Robot Club - Robot Rovers & Cars

This is where I'll list and document all the cool Robot Club projects that I and my Students are doing - Contact: TopClown@STEAMClown.org |

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Introduction & Overview

This page is mostly focused on the Differential Drive Rovers, but these are varied, and come in large (Arcadia Tractors) and small, like the DIY RC and other diff drive tank tread Rovers. These are a mix or different classroom rovers. The DIY Robo Cars/Rovers will tend to be ones that follow the DIY/Donkey car build method. Many of the other Rover types will also be DIY Rovers, but will have their own specific characteristics and have their own project data

Rover Topics & Labs That Transend The Type Of Rover & Need A Team

Rover Robot Club Topics To Pick... Pick One

I2c Arduino 2 Raspberry Pi - Learn about the I2C bus, and how to have a Raspberry Pi Controller and an Arduino Target. Write some RPi functions to get data from an Arduino over an I2C bus. Write some C++ Arduino functions to collect and have data ready for the Raspberry Pi.
Neato Lidar - Take a look at the Neato Lidar part and collect the data. How do we read and get data from a Neato Lidar.
Raspberry Pi Ultrasonic Sensor - create a step by step to use the Ultrasonic distance sensor of a Raspberry Pi
Raspberry Pi IR Line Following Sensor - create a step by step to use the IR Line Following sensor on a Raspberry Pi
Arduino IR Line Following Sensor - create a step by step to use the IR Line Following sensor on an Arduino - Write function that has the data so it can be passes over I2C
Raspberry Pi Camera - Process Fiducial Image - create a step by step to use a USB camera on the Raspberry Pi to detect a fiducial code image.
Create Neopixel functions - create functions where when called will pass a pattern to a set of 5 neopixels - Think,
- Showing the status of 5 RI sensors from an IR line following data function
- Show status, like power good, heart beat good, PID loop good, motor rotation direction, etc....
- If this is done on an Arduino, then have the data packaged up to be passed over an I2C bus to a Raspberry Pi
Reading Motor Encoder data - Take the input of the encoder data and use it to count wheel rotation. Keep track of left and right wheel rotations
- Do this for an Arduino
- Do this for a Raspberry Pi
- Use in a PID loop options to control motors and keep the left and right aligned.
Mesh Network? - Create a system where 2-3 rovers are passing data and coordinating in some way.
Laser Beacon? - Learn about a laser at ground level and see if you can have a rover detect the laser and use it as a beacon. Can it navigate based on where the laser is. Think Light House.
Arcadia "Swift" Lidars - Figure out how the Lidar on the Arcadia Rovers works
Raspberry Pi GPS - Create a step by step to use a GPS module with a Raspberry Pi
Raspberry Pi - R/C Controller + Pi - Create a step by step to use a the DIY RoboCars R/C Receiver Servo input + RPi interface
Arduino Nano R/C Servo Inputs from R/C Receiver - Create a step by step to use an Arduino Nano to receive and decode the output from a R/C Receiver on the "Servo" PWM output
Raspberry Pi - Apache and PHP - Get a PHP server running with the Apache2 server. The idea would be to use system calls, Python, and PHP to provide useful information that can be PHP'ed to a Web page. Stuff like Rover status, temp, voltage, etc. IP address, if SSH is on, etc.
- https://raspberry-projects.com/pi/software_utilities/web-servers/phpapache
- https://www.instructables.com/Setup-a-Raspberry-Pi-PHP-web-server/ - though I would rather this gets solved with Apache2, than lighttpd
- https://pimylifeup.com/raspberry-pi-apache/
- https://xavier.arnaus.net/blog/install-php-8-2-into-a-raspberry-pi-4-with-apache2-support
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBbTkBy2blI
Raspberry Pi & 2x16 or 4x20 LDC Screen - Create a step by step to use a the Raspberry Pi with Python to display status information on the 2x16 or 4x20 LCD. Specifically, I want a "when powered on, display the device IP address.

More Ideas that need more thought, but still options if you want a challenge

Rpi/Arduino radio beacon
Rpi/ cell on micro device
Viam - more than default

Rover Topics & Labs That Transend The Type Of Rover

List Of Projects, Listed By Type OR Category

Robot Cars

We are using our Robot platforms in the a few competitions. While there is a focus on the DIY Donkey Cars, this page will focus on all DIY R/C cars as well as our Differential drive robots.

The Robot Car platforms, are designed to solve the challenge of AI Machine learning navigation on a flat track. The object of the challenge is to build a car using a Raspberry Pi or Jetson Nano to train on the track and then autonomously drive it's self.

This page will also focus on controlling cars, both R/C 1/10 scale as well as a bunch of Differential Drive Robots over a local wifi network. This page will also show how to control Differential Drive cars using the same DIY donkey car controls, just with differential drive commands rather than servo commands (maybe it's just translating the servo command to differential drive steering instructions.)

New Links & Resources:

These are resources, that have been added in the last few weeks. They were found by your teacher or fellow students. Take a look. There are linked here, but also will be listed under an appropriate heading below too...