Pixar lamp robot made with an ODROID-U3 provides inspiration

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!

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

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!

Linux User and Developer seeks new staff writer

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.

Raspberry Pis patrol the Tate galleries after dark

afterdark

The Making of After Dark from The Workers on Vimeo.

“After Dark” was an installation by artists The Workers which patrolled the halls of the Tate Modern and Tate Britain last year. Visitors to the AfterDark.io website were able to control the Raspberry Pi-powered robots and view streamed video from the galleries. The first user of the system was astronaut Commander Chris Hadfield (who will be going up to the ISS soon accompanied by Raspberry Pis from the AstroPi project). Hopefully, the After Dark team will be allowed into other galleries at some point – check out their website and sign up for their mailing list to be informed if this happens! Watch the video below for a trailer of the installation.