Remote Control with WIFI + UDP for MicroBlocks

The Pico-W version of the great Pico microcontroller provides us with the ability to use WIFI in our PicoBricks projects. The greatest part is that one can unplug the Pico in the PicoBricks kit and replace it with the Pico-W version. I believe there are plans for the new versions of the PicoBricks to include this new processor and do away with the unwieldy ESP01 WIFI module.

This gives us the opportunity to use MicroBlocks WIFI and UDP libraries in our projects to implement remote control. It not only improves our project's comms speeds from the Bluetooth's a few Mbps speeds to WIFI's several hundred Mbps, it eliminates all the headaches of using special libraries and BT idiosyncrasies. It also increases device connectivity from the BT's 10m range to WIFI's 100m range, and across the Internet.

I have written a tutorial on how to implement Remote Control with WIFI + UDP for MicroBlocks:

WiFi Remote Control with UDP

Very much in keeping with the portability of the MicroBlocks across many microcontrollers, the tutorial highlights same code-base running on five different models of microcontrollers, accompanied by an Android APP written in MIT APPInventor.

Users can send UDP messages between the devices and the Android phone in broadcast fashion or point to point, and exert control over the on-board LED in each microcontroller, as well as a simulated one on the Android phone APP.

The tutorial also demonstrates how to create your own WIFI HotSpot, in case the environment one is operating in lacks a commercial WIFI signal.

It is a simple way to integrate any of the microcontrollers with WIFI capability into your projects with minimal code and great flexibility and gain performance in the process as well..

Enjoy!