Pool Controller
Description
Designed to push buttons on a pool remote control remotely using a smartphone. This idea was inspired by a buddy of mine who wanted to turn on his spa before he got home so that it would be warm when he got there. This is a Rube Goldberg-esque machine for the new era of the Internet of Things (IoT) because of all the mechanics involved in order to push a button. A much better and more reliable method would be to take the the remote apart and wire some transistors to press the buttons electronically. This would reduce the number of moving parts and thus increase reliability. The reason I don't do this is because I would have to partially destroy my buddies remote in order to do that. So I elected for a method that didn't require me taking any of my buddies expensive electronics apart. This is also just way more fun.
Assembly and part descriptions
The following image gallery shows a series of assembly pictures with a brief description of the components. Click on the image for more detail.
Video Demo
Programming
All the code for this project is on github. The hardware is controlled with a Raspberry Pi programmed using C++. I use pigpio to control the GPIO on the Raspberry Pi. I use Boost for sending packets over the internet. I use Opencv to grab images from the webcam along with some slight image processing. The user interface is done through an Android app which is programmed in Java.Â
Schematic
RaspberryPiHatBoard.pdfPrevious Design Iterations
I went through a few different design iterations which are shown below
Version 1
The first version show below was a very crude attempt. I didn't really have an mechanical design skills at this point so I mostly just cobbled together things I found around the house. This design used lead screws for all the motion which made everything very slow. This slow motion would also tend to cause double pressing on the remote buttons.
Version 2
My second design iteration was when I first got access to 3d printing which was a complete game change. With 3d printing I could make my parts much smaller and more precise. I have since changed that so that the steppers are controlling the servo in a more direct fashion. I also changed the servo from a screw drive to a rack and pinion. The rack and pinion works much faster and I don't have any issues with double pressing the button.
Version 3 Problems
The third iteration was mostly 3d printed and very compact. It has most of the traits of the final design. The only thing it lacked was good support for the gantry and baseplate. This caused the device to sag in certain places like the gantry