Programming, Robotics, Software

Control a Sphero robot from the Raspberry Pi with Astro Pi

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Another one from Richard Hayler. This time, he’s using Python on the Raspberry Pi to detect changes in the Astro Pi’s accelerometer and then translate that into commands he sends over bluetooth to a Sphero. The Sphero is a cute little ball-shaped robot with internal lighting that moves at great speed across the floor. You can read more about Richard’s experiment and see his code here and you can find out more about the Sphero from their website. You can see the whole thing in action in the video below:

GPIO boards, Software

Create images for the Raspberry Pi AstroPi HAT

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Richard Hayler and his Code Club are currently experimenting with the AstroPi board and were fascinated by the way you can display scrolling text and images on the 8×8 matrix display. Richard has created a little Python/Pygame app that will allow you to create an 8×8 image and then export it as a PNG or as a Python-ready list that can be pushed to the matrix. Read more here or download the code from Github here.

Accessories, Arduino, Books, Education, Programming, Shopping

Arduino programming for the Raspberry Pi – RasPiO Duino launched for general sale

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Alex Eames from RasPi.TV recently ran a very successful Kickstarter campaign for the RasPiO Duino – an add-on board for the Raspberry Pi. The Duino contains the same ATMEGA 328 chip that is on an Arduino and plugs directly onto the first 26 pins of the GPIO header. To complement the board, Alex has poured a ridiculous amount of effort into the documentation which comes in the form of an excellent book called Learning Arduino Programming with RasPiO Duino. The book is fantastic and takes you through a series of projects that you can do with your Duino board, explaining each step and concept as it goes along.

Following the official launch at CamJam on the 6th June, you can now purchase a RasPiO Duino (also here) from Alex for a very reasonable £14 delivered (£15 for non-UK). If you haven’t got hold of one of these great little boards yet, I can thoroughly recommend it. It’s pretty simple to solder – you can view full instructions on how to do that here – and set-up and you’ll soon be learning how to do experiments and projects.

Accessories, Reviews, Software

PiConfig – the network configuration tool for the Raspberry Pi

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A little while ago, Mihaly Krich ran a Kickstarter campaign to fund the PiConfig. It’s a little USB dongle that can be used to set-up the Raspberry Pi’s network settings from Windows or Mac. After you’ve set it up, you simply plug it into the Pi and the Pi reads the settings and sets up the necessary configuration files. Here’s a very well-balanced review of the product. You can buy a PiConfig from the maker’s website. I tried this product out myself and, although I had a few issues (it was an early model), the concept is sound and you shouldn’t have any issues using it to configure your wi-fi or LAN.

Education, Events, Picademy, Raspberry Pi Foundation

Picademy comes home to Cambridge for July’s CPD course

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The Raspberry Pi Foundation has announced the next Picademy course, and it’s in Cambridge. As you can see from the graphic above, it takes place on 13th-14th July. Picademy is the brilliant concept that takes teachers through using the Raspberry Pi in the classroom through two days of FREE CPD. You can apply for Picademy here and read more about it on the Foundation’s blog here. You can also review all the previous posts about Picademy on this blog here.