Hey Max,

Your parts list seems a little out of date. Been trying to find the parts on my own, but as I am somewhat new to the whole electronics game, I am uncertain if the items I am finding on my own are the same items required for the project. Just to be clear, I am making the Twitch Drone version of your bot.

Will these parts work?

https://www.amazon.ca/Electric-Magnetic-Gearbox-Vibration-Products/dp/B07DPNQMXS/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_2?keywords=DC+3V+-+6V+Dual+Axis+Gear+Motor+TT+Motor+For+Arduino+Smart+Chassis+Car&qid=1568091061&s=gateway&sr=8-2-fkmr0

https://www.amazon.ca/Stepper-Controller-Arduino-Mega2560-Duemilanove/dp/B0786L5YPP/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=l298n&qid=1568092762&s=gateway&sr=8-3

and I can't find an appropriate power bank. Cheers mate and love the work you have done.

Hi, the motors you found are correct. But the driver is definitely too big for the chassis. The drivers that I'm using are on Amazon.ca as well:

 https://www.amazon.ca/Driver-Module-H-Bridge-Replace-Stepper/dp/B075S368Y2/ref=sr_1_28?keywords=l298n&qid=1568111449&s=gateway&sr=8-28

About the battery: You can either use a single 18650 battery and solder leads to it or buy a cheap power bank that has one in it. If you don't want to use the charging circuit from the power bank you will need a tp4056 USB modul or something similar. You can of course also use any other LiPo battery that fits the chassis. The 18650 cells are just an easily available format.

Appreciate the information

Just realized, you don't actually use the power bank, you take the componants out of the encasing, so with realizing that, would this work? https://www.amazon.ca/Poweradd-Portable-Ultra-Compact-External-compatible/dp/B0142JHOEO/ref=pd_ybh_a_7?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=TKXY063E9SQFCYR9SFT5

Most of the small, cylindrical power banks should contain a 18650 cell and the necessary electronics to output 5V at a high enough current. As I said you can also use any 3.7V lipo pouch cell and a 5V boost module like this: https://www.adafruit.com/product/2465

So I bought a power bank and tore out the innards, battery and the chip attached to it, could I not just go micro usb to micro usb from the chip attached to the battery to the pi zero? Also, is the motor driver suppose to be wired to the chip attached to the battery as well? cause I do not see a 3.7v output, as shown in your schematics?

What I did for the first version of the robot was to attach the motor driver directly to the terminals of the battery (3.7V). The Raspberry Pi is connected to the 5V output (USB A) of the power bank. This was done to get some decoupling between the motors and the Pi. 

hey Max .

I already flash the images on SD card and make a file for ssid and password. just like in instruction. 

But the problem is, my raspberry pi is blinking after booting and i wait for it to apprear on my wifi by using Fing apps..

but i didnt found the ip for my raspberry pi zero w.

can you help me out , Max ? i really need this robot comes alive for my younger sister.

Thanks in advance,

Amirul.

Maybe try flashing it again. The wpa_supplicant.conf file should be there already, you only have to enter your WIFI ssid and password. Double check those as well. 

already did that wpa_supplicant.conf .. nevermind. i'm trying to download again your images and flash it using etcher programme.. btw can i flash the new images directly into the same SD card ? cause i see the partition is split up.

You should format it again to be safe.

Hey Max!

Im looking to use your awesome software to run on a slightly different chassis (a dfrobot Devastator) and use a USB webcam as the source for web feed.

Would there be much to change in the software to use a webcam instead of the Pi cam?

Thanks mate :)

Craig

Hi, that's definitely possible and shouldn't be too much work.

You need to change the command to run the mjpg-streamer. Right now the input looks  like this: -i "input_raspicam.so -vf -hf -fps 15 -q 50 -x 640 -y 480"

You will have to specify the plugin "input_uvc.so" for a USB cam.

I don't have a webcam to test but there are lots of forum posts about using the mjpg streamer with a USB webcam.

hero - thanks matey!

I'll have a look at this over the weekend. I'm excited! :)

I've just got a Pi Camera for quite cheap :-)

Going to try this image again; I've written it to two Micro SD cards so far and it seems to have killed them (can no longer format). I think that's just bad luck on the Card front ha ha.

I'm tempted to use a 3B for the build, as I think the USB ports will come in handy on a chassis that size. I'd love to add more to the platform once I've got it tearing around the office, blinking some red eyes :-)

That's a pretty cool chassis indeed!

It's an awesome chassis; plenty of space and amounting points to make something brilliant.

I'm looking forward to tinkering with the software over the weekend :)

@Max.K, found this to be an interesting alternative for the TP4056 & MT3608 because it integrates both in a nice board w/ a holder for 2x 18650 batteries. I will order a couple these, and work the ZeroBot enclosure to fit it in. It can deliver 5V up to 3A (Max) output current. Very sleek indeed.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/3V-5V-18650-Battery-Shield-V8-Mobile-Power-Bank-for-Arduino-ESP32-ESP8266-Wifi/312439652582

Very nice indeed, good find!

This looks pretty awesome! My devastator platform is rocking 6v motors, so going to look for something similar to this which will give a regulated 5v and also  a raw output too.

im so confused with instruction  after setup the ssh wifi. they said this

Only during the first boot this file is automatically moved to its place in the Raspberry's file system.

After booting, you have to find the Raspberry's IP address using the routers menu or a wifi scanner app.

Use Putty or a similar program to connect to this address with your PC.

After logging in with the default details you can run

can you guys help me with this ?

Thanks in advance :)

Have you tried using the SD card image? It is super easy compared to the manual install process.

already done flash images to the SD card and done change the ssh wifi and password using notepad.. next what should i do ? put the sd card into raspberry pi ? and then turn on the robot ? and one more thing. can i use the circuit that have the LED infront as the headlight with out the LED? 

