The Hedgehog Educational Robotics Controller is now on the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter! Hedgehog aims to bring robotics to the personal, educational and science domains by providing a simple, flexible and affordable robotics platform.
Help us to realize the project, check out the goodies and/or get an exclusive prototype:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/priarobotics/hedgehog-educational-robotics-controller?lang=de
Who are we?
We are the Practical Robotics Institute Austria (PRIA) located in Vienna, Austria. We are an independent non-profit organization with the aim to promote scientific and technical excellence in schools. To do so, we use robotics in education and various research projects, where we involve students with exciting scientific and engineering topics.
For more information please visit:
What makes the difference?
Most robotics controllers on the market are „black boxes“: You can't see what's inside, and how the thing works. That's okay for beginners, but if you hit a limit, there's not much you can do. Hedgehog is not like that: from case to software, the controller is open for you to explore and tinker with. Another key differentiator to other robotics platforms is the closely integrated debugging functionality: from within the Hedgehog app, you able to manually pause the execution of your program, set breakpoints and take a look at current variable values. Whether you want a controller that just works, or customize every last part, whether you’re a beginner or a pro: Hedgehog is for you!
How does it work?
Program: Apps The Hedgehog apps on mobile devices, as well as the desktop IDE, connect to the controller via WiFi. You can develop programs in these apps and easily download them to the controller. The Hedgehog app can also be used for controlling motors and sensors directly in an intuitive graphical user interface and shows a debugging screen while running the program.
Compile: Software Controller We use a Raspberry PI Model A+ for compiling and running your programs. Besides that, you have access to the full potential of the Raspberry for other programming languages and tasks. We provide libraries for the Raspberry Pi in C and Python. But you're not bound to a Raspberry Pi: all a software controller really needs is UART – and almost all computers and microcontrollers have access to that.
Execute: Hardware Controller The hardware supports up to 16 analog sensors, 16 digital sensors, 6 motors and 6 servo-motors. You can even use smartphone sensors, like the built-in cameras, gyroscope, and accelerometer over WiFi. The USB, HDMI and audio connectors of the Raspberry Pi are also accessible. The controller is powered by a 2100mAh NiMH battery to provide long run times.