Apps Android Handset and Andruino USB Communication

[Mythras]

Hello,

I am currently working within a student design team that is attempting to create a partial biometric sensor suit for real-time processing of vital statistics and we were hoping to implement it as an Android app with most of the data acquisition and processing done by an Andruino microprocessor.

From what I've read elsewhere there seems to be an issue in that the USB host libraries are nonexistent due to the closed hardware and we would have serious issues injecting the data from the microprocessor into the phone that we currently have (Tmobile G1).

Does anyone have any experience with this practice?

Thanks.

EDIT: I meant Arduino

 

[dwcalvert]

I am also looking for this answer. I have an Arduino and the original Verizon Droid. There are groups like Amarino that use Bluetooth to communicate with Arduino microprocessors, but I can not find anyone using USB. My Droid has one 5-pin micro USB connector.

Is it possible to communicate with Arduino through USB?

 

[GIR]

Hi guys,

Thats a good goal, and one I will be chasing myself soon.

It seems that there is a little trick into getting the usb port on *most* android phones to act in master rather than slave mode.

For more details check:
Droid gets a USB hack allowing host mode on Motorola Droid! - Droid Forum - Verizon Droid & the Motorola Droid Forum

and
Search Results android usb host mode Hack a Day

Hope this helps...

GIR

 

[dwcalvert]

Haha, after I posted I went on to find those articles. Yes, it seems do-able. But too much trouble? Maybe. The only reason I wanted to do it was to have a Droid be the microprocessor on a ground robot. I figured Bluetooth would not be ideal since there is no real need for wireless communication when the Arduino is right there. Also, since there may have been plans to put some high-bandwidth components on the robot, I did not want Bluetooth to be slowing anything down.

After thinking long and hard, I came to the conclusion that the Droid really only might be best at wireless activities, where you want to control things with it in your hand.

I think me and my mate have elected to just get a cheap Linux board that comes ready with non-USB com ports. That would be SO much easier than figuring out how to talk to Arduino through *hacked* USB. Might be faster also.

I totally don't want to discourage you if you want to experiment though! Good luck, and if you get anything working, post it here!

 

[peterkaptein]

Beginning of 2011 inopiaaardbei made a solution called: "Microbridge" using the Arduino USB host bridge and wrote the software to use the Android Debug Bridge to communicate from and to the Arduino via USB.

It should run on all Android devices, including tablets.

See more here - Hacking away with Android pt 8 – Android, Ardruino and low cost dual core ARM Cortex A9 boards Beyond the keyboard. Links to his google code solution are in the post.

A direct link to the google code repository is here: microbridge - Android Debug Bridge (ADB) implementation for microcontrollers. - Google Project Hosting