[SOLVED] How to setup internet networking for controlling a robot?

How to setup internet networking for controlling a robot?

I built a robot and setup local networking by having it act as an access point. I then connect to the access point from a laptop and send commands over UDP using python.

I would like to do the same thing but over the internet and Im really lost on how to get started. I've seen some IoT services but they dont seem well suited for such an application. I know some basics of networking enough to get a local network running but I have no idea how to get started on sending data over the internet.

Here is how I sent data over my local network (I would love to be able to do the same over the internet). I understand the requirements are a little different as I can't have a static IP address. If you could even point me to resources, I would appreciate it.

Note: the non-networking stuff is irrelevant to my question but I included it in the code for the sake of completion.

import pygame
import socket
import time
import math
#UDP_IP = "192.168.4.1" # if using ESP32
UDP_IP = "10.42.0.1" # if using jetson nano AP
UDP_PORT = 8080
l1=127/2
l2=127/2
r1=127/2
r2=127/2
intake = 127/2
elevator =  127/2
base_line=127/2
joy_deadzone= 0.2
'''
Joystick setup
'''
pygame.joystick.init()
pygame.init()
joysticks = [pygame.joystick.Joystick(x) for x in range(pygame.joystick.get_count())]
counter = 0
for joy in joysticks:
    joy_index = counter
    counter+=1
joysticks[joy_index].init()
print("The number of joysticks: " + str(pygame.joystick.get_count()))
print("The name of joystick: " + joysticks[joy_index].get_name())
print("The number of axis: " + str(joysticks[joy_index].get_numaxes()))
hats = joysticks[joy_index].get_numhats()
print ("Number of hats: {}".format(hats) )
'''
end of joystick setup
'''

time.sleep(1)
keepRunning = True


def numToStringF(num):
    # Make each pwm value 3 characters
    num = int(num)
    ans = str(num)
    if len(ans) == 1:
        return "00" + ans
    elif len(ans) == 2:
        return "0" + ans
    else:
        return ans
axisX = 0;
axisY = 0;
X = 25;
up_button_last = False
down_button_last = False
left_button_last = False
right_button_last = False
while keepRunning:
    #for event in pygame.event.get():
            #time.sleep(1)
            if abs(round(joysticks[joy_index].get_axis(3), 1))>joy_deadzone:
                axisY =  (round(joysticks[joy_index].get_axis(3), 1)) * -base_line
            else:
                axisY=0
            if abs(round(joysticks[joy_index].get_axis(0), 1))>joy_deadzone:
                axisX = round(joysticks[joy_index].get_axis(0), 1) * base_line
            else:
                axisX=0
            if abs(round(joysticks[joy_index].get_axis(2), 1))>joy_deadzone:
                axisS =  round(joysticks[joy_index].get_axis(2), 1) * -base_line
            else:
                axisS=0
            print('Calculated:')
            print("X: " + str(axisX))
            print("S: " + str(axisS))
            print("Y: " + str(axisY) + "\n\n")
            print('-------')
            print('joystick axis:')
            print(round(joysticks[joy_index].get_axis(3), 1))
            print(round(joysticks[joy_index].get_axis(1), 1))
            print('-------')
            l1 = int(base_line+axisY+axisX-axisS)
            l2 = int(base_line+-axisY-axisX-axisS)
            r1 = int(base_line+axisY-axisX+axisS)
            r2 = int(base_line+-axisY+axisX+axisS)
            if(l1>127):
                l1=127
            elif(l1<0):
                l1=0
            if(l2>127):
                l2=127
            elif(l2<0):
                l2=0
            if(r1>127):
                r1=127
            elif(r1<0):
                r1=0
            if(r2>127):
                r2=127
            elif(r2<0):
                r2=0
            intake = int(base_line+joysticks[joy_index].get_button(14)*30)
            elevator = int(base_line+joysticks[joy_index].get_button(14)*30)
            print('the motors in sequence (l1,l2,r1,r2) are:')
            print((l1,l2,r1,r2))
            pygame.time.delay(50)
            pygame.event.pump()
            #time.sleep(0.1)
            MESSAGE = "d" + numToStringF(l1) + numToStringF(l2)+numToStringF(r1)+numToStringF(r2)+numToStringF(intake)+numToStringF(elevator)
            sock = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_DGRAM)  # UDP
            sock.sendto(MESSAGE.encode("utf-8"), (UDP_IP, UDP_PORT))
            print('the message sent is')
            print(MESSAGE)
            print('-----')

Solution

I ended up using firebase which has a real-time database and seems suitable for data streaming. I still have to do some testing to make sure it's good enough for robot control.

As for interfacing firebase with python, you can use this library: https://github.com/thisbejim/Pyrebase

This doesn't seem to be a topic with many resources on the internet. I hope more roboticists discuss it/post tutorials and resources if they do some IoT-like robotics.