Martin O’Hanlon has used the qrcode Python module and Minecraft Pi Edition together to create QR codes inside the Minecraft world. Take a look on his blog.
Raspberry Pi GPIO Xmas Tree reaction game
Martin O’Hanlon got hold of one of Andrew Gale’s GPIO Xmas Trees and programmed it as a reaction game. Here’s how the game plays out:
The game is pretty simple, random leds are lit up on the Xmas tree, the player has to press the button when the green led on the top of the tree is lit up. The quicker you are, the higher you score.
If you’ve got one of these trees, take a look at Martin’s post here – he’s provided all the code you need!
Competitions galore for Raspberry Pi robotics kits
This month’s Linux User and Developer Magazine (issue 147) is a robotics special and, very flatteringly, they’ve based it all on the challenges from Pi Wars! It’s an excellent series of articles from the magazine that has proved itself to be ‘Best for Raspberry Pi’. In this issue, they cover all sorts of robots that are ideal for challenges such as an obstacle course, line follower, sumo battle, proximity alert and robot golf, including giving you the code to help you complete your project.
As part of the issue, they’re running online competitions to win the featured kits. You will need a copy of the magazine in front of you to enter as all the questions are based on the featured articles. Get hold of a copy and enter all the competitions below for your chance to win:
Raspberry Pi Garage Door Opener
Chris Driscoll has posted up an “idiot’s guide” to getting a garage door opener working with a Raspberry Pi. It uses a relay board to activate the door, triggered by a web interface. Read more here. See it in action below:
Botswana environmental expedition uses the Raspberry Pi and open source resources
A team of National Geographic Explorers recently embarked on an expedition to the Okavango Delta in Botswana to gather environmental data using open hardware and software and the Raspberry Pi. Called the Okavango Wilderness Project, the expedition will create a portal to share the data openly, which wonderfully flies in the face of the usual practice of expeditions who collect their data and then protect it until they can publish.
Opensource.com has done a wonderful interview with Shah Selbe, who is part of the expedition, about how open source and the Raspberry Pi have helped them to collect and store the data. Read the interview here.
Internet Meme-themed Raspberry Pi Pinball machine
Games specialists Liberty Games have taken an old Baby Doll pinball machine, refurbished it, and added a Raspberry Pi into the mix. When you activate certain features on the pinball (such as hitting a target), the signal travels to the Pi via a Pi Face and the Pi then plays an Internet Meme video on a small screen embedded in the upper display panel. Read more about it here.