The homepage for this project has moved:
Check out the new site at:
http://ardomotic.com/
The new version contains many of the features described in the home page and many others.
Check out the new site at:
http://ardomotic.com/
The new version contains many of the features described in the home page and many others.
Project Introduction
This is the homepage for Ardomotic, a free Domotics project implemented fully using the Arduino platform. This whole project started when one day I decided to make my windows open automatically in the morning so I could wake up with sunlight... Somehow along the way, it evolved into a highly customizable domotic system :)
I have seen similar projects, but most of them use a separate web server installed somewhere else to make the connection between the user and the Arduino. In Ardomotic, everything is done on one Arduino. While using a separate web server can allow the creation of a more complex interface, it also requires a more complex setup and the server needs to be hosted somewhere else. Ardomotic has a simple setup, and already offers several interesting features:
I have seen similar projects, but most of them use a separate web server installed somewhere else to make the connection between the user and the Arduino. In Ardomotic, everything is done on one Arduino. While using a separate web server can allow the creation of a more complex interface, it also requires a more complex setup and the server needs to be hosted somewhere else. Ardomotic has a simple setup, and already offers several interesting features:
- Password protection
- List view and blueprint view
- Scheduling commands
- Supports different types of devices
- Easy to customize and add features
New major version on the works
This project has been developed for Arduino 022.
I am currently working on a new version on Arduino 1.0+.
This version is not only an update of the libraries, it will bring many new features, such as:
Now the bad news... The current version of Ardomotic runs on all current Arduinos... It uses almost all of the available memory, but it fits... As expected, all of these new features take a lot more space, so the code will not fit on 32K, so it will be necessary to use a Mega to support them. In fact, just porting the code to Arduino 1.0 made it 3k bigger, meaning it did not fit. I'm trying to make the mode modular, so that each person can choose the parts they want and still use a normal Arduino, but I imagine that many, if not all of these new features won't fit.
This said, feel free to use this version or wait for the next one, and have fun with it :)
I am currently working on a new version on Arduino 1.0+.
This version is not only an update of the libraries, it will bring many new features, such as:
- Easier on beginners: well this is not exactly a feature, but on the next release I play on simplifying parts of the code so it's easier for a beginner to get acquainted with the code.
- Devices configuration on the Webpage (some configurations now are hard-coded). Currently you need to change some parts of the code do adapt Ardomotic to your own home. In the future the plan is to just compile the code as it is and configure the devices using the web browser.
- Creation of house profiles: with this you'll be able to set different profiles. For instance, one profile for "Sleep", where it will close all the windows and turn off all the lights, or a profile for "Arriving", that turns on specific lights when you get home, and also your computer. This brings us the next feature:
- Support for WOL: (Wake-On-Lan): means you can turn your computer on from anywhere using Ardomotic as you would turn on any other device(your computer needs to support this function though).
- Support for IR commands: With this is possible to control anything that uses an IR remote controller (TV, Media Center, AC, etc...)
- Support for NTP: (Network Time Protocol): automatically syncs the time with a time server, so you don't need to worry about it! ;)
- Dynamic web pages: currently the pages are static. If something changes in the system, you will not see the changes until you refresh the page. With dynamic pages all the relevant changes will be sent to the browser as soon as they happen.
- Images optionally stored in SD card: The current version uses an external EEprom to store the images. The new version still has that option, but now there is the option to store them on as SD card, which is much simpler and faster to use.
- Support for different sensors: with this functionality you can read values from different sensors, display their values on the interface window, and even trigger actions according to the values (Such as closing the windows automatically and turning the AC on if it's too hot).
Now the bad news... The current version of Ardomotic runs on all current Arduinos... It uses almost all of the available memory, but it fits... As expected, all of these new features take a lot more space, so the code will not fit on 32K, so it will be necessary to use a Mega to support them. In fact, just porting the code to Arduino 1.0 made it 3k bigger, meaning it did not fit. I'm trying to make the mode modular, so that each person can choose the parts they want and still use a normal Arduino, but I imagine that many, if not all of these new features won't fit.
This said, feel free to use this version or wait for the next one, and have fun with it :)
Web Interface
The interface for Ardomotic consists on three web pages. The pages are selected by clicking one of the three big icons on the top. The first page shows a list of all the device names. Each device can be activated by clicking on the specific icons. The second page shows the scheduled actions, and allows adding or removing new actions. The third page also allows to control all the devices, but shows them in a blueprint of the house.
These pages were designed with a one-size-fits-all format in mind, so the pages can be viewed not only in personal computers but also in Android and iOS or similar devices. It even has a built-in icon to be used on those devices.
Demo Video
In the following video there is a small demo to show the current possibilities of Ardomotic. The video was captured on a PC running Firefox. The HTML is quite simple, it should work on all browsers. But for some reason when using old google chrome versions sometimes clicking on the devices doesn't change their state. On every other browser I tried (Explorer, Safari and Firefox) it seemed to work fine. Also tried it on different OS's (Mac, iOS, Android) and it worked fine too.