Product Code: 49

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Description

Build your own Robot Rover for Raspberry Pi – just add Raspberry Pi and batteries.

Please note that we no longer include a WiFi adapter with this kit, so you will need to have a Raspberry Pi that has a WiFi connection. Of course if you have a Raspberry Pi 3 – then it has WiFi built-in.

The kit includes:

The kit uses the RRB3 library that you can download from GitHub.

You will find all the code for the example projects on GitHub.

The booklet of instructions includes the following activities:

  • Blinking an LED on the RasPiRobot Board
  • Using the RGB Squid LED including Cheerlights on Twitter
  • Using a Squid Button
  • Measuring distance with the ultrasonic rangefinder
  • Detecting movement with the ultrasonic rangefinder
  • Remote control rover
  • Autonomous rover

Getting Started

The kit includes a full instruction booklet to show you how to make your roving robot, but the following video gives you an idea of what’s involved in building the rover.

RESOURCES

Because the Raspberry Pi is attached to the robot and not your keyboard and monitor, you will need to setup your Raspberry Pi so that you can connect to it remotely from another computer using SSH. The following guide will show you how to do that.

The kit uses the rrb3 library and if you take a look in the examples folder there, you will find other programs to explore with your rover.

Other BATTERY Options

7.4V LiPo racing packs have the advantage (over the supplied 6 x AA battery box) of being able to supply high currents without losing much voltage either through ‘internal resistance’ of the batteries or resistance in the leads from the battery box to the RRB3. Theses LiPo racing packs tend to have good thick leads and very low internal resistance. The 9V is only necessary with AA batteries, because they have more voltage losses at high current and so when the motors start up, the voltage arriving at the RRB3 can drop below the 6V or so needed to stop the Raspberry Pi rebooting.
If you are not keen on single use AA batteries, then powering the Pi separately from a 5V LiPo phone battery backup means that the Pi won’t reset itself even if the motors do cause the voltage supplied by the ‘motor’ battery to drop below 6V. This also means that you could use rechargeable AA batteries in the AA battery box, or even use a 4 x AA battery box rather than the 6 x AA box suggested. You only need the 6 x AA battery box if also powering the Raspberry Pi from the batteries.

TROUBLESHOOTING

Problem: I can’t install the raspirobotboard3 library

Make sure that your Raspberry Pi’s internet connection is working ok. If you get an error running the ‘git’ command, then it probably means you are using an old version of Raspbian that does not include ‘git’. The best thing to do is to download NOOBs and install the latest version of Raspbian from https://www.raspberrypi.org/help/noobs-setup/2/

Problem: The batteries do not power the Raspberry Pi

If the batteries do not power the Raspberry Pi, then please check the following:
* The batteries are new and fresh
* All the batteries are the correct way around
* The battery lead is connected with the correct polarity (red to +)
* The screw terminals for the battery are NOT gripping one of the battery leads insulation rather than the bare wire.

RELATED PRODUCTS

This kit uses the RasPiRobot Board V3 motor controller for the Raspberry Pi which is also available separately.

 

9 thoughts on “RasPiRobot Rover Kit”

  1. Darrell Little

    Greetings – I really enjoy your books (have a couple of them!) and I’ve actually acquired most of the parts in this kit from other sources. Is the booklet with the projects available on it’s own? I would find that very helpful in putting together different projects with the RasPiRobot v3 board. Thanks!

  2. Jorge Zingg

    Hi,
    I bought a RobotRover Kit and have been playing with my son with it, it’s great to teach kids who want to learn programming in a fun way, it’s great!. I have are two questions, though:

    – The battery pack has too little room and gets against the motors, which tilts both wheel axis to the inside. Do you have any hint of how to solve this the best way?

    – Is there a way to download the manual as PDF? My son seems to have lost it and I remember there were many interesing small projects in that booklet.

  3. Sachin Bhopal Myers

    Hi,

    I have recently got the raspirobot kit and once I have gone to run the first set of code it will come up with an error saying “ImportError: No module named ‘squid’.” I would like to know how to fix this. I have tried other projects and they say ImportError: No module named ‘rrb3’. Please could you tell me how to fix this.

  4. Linda Taylor

    Hi Sachin, It sounds like you don’t have the Raspberry Squid or Raspirobot3 libraries installed. Please run the commands listed on the Welcome page of the booklet that came with the kit.

  5. David Robinson

    Hi there, great product. My nephew has learnt loads building and starting to programme this. Anyone got experience of using a 9v rechargeable battery pack instead (USB chargeable would be great). Any ideas or thoughts?

  6. Marquis

    Awesome issueds here. I’m very happy too look your article.
    Thankk you so much and I’m having a loook forward to touch you.
    Will you please drop me a e-mail?

  7. John

    Is there a off document of the instruction booklet as my grandson has lost his, if there is where can I down load it from?

  8. Jafet

    Hello,
    I recently bought the robot kit, and am very excited to work with it.
    I am experiencing issues with the motors provided by the kit.
    At first, the robot was powered by the battery pack and connected to ssh through a mac book air.
    When I would run the 08_manual_robot program my raspberry pi3 would reboot.
    Afterwards, I decided to add and connect the power supply cable. This somehow allowed the Pi to run the program, but only one motor worked and the commands made by me on the keyboard did not properly correspond with the Pi.
    All other programs such as controlling led and range finder work just fine.
    Not sure how to troubleshoot this problem.
    Although I think it could be a problem with power.

  9. Bernt

    Hi I just bought one of these kits.

    Question:

    If I add an extra motor/servo – would it be possible to mount the range finder in such a way that I can adjust the range finder’s direction from side to side (sort of like a rotating radar antenna)?

    If so: What kind of motor/servo should I buy?

    Thanks!

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