I was keen to see if you could control a BlueROV 2 as a mobile application for IOS and Android - I was testing on an iPhone. You can very easily…sort of.
Requirements:
- You need a custom developed web page controlling a DIY BlueROV2 - which I have
- You need your ROV control to be “touch based joysticks” on the webpage - I have not tried to hook up any external xbox controllers to the mobile phone yet!
- You need to port forward your internet router so that your BlueROV2 Rasberry PI is visible to the outside world - care required.
- Use a 3rd party online webpage to mobile application provider (I used GoNative.io in demo without paying any costs of publishing the app)
Results:
- It works…
- It needs the webpage to be much more mobile specific or responsive (able to scale appropriately to suit the screen size) than my version currently does.
- The sensors and controls appeared to work
Conclusion:
While it did work, if you have a webpage, the native mobile app running the webpage does not add much value. If required you would have to develop direct control from the native app itself using API calls to the ROV - doable. Also, the next step of using mobile phone gyro functions to directly control ROV orientation is unlikely to require a native mobile app either.