Setting up your development environment

Now that we've covered the basic ideas, we're going to set up the development environment for our first project. All the software used here worked on Windows, Mac, and Linux desktop computers at the time of writing this book.

Installing Node.JS

If you don't have Node.JS already installed, you can download an installer for your platform from nodejs.org. This installer will also install NPM or Node Package Manager, which will be used to manage the rest of the software that we'll be using.

Run the installer on your machine, which may require a restart. After this, open up your terminal application and run the following command:

node –-version

The output from this command should be 4.x.x, where x are integers.

Setting up your project and installing Johnny-Five

In your terminal, create a folder for your project and change directories to this folder:

mkdir my-robotics-project
cd my-robotics-project

Next, we're going to install Johnny-Five:

npm install johnny-five

You should see a spinner, followed by some output. Unless you see an ERR NOT OK message at the end of your output, you're good to go with Johnny-Five.

Note

On a Mac machine, you may need to install XCode developer command-line tools.

Connecting your Microcontroller and installing Firmata

First, you should get the Arduino IDE. Yes, we are still using JavaScript; however, we must make sure that there's a particular sketch (that's Arduino-speak for program) running on our board in order for Johnny-Five to communicate properly.

You can get the installer at the Arduino website (http://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/Software). This book assumes that you have version 1.6.4, but the versions in the 1.4 range should work as well.

Once you've downloaded the software, open it. Then, we'll make sure that your serial connection works.

Note

If you are using a board other than an Arduino, this step is not necessary. However, there may be other steps. These will be outlined with the wrapper plugin for your board.

Plug the USB cable into both the board and the computer. A few LEDs should light up on this board—this is normal. Then, go to the Tools menu in the Arduino IDE and hover over the ports submenu. You should see a list of ports that looks somewhat like the following screenshot:

Connecting your Microcontroller and installing Firmata

You should see at least one entry in this list that fits the following format: /dev/cu.usbmodem*****. It may or may not have Arduino Uno next to it. If you see this, go ahead and click on it, because this is the port you will want to use for the Firmata installation. If you have this, it means your board can communicate with your computer, and you're ready to install Firmata.

To install Firmata on your board, go to File | Examples | Firmata | StandardFirmata, as shown in the following screenshot:

Connecting your Microcontroller and installing Firmata

Once you've opened the sketch, you should get an IDE window that looks like the following screenshot:

Connecting your Microcontroller and installing Firmata

Once this sketch is up, click on the Upload button (it looks like an arrow pointing to the right) to upload Firmata to your board. Once the uploading is done, you can close the Arduino IDE, and you will be ready to start working with JavaScript.

Tip

A developer named Suz Hinton (@noopkat) is working on a node program called AVRGirl that will remove this step in the near future. Take a look at www.github.com/noopkat/avrgirl to learn more!

Hello, World! – Blinking an onboard LED

Now that we have our development environment set up, we can begin writing the JavaScript to use with our Arduino board. We'll start by blinking an LED that is already built into the Arduino microcontroller.

Writing the Johnny-Five script

In your favorite IDE, create a new hello-world.js file in your project directory. Then, copy and paste, or write, the following code:

var five = require("johnny-five");
var board = new five.Board();

board.on("ready", function() {
  var led = new five.Led(13);
  led.blink(500);
});

We'll go over more of what this script does in Chapter 2, Working with Johnny-Five, but the basic overview is this: we require this script in the Johnny-Five module and use it to create a new board object. When this board is ready, we will create an LED object at pin 13 (this pin is wired to the onboard LED on an Arduino Uno board). We then program this LED to blink every half second.

Running the script

In order to run the script, go to your terminal, and in your project folder, run the following:

node hello-world.js

You should see an output that looks like the following:

Running the script

You should see an LED blink on your Arduino Uno. The following figure shows where the LED is on the board:

Running the script

If all is well and the LED is blinking, congratulations! You're ready to start building robots and applications with Arduino and Johnny-Five!

