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Raspberry Pi Zero W: fast headless Wifi configuration with SSH

Yesterday I received a Raspberry Zero W, that for approximately $10 include Wifi and Bluetooth (byebye dongles) but no Ethernet port.

This post contains the instructions for configuring the Raspberry Pi Zero W so that he connects to the wifi network at the first startup of Linux, without wasting time (after that, you can log on via SSH).

  1. Download Jessie Lite image from the official repository (5 min)
  2. Download Etcher and burn the image on SD card (5 min)
  3. Insert the SD card in your notebook and open the boot folder of the SD Card
  4. Create an (empty) file called ssh (this enable SSH on startup)
  5. Create a wpa_supplicant.conf file with the following content
network={
    ssid="YOUR_WIFI_SSID"
    psk="YOUR_WIFI_PASSWORD"
    key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
}

Insert the SD in your Raspberry Pi Zero W, attach the power USB, connect your computer to the wifi, scan the network to find the raspberry IP address (i use lanscan on OSX) and you can connect via SSH (the default password is raspberry)

ssh pi@raspberrypi

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Oculus Rift handmade with Lego and google streetview

Recently I build an Oculus Rift like low cost alternative to simulate the original device.

I have a smartphone with hd screen and find on Amazon an interesting kit (2 lens, 1 strap). So, I build a lego structure to bring together this elements, and wrote a small ios app that show two view, one for eye.

The gyro and accelerometer sensor make possibile to track the head movement, so the last ingredient was to find an app that show multiple 3d view based on sensors.

I not find the app, so I wrote a small ios app that show 2 streeview frame, rotating the view point based on sensors. The result is simple and awfull 🙂

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Lego plays Ruzzle: nxt & nodejs powered robot

Today I have uploaded a video ‘Lego plays Ruzzle‘ on Youtube, to show how my creation works.

I like to mix different technologies to create something innovative.

I love Lego, and recently discovered Ruzzle, a popular mobile game. So, I decided to mix Lego, Ruzzle, Javascript, bash and other pieces to create a super robot 🙂

lego-plays-ruzzle

In this project I used:

  • Tablet with Ruzzle
  • Bash script for:
    • Bash script for download screenshot of device
    • Process image with Imagemagick
    • Recognize character from image with Tesseract
  • NodeJS for:
    • Solving Ruzzle
    • Optimizing the plan
    • Send via bluetooth to Lego Mindstorm
  • Nxc program to receive plan via bluetooth
  • Absolute Position Regulator library for precise control of lego motors

Ruzzle solver scheme (3)

The project is open source, and the code is on Github:

https://github.com/albertosarullo/ruzzle-mindstorm-nxc-nodejs-solver

More photos are on Flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/silvana_g/8459161766/in/set-72157632723812787/

Other article on Lego Ruzzle Solver:

In march 23 I talked about history of my robots @ Codemotion Rome. Below you can finde the slides of my talk:

 

Any feedback / request is appreciated !

 

 

 

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Ruzzle Lego Solver: first photo

After some day of building, conding, and testing, I publish the first photo of my Lego Ruzzle Solver.

The robot use 3 NXT motors: one for x-axis movement, one for y-axis movement, and one for move the “finger” up and down. To decrease friction, the two movable parts of robot are supported on rigid wheels, like a bridge crane.

Ruzzle Lego Mindstorm Solver

A curious thing: the capacitive touchscreen of the tablet require human fingers (attached to human body) to dispatch touche event. Because attach fingers to lego mindstorm motor require detaching fingers from my body, I have discover that conductive sponge is a very good alternative, and because vegetal sponge is conductive, I have buy it at supermarket for 1 euro saving my real fingers.