Accessories, Crowdfunding, Programming

Get yourself a Raspberry Pi RPi.GPIO Quick Reference Ruler before time runs out!

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I’ve just realised that the campaign I’ve been featuring on the blog for the last few weeks is almost at an end.

The RasPiO GPIO Ruler is a great little reference guide to the RPi.GPIO Python library that (almost) everyone uses to interact with the GPIO pins on the Raspberry Pi. Since Alex sent me one of the prototypes, I’ve found myself forgetting how to use the library more times than I care to admit and I found myself thinking “Oh, I wish I had a quick refer… Oh, I do!” and into my bag I delved once more. It’s now, unaccountably, become one of the ‘essential’ pieces of kit I carry in my Pi bag.

It is available on Kickstarter until tomorrow morning!

As you can see from the pictures, it solves multiple purposes. It can act as a slip-over reference for the GPIO pins themselves with both functions labelled depending on which way up you have it; it tells you all the different functions of RPi.GPIO; it’s a ruler (I’ve even used it as a ruler!); it has a handy URL to go to for GPIO tutorials.

I really can’t recommend it enough. It’s only £4 plus (very reasonable) shipping. Delivered, it’s a fiver in total for the UK. Alex has had a good level of success in his campaign so far, but I’d love to see him get to 1,000 backers before it finishes just after 8.20am tomorrow morning.

So, if you haven’t pledged yet, or if you want to order more of them, head over to Kickstarter.

Arduino, ODROID, Robotics

Pixar lamp robot made with an ODROID-U3 provides inspiration

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lamp

Not strictly Raspberry Pi, but I reckon it would be possible to reproduce with a Pi 2.

Here’s a lovely project from Jochen Alt. It is a robot lamp called Luci which uses an ATmega chip to generate PWM signals for the servo motors. The ATmega is itself controlled by an ODROID-U3 which does the facial recognition and computation of trajectories. The video is below. Head over to YouTube to leave Jochen some feedback!

Crowdfunding, Geeky Techiness, Nature, Research, Robotics, Science

Developer seeks funding for remotely operated underwater vehicle powered by a Raspberry Pi

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rov

Sam Groome is an apprentice at an ROV manufacturer and a college student finishing his HND in electrical/electronic engineering. He has a dream: an underwater Raspberry Pi-powered remote controlled vehicle. The ROV is tethered to the surface via a cable and signals are sent down it to a Raspberry Pi which controls the motors. Video from a camera controlled by an ODROID C1 board (this may change now that the beefier Pi 2 is available) is sent back up the tether.

In order to take the project further, Sam is looking for funding via the website gofundme.com. This will give him the money he needs to run further tests on the ROV and develop it into a fully-working system capable of going to depths of up to 300m. He is working on upgrading the motors to allow the ROV to strafe in the water and to reduce the size of the tether, giving the vehicle more manoeuvrability.

So, if you’re feeling generous and believe that a Raspberry Pi underwater vehicle is just one of the coolest things ever, head over to gofundme.com and donate. I’ve wanted to see this happen for a while, and I’m definitely going to!

Jobs, Magazines

Linux User and Developer seeks new staff writer

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Here’s a great job opportunity for someone who would like to live in Bournemouth!

Linux User and Developer magazine are looking for a new staff writer to join their team. They’re looking for someone who “knows their way” around a Linux distro and can use a Raspberry Pi. The writer will be tasked for writing articles and tutorials for the magazine and website and gets the opportunity to pitch their own ideas. For more information, take a look at the job advertisement page on their website.