Junkbots

Details of the Raspberry Pi Junkbot are now available as resource on the Computing at Schools site. Link:  http://community.computingatschool.org.uk/resources/3390 If you would like to know more about the Junkbots project contact scott.turner@northampton.ac.uk

A new Facebook page has been set-up to complement this blog:  www.facebook.com/junkrobot Please come along have a look. If you would like to know more about the Junkbots project contact scott.turner@northampton.ac.uk

If you would like to know more about the Junkbots project contact scott.turner@northampton.ac.uk

About - LEGO Mindstorms Junkbots : "The idea behind the LEGO Mindstorms Junkbots is to bring together the motors of the LEGO and use them to power the robot which is otherwise created from junk. The key aims of the project are; To give children at a KS2 primary school level an insight into what can be achieved through the use of simple programming. To provide a fun and engaging activity for children to be creative and design their own robots. To use the robots and programming software to achieve basic movements of the Junkbots. The original junkbots project combined the idea of using motors and vibrations to move the bots with limited control however the new project uses the idea of programming to add a further element of control and as such the simplicity of the self contained NXT device was decided upon as a branch of this. Aiming the project at KS1 and KS2 gives the opportunity to introduce basic programming from a young age and demonstrate just one of the interesti...

Raspberry Pi Junkbot - Home : A new website providing more information of the Raspberry Pi Junkbot project (combining Raspberry Pi, Scratch programming and junk). This will be added to as the  project develops. At the moment it includes - Introduction -Discussion about the robot controller card -ScratchGPIO - Example of the drawing bot. 'via Blog this'

Figure 1 In previous posts I start looked at using ScratchGPIO to control a junkbot  ( http://junkbots.blogspot.com/2014/08/junkbot-pi-1-scratchgpio.html ) and showed a Pi controlled junkbot briefly in action ( http://junkbots.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/junkbot-raspberry-pi-2-raspberry-pi.html ). In this post I aim to discuss - Choice of motor controller card - Provide an example of a drawing junkbot controlled through Scratch and Raspberrry Pi Choice of interface/Controller card The card choosen was the 4Tronix PiRoCon card  ( http://4tronix.co.uk/store/index.php?rt=product/product&product_id=182 ). Selected for four reasons - Price is reasonable (in my opinion). - Fits straight onto the Pi through the GPIO - no extra cables needed. - ScratchGPIO has it as an addon so it makes programming it even easier (see http://cymplecy.wordpress.com/2013/10/31/pirocon-from-4tronix/ ). - Others are using it for robot projects. Use it is quite easy plug the board directl...

First video of a junkbot being controlled by a Raspberry Pi. The bot was developed by Hayden Tetley and Scott Turner. Hayden's time was paid  for through the Nuffield Research Placements  Scheme ( http://www.nuffieldfoundation.org/nuffield-research-placements ). Next post will provide further details on how this was done. If you would like to know more about the Junkbots project contact scott.turner@northampton.ac.uk

A development I have being wanting to develop for a while is the combine the Raspberry Pi with a Junkbot to add some control.  This the first of postings about these experiments. All the development will be around ScratchGPIO ( http://cymplecy.wordpress.com/scratchgpio/ ) so this posting will look into its use . Why ScratchGPIO? Short answer - simplicity. It is designed to look and work like Scratch ( http://scratch.mit.edu/ ) but allowing access to board that can drive motors. Installing ScratchGPIO? As a suggest use as lastest as possible version of the operating system as you can on your SD card. Initially we had trouble with missing Python files that was resolved when using an updated version of the operating system. In the LXTerminal Type in: sudo wget http://goo.gl/Pthh62 -O isgh5.sh then type in sudo bash isgh5.sh You should get to new icons for ScratchGPIO5 and ScratchGPIO5Plus Now use these instead of the Scratch that came with the operating...

Enchanting : Enchanting : Enchanting : Combining 'Scratch-like' programming language and LEGO NXT. 'via Blog this'

Taken from:  Mobile Robotics with Scratch: Build an Arduino-based insect-like Walker and program it with Scratch : A version of the insect-like walker made with coat-hanger wire and originally designed by  Jerome Demers  ( see also this instructable ) and Gareth Branwyn. It comes in two versions: a standalone,  Arduino-only  version, powered by a common old-fashioned Arduino sketch, and a remote-controlled version, dynamically programmed using the MIT-developed  Scratch  visual programming language. 'via Blog this'

Taken from:  http://computingnorthampton.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/physical-computing-junkbots-with-brain.html Figure 1 A new stage for the Junkbots project ( http://junkbots.blogspot.co.uk/  ) starts this week. Up to this point the junk bot building has largely being about building a moving (or drawing) 'bot' moved by vibration - limited control, but fun. This week, A  Nuffield funded bursary studen t starts working on investigating whether LEGO NXT or Raspberry Pi based solutions can be incorporated with the bot to add some control of the movement (still by vibration). Idea One  Is to add a LEGO NXT brick, plus motors that are made to vibrate, to a junkbot similar to one shown in figure 1. The motor and broken propeller combination being replaced with the NXT brick and LEGO motor. A good potential feature is it a self-contained unit with power and control together, as well as being potentially fairly simple to set-up. Idea Two Is to do a similar approach as...