Modelcar track connected to Windows Azure using Arduino
Internet of Things for What?
In my opinion the IoT is not so much about you controlling your toy helicopter with your smartphone.
There's no fundamental difference with using a wireless controller. In my view it's more about machines
informing and controlling each other without human intervention. Thinking of this I remembered the old
model car track lying for decades in the attic at my parents. Apart from its fragility a major drawback
was that I could never have more than one car on each track without them bumping in to each other at
crossroads and junctions but also just because of speed differences running into each other's back. Also
the little cars when run at a steady speed would either run too slow at the straight sections or too fast in
the corners causing them to derail.
Objective
Connect an old Faller Ams modelcar track to a Windows Azure service via the internet using an Arduino
computer. The Azure service contains an AI speed controller to adjust the running of the cars to prevent
them from breaking out of corners and bumping into each other. Also it will adjust the speed for the
cars to run faster at the straights and slower in the corners and put a maximum speed on specific cars so
trucks will run slower than passenger cars. I've split this objective into 3 phases.
Phase I (Completed)
Run a single car on a simple oval track. Control the speed and gather metric data while the car is
running or standing still.
Run two cars on the oval track divided into six separate sections. Control the speed of the cars not to
bump into each other's backs based on the gathered metrics.
Build a more complicated track with dozens of sections, crossroads and junctions and run half a dozen
cars on it. Control the speed of the cars not only not to bump into each other's backs but also not to
bump in to each other at the crossroads and junctions based on the gathered metrics.
