Raspberry Pi Robotic Projects

232 Pages·2016·9.2 MB·English

by  Richard Grimmett

Raspberry Pi Robotic Projects
Third Edition

Work through a mix of amazing robotic projects using the
Raspberry Pi Zero or the Raspberry Pi 3

Richard Grimmett

BIRMINGHAM - MUMBAI
Raspberry Pi Robotic Projects
Third Edition

Copyright © 2016 Packt Publishing

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First published: February 2014
Second edition: April 2015
Third edition: October 2016
Production reference: 1041016

Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.
Livery Place
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Birmingham
B3 2PB, UK.

ISBN 978-1-78646-796-6
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Credits
Author Copy Editor

Richard Grimmett Safis Editing
Reviewer Project Coordinator

Jon Witts Suzanne Coutinho
Commissioning Editor Proofreader

Kartikey Pandey Safis Editing
Acquisition Editor Indexer

Tushar Gupta Rekha Nair
Content Development Editor Graphics

Merint Mathew Abhinash Sahu
Technical Editor Production Coordinator

Hussain Kanchwala Shraddha Falebhai
About the Author
Richard Grimmett has always been fascinated by computers and electronics from his very
first programming project that used Fortran on punch cards. He has a bachelor's and
master's degree in electrical engineering and a PhD in leadership studies. He also has 26
years of experience in the Radar and Telecommunications industries and even has one of
the original brick phones. Currently, he teaches computer science and electrical engineering
at Brigham Young University, Idaho, where his office is filled with many of his robotics
projects.

This book is the result of working with many of the wonderful students at BYU-Idaho. It also
wouldn’t be possible without the help of my wonderful wife, Jeanne.
About the Reviewer
Jon Witts has been working in the IT industry since 2002, specifically in educational IT since
2004. He was introduced to Linux back in 2001 through his collaboration with two German
artists who were visiting the arts organisation he was then working with. Having studied
fine arts and educational technology, he sought to innovate with open and accessible digital
technologies within his creative practice and is happiest when deconstructing technology
and finding its limits.
Jon has embedded the use of Raspberry Pi computers in his school as an integral part of the
delivery of the computer science curriculum, as well as to run various school clubs and
projects. Jon is a Raspberry Pi Certified Educator and also helps to organize and run the
Hull Raspberry Jam events.
I would like to thank my wife, Sally, and our three daughters for putting up with all the cables and
components around the house, and not least for being so tolerant of the need to dodge the robots
racing around the kitchen floor!
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Table of Contents
Preface
1
Chapter 1: Getting Started with the Raspberry Pi
5
Setting up the Raspberry Pi 3 6
Powering the board 8
Hooking up a keyboard, mouse, and display 9
Installing the operating system 9
Adding Internet access 14
Accessing your Raspberry Pi 3 from your host PC 14
Setting up the Raspberry Pi Zero 29
Powering the board 30
Hooking up a keyboard, mouse, and display 31
Installing the operating system 34
Adding Internet access 35
Summary 39
Chapter 2: Building Your Own Futuristic Robot
40
Modifying the R2D2 41
Adding wheels and motors 42
Connecting to the top of the R2D2 47
Controlling R2D2 using the Raspberry Pi in Python 50
Adding voice recognition 56
Using eSpeak to allow your robot to speak 63
Using PocketSphinx to accept your voice commands 64
Interpreting commands and initiating actions 73
Adding video capability 75
Downloading and installing OpenCV – a fully featured vision library 80
Controlling your R2D2 remotely 85
Summary 86
Chapter 3: Building a Wall-E Robot
87
Creating the hardware platform 88
Adding the Raspberry P and a DC motor controller 95
Building Wall-E's arms 97
Constructing the arms 100
Controlling Wall-E's tracks using a Raspberry Pi in Python 108
How servo motors work 111
Using a servo controller to control the servos 111
Communicating between the servo controller and a PC 115
Controlling the Servo Controller with the Raspberry Pi 117
Adding the Kinect 360 to your Wall-E 123
Accessing the Kinect 360 using the Raspberry Pi 124
Controlling your Wall-E remotely 128
Summary 128
Chapter 4: Building a Robotic Fish
129
Creating the hardware platform 129
Adding the electronics to your fish 136
Adding the RaspiCamera 142
Controlling your fish remotely 147
Summary 150
Chapter 5: Creating a Robotic Hand with the Raspberry Pi
151
Creating the hardware platform 151
Moving the hand 154
Connecting the servo controller to the Raspberry Pi 158
Controlling your hand 161
Following your hand 165
Summary 173
Chapter 6: A Self-Balancing Robot
174
Creating the hardware platform 174
Adding the electronics to your platform 175
Controlling the DC motors 176
Reading the IMU 177
Accessing the compass programmatically 180
The balancing algorithm 184
Summary 189
Chapter 7: Adding the Raspberry Pi to a Quadcopter
190
Accessing the hardware platform 191
Connecting to the hardware 191
Remote communication 194
Configuring the XBee device 196
Communicating over the XBee interface 202
Adding GPS to your quadcopter 204
Connecting the Raspberry Pi to a USB GPS device 204
[ ii ]
Accessing the USB GPS programmatically 212
Summary 218
Index
219
[ iii ]