Back in July of 2016 I guess I thought I’d have some time on my hands to play around with robots… that didn’t happen… but I did buy a GoPiGo kit from Dexter Industries along with some accessories. It has been in my office drawer for four years until this week when I got it out and put it together. It is a nice kit and targets kids 10 years and older and is really quick and easy to assemble. I would say that the youtube videos are the documents of record on how to assemble and get started with the GoPiGo. The robot is a simple rover powered by a Raspberry Pi and a Debian Linux distribution called Raspbian for Robots. It also has servos, cameras, and ultrasonic sensors that you can add on. There is a simple python api for programming the robot and interacting with the servos and sensors.
The version that I have is the GoPiGo 2 and the current one is GoPiGo 3, they have an archive of all of the software and documentation for old versions and the YouTube videos for the old ones are also still there. I got it assembled with only one mishap where I cracked a small Plexiglas part by over-tightening a fastener, I was able to mend it and continue. The software setup was equally easy, just plugged in an Ethernet cable, pointed a browser at it and they have a vnc based desktop where you can configure WiFi. Once it is on the wifi network you unplug the cable and you can just log on to the robot where ever it is via WiFi.
I created a github project for my programs and using git I can just pull them onto the robot. That way I can code on my desktop and just move things over via git. You can power the robot for programming purposes using a USB power adapter so that you don’t deplete the batteries while you’re debugging. I’ve successfully shipped over a couple of test programs and tested moving the robot and also manipulating the servo and reading the ultrasonic sensor. Now I’ve just got to think about what my first substantial robot project is going to be.