Tip

If there is a problem, many troubleshooting issues can be solved by checking the Johnny-Five website (www.johnny-five.io).

Summary

In this chapter, we learned about JS robotics and understood what a NodeBot is. We went through the hardware components that we will be using in the book, and we also learned how to set up the development environment. Finally, we got to know how to get the on-board LED to blink. In the next chapter, we'll dive deep into what makes Johnny-Five so powerful, and we will start writing and building some more complex projects.

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Description

There has been a rapid rise in the use of JavaScript in recent times in a variety of applications, and JavaScript robotics has seen a rise in popularity too. Johnny-Five is a framework that gives NodeBots a consistent API and platform across several hardware systems. This book walks you through basic robotics projects including the physical hardware builds and the JavaScript code for them. You'll delve into the concepts of Johnny-Five and JS robotics. You'll learn about various components such as Digital GPIO pins, PWM output pins, Sensors, servos, and motors to be used with Johnny-Five along with some advanced components such as I2C, and SPI. You will learn to connect your Johnny-Five robots to internet services and other NodeBots to form networks. By the end of this book, you will have explored the benefits of the Johnny-Five framework and the many devices it unlocks.

What you will learn

  • Familiarise yourself with JohnnyFive Read, Eval, and Print Loop (REPL) to modify and debug robotics code in real time
  • Build robots with basic output devices to create projects that light up, make noise, and more
  • Create projects with complex output devices, and employ the JohnnyFive API to simplify the use of components that require complex interfaces, such as I2C
  • Make use of sensors and input devices to allow your robotics projects to survey the world around them and accept input from users
  • Use the Sensor and Motor objects to make it much easier to move your robotics projects
  • Learn about the Animation API that will allow you to program complex movements using timing and key frames
  • Bring in other devices to your JohnnyFive projects, such as USB devices and remotes
  • Connect your JohnnyFive projects to external APIs and create your own Internet of Things!
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Table of Contents

10 Chapters
1. Getting Started with JS Robotics Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
2. Working with Johnny-Five Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
3. Using Digital and PWM Output Pins Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
4. Using Specialized Output Devices Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
5. Using Input Devices and Sensors Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
6. Moving Your Bot Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
7. Advanced Movement with the Animation Library Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
8. Advanced Components – SPI, I2C, and Other Devices Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
9. Connecting NodeBots to the World, and Where to Go Next Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Index Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Customer reviews

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Rating distribution
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Half star icon 4.3
(6 Ratings)
5 star 83.3%
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1 star 16.7%
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Andrew Connell Dec 18, 2015
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
I'm a seasoned JavaScript developer and aspiring hardware guy for my own personal projects. Having heard Kassandra on a podcast episode or two, I wanted to pick this book up. I found it very easy to grok and pickup the concepts. I am more of a Raspberry Pi guy and all the projects used the Arduino Uno - my only "complaint" that it should have been more visible in the marketing / cover - however I walked away placing an order for the Uno, something I've wanted to learn! All the projects were super simple to understand and implement... as a tech author I know how much work goes into this, but hoping for something that goes even deeper for her next work!
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Rick Waldron Nov 30, 2015
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
This book is a great way to "break in" to JavaScript Robotics with Johnny-Five. Each chapter walks you through the basics and then illustrates how to build something with with what you've learned—which is a great strategy!
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Roberto M. Pensotti Apr 19, 2017
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
If you want to learn programming for robots, or micro controllers in general, this is the book.JavaScript on NodeJS is the best language for this type of application.Well illustrated, well documented..Excellent!
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K Feb 11, 2016
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
This book assumes quite a bit less of your robotics experience than it does of your experience with JavaScript. It focuses a great deal on the excellent Johnny Five library for Raspberry Pi and Arduino. It helps you to learn the basics of motor control as well as sensor information through GPIO. If you already have JavaScript experience, this is definitely the best foray into extending your ability into the world of robotics.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Grayson Nov 30, 2015
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
The animation chapter alone makes this a great book. Great introduction to nodebots and generally working with electronics + javascript. Presented in an approachable manner with clear explanations.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
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