Thomas Schoch, of Essen, Germany, built a neat robot with a Raspberry Pi and a Zumo Chassis Kit. The PiBot-B is controlled by a custom iPhone app that communicates over WiFi to the Raspberry Pi, which is running lighttpd and PHP. A Python program uses the WiringPi library to send signals to an L293D motor driver that drives the two 100:1 Micro Metal Gearmotors in the Zumo chassis. The iPhone app displays video from the attached Logitech C300 webcam, and the robot has an integrated 8×8 LED matrix from Adafruit that indicates its state. In the future, Thomas plans to add sensors for obstacle detection and make the robot autonomous. We were impressed by several things:

• PiBot-B is very tidy, thanks in part to the USB cables that were shortened and modified using liquid rubber.
• The Raspberry Pi has only one PWM output so Thomas used two OR gates to select whether the left motor, right motor, or both motors receive the PWM signal.
• The write-up has some great photos and informative diagrams.

The PiBot-B page is written in German, but it has a link at the top to translate it into English using Google Translate.

Jacques Bitoniau built a custom control system for his quadcopter that replaces a conventional RC transmitter/receiver and features the ability to switch between two different operators for training purposes. In his system, the operator moves a joystick and a WiFi-equipped PC sends commands to a Raspberry Pi, which communicates with one of our Maestros to produce signals for a flight controller.

Jacques also wrote a C++ library for Windows, Linux, and Mac to control the Maestro using its serial interface. (You can now find this as a Recommended Link on our Maestro product pages.)

You can read more about Jacques’s control system in his forum post.

Featured link: http://forum.pololu.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=7351

Pololu forum user chrisptx posted this video of his Dagu Rover 5. He is using a Raspberry Pi as the main controller and sending signals to a TReX Jr Dual Motor Controller for drive control.

This rover is controlled by a Samsung Galaxy S3 smartphone, which uses its web browser to send commands to the Raspberry Pi in Javascript.

Featured link: http://forum.pololu.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=7250

Shahmir Javaid tweeted about a tutorial he wrote that describes how he used a Raspberry Pi to control a Maestro servo controller in C. His tutorial documents the steps he took, including setting up the Raspberry Pi for UART, wiring, and programming. The setup is simple, and the code is provided.

Featured link: http://shahmirj.com/blog/raspberry-pi-and-pololu-servo-controller-using-c

This balancing robot by Mark Williams is controlled by a Raspberry Pi. The project web page explains the balance control algorithm. PiBBOT uses a Pololu MinIMU-9 v2, metal gearmotors with encoders, and Pololu wheels.

Featured link: http://marks-space.com/2013/04/18/success-with-a-balancing-robot-using-a-raspberry-pi/

This tank rover by Michael Shimniok streams video to and can be controlled from a web browser. All rover functions are controlled directly by the Raspberry Pi with no additional microcontrollers. It uses our Pololu 30T Track Set, idler wheels, 150:1 Micro Metal Gearmotor MP, DRV8835 Dual Motor Driver Carrier, and Pololu Step-Down Voltage Regulator D15V35F5S3.

Featured link: http://www.bot-thoughts.com/2013/04/raspberry-pi-telepresence-rover.html

Martin Sant posted some code that does web-based real time control of the Pololu Micro Maestro 6 channel servo controller using a Raspberry Pi and the Tornado web server.

Featured link: http://martinsant.net/?page_id=479

This Raspberry Pi-based robot’s motors are driven with a TB6612FNG motor driver carrier.

Featured link: https://projects.drogon.net/adafruit-protoplate-for-the-rasbperry-pi/