PiBot-A: mobile robot with a Raspberry Pi

Posted by Jeremy on 28 January 2015

Thomas Schoch, who previously built the PiBot-B we blogged about, built another robot with a Raspberry Pi. His robot, the PiBot-A, uses our DRV8835 Dual Motor Driver Kit for Raspberry Pi B+ with a Raspberry Pi Model A+ to control two 100:1 Micro Metal Gearmotors. The robot also uses our S7V7F5 Switching Step-Up/Step-Down Regulator to supply the Raspberry Pi with 5 V from the motor power supply, allowing the whole robot to be powered form a single source.

The PiBot-A is controlled by a Web-App from Thomas’s iPhone. It communicates over WiFi to the Raspberry Pi, which is running lighttpd and PHP. The Python program on the PiBot-A uses the WiringPi library to send signals to the motor driver kit to drive two 100:1 Micro Metal Gearmotors that are connected to the chassis with our Micro Metal Gearmotor Brackets. Thomas also added an array of Sharp digital distance sensors to give the robot obstacle detection. You can find a video of the PiBot-A avoiding boxes below:

For a complete write-up of the robot, check out the PiBot-A page. It is written in German, but it has a link at the top to translate it into English using Google Translate.

11 February 2015 update: Thomas added support for our QTR-3A Reflectance Sensor Array to his PiBot-A to make a line follower and posted about it on Let’s Make Robots. The sensor array is interchangeable with the array of Sharp digital sensors used for obstacle detection. You can find a video of his robot following a line below:

4 comments

Hi. I want to know if I can buy two of this cars. And how much for each one??

Thanks for replying
Hello.

We did not make the robot in this post, and we do not sell it. You could look at the PiBot-A's project page, which is linked just below the "PiBot-A - Obstacle Avoider" video, to get an idea of how to build the custom robot or something similar. The PiBot-A's page contains some code and a list of parts used to make it, which might help get you started. (The project page is written in German, but you could use Google Translate to translate the page.)

- Amanda
Would be AWESOME if you guys laser cut a bunch of the acrylic mounting plates he had custom made and sold them in the store... his pattern is listed at http://www.retas.de/thomas/raspberrypi/pibot-a/acryl.png
Hello.

Thanks for the suggestion. We have a few laser-cut plates that would probably work with the Rasberry Pi, but nothing in that exact size. We'll keep your suggestion in mind! For now, you could check out our custom laser cutting service.

- Grant

Post a comment

Using your Pololu account allows you to customize your avatar and manage your comments; you can also post anonymously.

Related Products

Pololu DRV8835 Dual Motor Driver Kit for Raspberry Pi
Pololu 5V Step-Up/Step-Down Voltage Regulator S7V7F5
Log In
Pololu Robotics & Electronics
Shopping cart
(702) 262-6648
Same-day shipping, worldwide
Menu
Shop Blog Forum Support
My account Comments or questions? About Pololu Contact Ordering information Distributors