PiRo - The RaspberryPi Rover

Community General Discussions
1

iso_crop.jpg
iso_crop.jpg1913×1845 387 KB

PiRo is a robot platform that I created to allow me to experiment with interfacing my RaspberryPi with sensors and motors easily. The structure is made from a Rover5 platform from Sparkfun Electronics and other parts 3D printed on a MakerBot 2. The RaspberryPi communicates with an atmel328 to control the motors, read the encoders, read the ultrasonic sensors. The ultrasonic sensors are mounted to 180 deg. servos with 3D printed brackets. Currently it only has one mode (remote conrol), but I plan on adding more complex automous modes sometime soon. In the remote control mode, the robot reads the accelerometer values from a TI Chronos developement watch through a usb reciever and controlls the motors according to the angle the watch is being held at.

 

right_crop.jpg
right_crop.jpg496×500 49.5 KB

 

back_crop.jpg
back_crop.jpg453×500 49.7 KB

 

The robot is powered by two 7.2v battery packs and has two power switches on its side, one for the motors and the other for the logic. I plan on upgrading to lithium batteries soon to make it run longer. As CE major at the University of Michigan Im hoping that this platform will provide a great way to practice coding on the RaspberryPi

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5LRdEnPAWw
2

Nice raspberry pi!!!

Dear: Ricco

Nice raspberry pi!!! I have been using my raspberry pi every now and then but I can’t find a single robot use for it. I know you can intergrate the raspberry pi with arduino but I’d like it to not do that and to use GPIO. The problem with GPIO is that it does not have much robot use for it. The only robot use I can find for raspberry pi is that the usbs it has so that could be great for sensors, GPIO which is limited, and raspberry pi cameras. I’d like to congratulate you for finding better use than what I did so good luck!!!

From: Noah

3

It has two sweeping range

It has two sweeping range finders?

4

Yes

Yes, the two distance sensors are mounted on servos that can each sweep 180 deg. Niether of them do anything at the moment but they are there for when I get around to the autonous mode and an assisted driving mode (to allow remote control while avoiding objects). The servos can cover an area of about 270 deg. around the robot (centered about the front of the bot)