Robot-related Goals#

Here are some of the possible goals related to robot design, hardware, software and research:

• Try out various sensors and modules from Adafruit, Pimoroni, Pollolu, PiBorg, PiJuice, etc.:
  • Time of Flight (ToF) laser distance sensors
  • infrared sensors (various distance ranges)
  • ultrasonic sensors via PiBorg's Ultraborg module
  • install Hall-effect[4] motor encoders and write a Python-based PID motor controller
  • analog-to-digital converters
  • motion detector, to detect humans and cats
  • a robot front bumper, modeled after David Anderson's SR04 robot[3]
  • motor control via PiBorg's Thunderborg module
  • Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS) and battery management via PiJuice
• Try out several robotic hardware platforms, for a low-cost, entry-level robot
  • OSEPP Tank
  • Adafruit CRICKIT for Circuit Playground Express
  • Adafruit:
    • Purple Aluminum Chassis for TT Motors - 2WD
    • Mini Robot Rover Chassis Kit - 2WD with DC Motors
    • Mini Round Robot Chassis Kit - 2WD with DC Motors
    • Mini 3-Layer Round Robot Chassis Kit - 2WD with DC Motors
• Motors
  • OSEPP 25mm motors (part of the Tank kit), with encoders
  • yellow plastic motors
  • continual-rotation micro servos
  • Pololu micro gearmotors (1:298 and other ratios available, with encoders; also available from Pimoroni and Adafruit)
• Try out several microprocessor/microcontroller platforms, for a low-cost, entry-level robot
  • Raspberry Pi (Zero, Zero W)
  • Circuit Playground Express
  • Arduino
  • other microcontrollers, e.g., Adafruit ItsyBitsy M4 Express
  • Espruino WiFi (Javascript-based microcontroller)
  • MicroBit
• GPIO information
  • pinouts for each Raspberry Pi
• Explore use of I2C bus
  • how to display current I2C devices
  • list of known I2C devices by address (noting potential conflicts)