This is a framework for interoperating with the 802.11 wireless ("WiFi") RC toy karts manufactured and distributed by a certain well-known Japanese video game corporation. This allows using a (Linux) computer's wireless interface to serve as a host and pair the karts directly, so that you can interoperate with them in your own project.
First, you will need a Linux system with wireless capability. Either install Linux directly on a WLAN-equipped computer, or install it in a VM and pass-through your wireless NIC (via USB pass-through for USB devices, or PCI pass-through for builtin/PCI devices).
Check that the device (and its drivers) support operating in AP-mode:
$ iw phy phy0 info
...
valid interface combinations:
* #{ managed } <= 1, #{ AP, P2P-client, P2P-GO } <= 1, #{ P2P-device } <= 1,
If "AP" is listed, this device should work.
Coming soon
You will need to install Busybox's "udhcpd" and a patched copy of hostapd. Get those set up first.
Install the OpenKart server with:
./setup.py install
Customize the configuration (see openkart.conf.example).
Run OpenKart with openkartd /path/to/your/openkart.conf
OpenKart runs a server for HTTP and exposes an API (and, soon, a WebSocket interface) for interacting with the server and karts. Here are the current API calls:
GET /v1/state: Get server state; returns a JSON object with a "state" string. The state may be one of:
- RUNNING: OpenKart is running normally.
- DOWN: OpenKart is in a "standby" mode.
- PAIRING: OpenKart is waiting for a device to attempt pairing.
In PAIRING mode, there may be a "pairing" object, which includes the "seed" and "ssid" to include in the QR code to display to the kart.
POST /v1/state: Request a state change by POSTing a JSON object like
{"state": "PAIRING"}. Note that this may cause all devices to disconnect.
GET /v1/devices: Return a list of all devices currently connected to the server.
GET /v1/devices/{SERIAL}: Return a specific device by its serial number.
POST /v1/devices/{SERIAL}/shutdown: Instruct the device to power off.