Raspberry Pi

PiWars development

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Our blogging has been a bit slow this year but Team Ipswich Makerspace has been very busy beavering away on our new robot. Once again Keith is designing TractorBot (possibly being renamed this year) in Fusion360. Keith has had trouble with files becoming corrupt in previous years, but with 2 x PiWars worth of experience things are going well so far. The model is even parametric, believe it or not the two images below are renderings from the same model, just with a couple or parameters edited to change the primary dimensions.

Short and high

Short and high

Large and flat

Large and flat

We started off using micro metal gear motors, and this is what we thought it would look like, once again using the trusty 7.2v NiCd batteries.

Potential layout(1)

And the first hardware was born.
IMG_20161029_215334

And little while later we had movement. It’s always good (and a relief) when you see a robot move for the first time.

TractorBot 2017 from Keith Ellis on Vimeo.

Third Ipswich Raspberry Jam

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The Makerspace are organising the third Ipswich Raspberry Jam, tickets are now on sale (for free).

Ipswich Raspberry Jam

If you have heard about the Raspberry Pi and want to learn more, already have one but don’t know how to get started then go and register for tickets. We shall be having show and tells, demonstrations, talks and a couple of work shops where you can get hands on with a Raspberry Pi.

If you are keen to show off your project, give a talk on how the Raspberry Pi has influenced or affected you, help out in the workshops or generally to help the event run well, please get in touch. membership@ipswichmakerspace.com

For more information visit the Ipswich Raspberry Jam website.

Ipswich Raspberry Jam

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Ipswich Raspberry Jam

Ipswich Raspberry JamMost of you will already know this, but in case you do not, the second Ipswich Raspberry Jam is being held on 27th February 2016 at the UCS Waterfront Building. It has been added to our event page so for more information see this page.

The Ipswich Raspberry Jam website can be found here

Tickets can be purchased here, they only cost a nominal £1.50 to cover administration. Tickets are selling out fast, so get them while you can.

Cheap Raspberry Pi Robotics Kit – EduKit 3

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If anyone is looking for a cheap way to get into robotics with the Raspberry Pi, you cannot go far wrong with the CamJam EduKit 3 Robotics Kit. It comes with everything you need to create a Raspberry Pi robot, you just need to add your own Raspberry Pi, any model will do, and batteries. Oh, they don’t provide a chassis either, but that can be made from anything like an ice cream tub to a piece of thick cardboard or even the box the kit comes in.

Not only is the price of £17 brilliant, the CamJam team have also provided a series of worksheets which take you from Introduction, through building the robot and then onto using the sensors and creating a line following and other robot operations. This is a great educational tool and would make a great Christmas present for kids or adults alike.

The kit consits of the following:

  • A custom-designed, pre-soldered motor controller board (with screw terminals)
  • Two DC motors (with wires pre-soldered)
  • Two custom red wheels (which go extra fast… because they’re red!)
  • A ball castor (used as the ‘third wheel’ to your robot)
  • A small breadboard (to create your circuits)
  • Two pieces of strong 3M padded double-sided tape
  • A battery box for 4 AA batteries (batteries not included)
  • An ultrasonic distance sensor (for detecting objects in front of your robot)
  • A line follower sensor (for detecting and following black lines)
  • Resistors and jumper cables with which to complete your circuits
  • A strong cardboard box to keep it all in… or to cut into to make your chassis!

This kit is highly recommended and as a bonus, soldering is not required, it’s all plug, code, play.

If robotics seems a bit complicated for now, the CamJam team also offer two other great EduKits with sensors and more work sheets.

Here is a video from Alex Eames demonstrating the kit.

Getting started with the Raspberry Pi

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Originally posted by Kieth Ellis from Ipswich Makerspace.

“Ok, so I was going to write a guide to getting started with the Raspberry Pi. However Michael Horne the organiser of the Cambridge CamJam has already written an excellent article.

So take a look at this post and definitely look at the Raspberry Pi foundation website, they have a great resource page with lots of guides and ideas for things to do with your Pi.

http://www.recantha.co.uk/blog/?page_id=11986

https://www.raspberrypi.org/resources/

Once again, if you have any questions, just ask.”

Keith is one of the builders of our 2014 PiWars entry (which won its category) and was at the Ipswich Jam on Saturday demonstrating the robots.

Ipswich Raspberry Jam – help required

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8thAugust

The team running the Ipswich Raspberry Jam are requesting our help. This great event for Ipswich will be held in the Ipswich Library in the Enterprise + Innovation Hub

They have a few display tables free, so if you fall into the any of the following categories:

  • do you have anything to show and tell
  • do you have anything you want to announce
  • do you you have anything you want to talk about
  • do you want to come and help, i.e. just be about, answer questions, mingle and generally be helpful

Please get in touch, you don’t have to commit to the whole day, anything you can help out with would be greatly appreciated.

If you are able to help out please contact Andy Proctor andy@andyproctor.co.uk

To find out more, please visit the official page where you can also buy tickets

We look forward to seeing you there

TractorBot is Open Source

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With applications now open for Pi Wars 2015 we thought it would be good if other competitors could make use of all the hard work that went into TractorBot last year.

So today we are announcing we are open sourcing TractorBot

TractorBot

It turns out it is actually quite a lot of work to Open Source a project, we do not want to delay the launch of this project, so we are therefore making the files available as soon as they are ready on a rolling release basis. Today the hardware source files are now officially available under the Cern Open Hardware v1.2 license. This essentially allows the source files to be used for any legal purpose as long as attribution is given to Ipswich Makersapce and the license is included in any redistribution.

We are working on the software source code, ensuring all dependencies are made clear and installation instructions are being written. We are also drawing up the schematics for the interface board. As soon as these are ready they will also be released.

To get the source files, visit our Git Hub repository.

We really hope Open Sourcing this project will be helpful. if you have any questions please raise them on our forums.