Robots and Physical Computing

In a previous post, the Envirobit (  https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/enviro-bit  )  for the Microbit was played with getting temperature, humidity and pressure  ( https://robotsandphysicalcomputing.blogspot.com/2021/06/pimoroni-envirobit.html ).  In this short post a quick experiment using the sound and light sensor, to turn LEDs on the board to turn off and on beyond on light level. The code is set up when a clap happens nearby, light level is used to 'decide' whether the LEDs are turned on or off, below a threshols the LEDs go on above it the LEDs are turned off, Makeecode  Using Makecode makes this relatively easy to implement and fun. All opinions in this blog are the Author's and should not in any way be seen as reflecting the views of any organisation the Author has any association with. Twitter @scottturneruon

The Mega Treasure Chest  Flotilla set  from Pimoroni, was kickstarter project that got a lot of people interested. A nice package - a hub for a collection of devices such as light sensors, barometer, temperature, switches, motors and many more; all linked to a Raspberry Pi. The kit is shown in the image to the left. A Python API exist for this system. Instructions on how to set up the Flotilla to work with Python can be found at  http://flotil.la/start/ . I wanted to play with switching the Rainbow (A set of RGB LEDs) outputs to Red, Blue and Green by pressing either 2,3, or 4 on the Touch Sensor as in the images. Using the mini-kit example from  https://github.com/pimoroni/flotilla-python/blob/master/examples/mini-kit.py  as the basis, produced a simple system that uses the Touch module and its buttons 2,3 and 4 to change the Rainbow; the code is shown below and ran on a Raspberry Pi 3 using Python 3. import color...

Well for once I am not going to be talking about robots, but my experience in setting up a Raspberry Pi touch screen - this is not a how to guide, a couple links to those are included in the post, but my experience of setting one up.  So the I bought the Raspberry Pi Touch Screen from Pimoroni and along with the stand/frame for it. Setting up the LCD frame was simple with the instructions provided and the link at the end of the instructions provide some further help http://learn.pimoroni.com/tutorial/pi-lcd/getting-started-with-raspberry-pi-7-touchscreen-lcd  on setting up the screen A tutorial from The PiHut ( https://thepihut.com/blogs/raspberry-pi-tutorials/45295044-raspberry-pi-7-touch-screen-assembly-guide ) was very useful on how to connect the screen to the Pi.  The blue side  on the white ribbon cable (provided with the screen) used in connecting the two together needs to blue side down towards the LCD (as explained in  PiHut tutorial ) and fa...

Junkbots ( http://junkbots.blogspot.co.uk/ ) are based around using  materials such as drink's cans, broken propellors and motors to produce something that moves by vibration. Previous designs be found at: Raspberry Pi Controlled Junkbots Junkbots blog The latest tweak to the Raspberry Pi based Junkbot design is to use the combination of Python and Pimoroni's Explorer HAT PRO to control it. Explorer HAT Pro is a good choice, it can control two motors with a library provided to simplify the programming. For this the Junkbot was the one shown above: a drinks can, pen, LEGO bits, motor and broken propellor. Before the Explorer HAT can be used the library needs to be installed via the Terminal and the instructions below curl get.pimoroni.com/explorerhat | bash Python code to control the junkbot is shown below. import explorerhat from time import sleep def spin1(duration):     explorerhat.motor.one.forward(100)     sleep(duration)...