Thanks for replying me

Sorry, I thought you were trying the manual install.

Here is an updated tutorial for the SD card method: https://hackaday.io/project/25092-zerobot-raspberry-pi-zero-fpv-robot/log/156016-how-to-get-started-fall-2018

After you have inserted the sd and turned on the raspberry pi it will try to connect to your wifi network. You then have to find out its IP address. You can install Fing on your smartphone and scan the wifi for ip addresses. It will show the Raspberry Pi if it successfully connected.

alright.. i got all the image flashed in SD card .

Then , i make the changes in the ssh wifi name . i edit with notepad to change the ssh wifi to my home wifi network. 

then what should i do ? put the SD card on my robot and boot it up right away ? and i should do anythings with this ? ( see below )

<<<<

Access the Raspberry via your Wifi network with VNC:

Put an empty file named "SSH" in the boot partiton on the SD.

Create a new file "wpa_supplicant.conf" with the following content and move it to the boot partition as well:

>>>>

sorry cause i trouble you sir.

No problem. If the wpa_supplicant.conf and the empty ssh file is on there, you can just boot it up. If you made a mistake you can always simply flash the image again.

Hi bro. Like to let you know that the image works on the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B V1.2! Streaming, voltage & temperature display, light control. Yes!
So im designing a cool rover to fit the bigger board.
Can i parallel extra 1 more LED to each of the 2 LEDs? any value i need to change? * update yes can

I saw your reply to someone bout changing the resolution, i tried sudo nano /etc/rc.local and start.stream.sh but no parameter bout the resolution there though

Good to know that it works. I am pretty sure the resolution is set in the start_stream.sh script on the desktop (it's 640x480):

https://github.com/CoretechR/ZeroBot/blob/master/start_stream.sh

ok bro. what do i type to get in ya? not familiar with raspberry coding. i tried sudo nano start_stream.sh but nothing there. or anything i missed?

If you are on the desktop via CNV viewer, just open the TouchUI folder and right click the file to open it with a text editor. Sudo nano works too, you just have to navigate to the folder using "cd" to change the directory like "cd Desktop" and "cd TouchUI".

ok what works for me was cd Desktop > cd touchUI > sudo nano start_stream.sh

And since i run RP3 with it so i designed a new body. Posted here with link back to your project here.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3671909

Thanks man 

Hi bro. For both cd Desktop and cd TouchUI, it says no such file or directory.  :-(

You don't need that console commands if you are using VNC viewer. Have you tried it?

Got everything wired up per the pro schematic and am using the supplied image. My right  motor will not run in reverse or run in reverse when turning right; it runs forward correctly when selecting forward or left on the touch/mouse controls. Any ideas of what could cause this issue? Tried swapping the motors with same result.

Try swapping the wires that run between the Rapi and the motor driver. If the motor still only goes forward, the driver might be broken. If not, you might be using the wrong output pin on the Raspi.

I know that the image doesn't work on the 3B+, it will probably be the same for the A+ as it was introduced even later. You can try to do the manual setup though.

Would it be possible/easy to use a Raspberry Pi 3 Model A+ instead of the Raspberry Pi Zero W? I guess I would only need to move the screw holes to accommodate for the size of the Pi 3, right?

Sorry if this has been discussed previously, I could not find any mention of the following three topics:

1. Video recording capabilities 

2. Mobile Hotspot (on-board plug-and-play internet source)

3. camera tilt actuator for panning the camera.

I saw this and I immediately thought....Police tossing this into a building prior to the swat team moving in. I work for a local government and would love to make one of these for our local police department. 

any advice is helpful!

1. It should be possible to record the stream from the Raspberry Pi itself: https://github.com/cncjs/cncjs/wiki/Setup-Guide:-Raspberry-Pi-%7C-MJPEG-Streamer-Install-&-Setup-&-FFMpeg-Recording

2. The Raspberry can run in AP mode, but this has to be configured first: https://howtoraspberrypi.com/create-a-wi-fi-hotspot-in-less-than-10-minutes-with-pi-raspberry/

3. You could use a cheap hobby servo to pan the camera. In the User interface you can add a second joystick. I was asked about this before and shared the code for it: https://hackaday.io/project/25092-zerobot-raspberry-pi-zero-fpv-robot/discussion-108786

Using the robot for the Police sound very cool, I wouldn't recommend throwing it though. :)

Hi Max 

 I have been reading and researching more of the code and understanding more of it however still unable to make it work with Sabertooth2x32. You mentioned changing two lines of code to make it work? I wondered if you would point them out? On another note would this work as well on Pi3?  my cats and dogs not sure what to think of the little Zerobot pro following them about the house. Thanks 

I just had a look at the sabertooth 2x32 manual and I have a solution: You can set the dip switches in a way that the S1/S2 analog inputs control the motor speed and A1/A2 control the direction. According to the manual you need to set the dip switches to "independent mode" and "single direction mode". Then you need to modify the code like this:

var Gpio = require('pigpio').Gpio,
  S1 = new Gpio(27, {mode: Gpio.OUTPUT}),
  A1 = new Gpio(17, {mode: Gpio.OUTPUT}),
  S2 = new Gpio( 4, {mode: Gpio.OUTPUT}),
  A2 = new Gpio(18, {mode: Gpio.OUTPUT});
  LED = new Gpio(22, {mode: Gpio.OUTPUT});

io.on('connection', function(socket){
  console.log('A user connected');
  
  socket.on('pos', function (msx, msy) {
    msx = Math.min(Math.max(parseInt(msx), -255), 255);
    msy = Math.min(Math.max(parseInt(msy), -255), 255);
    //S1 and S2 set the speed, A1 and A2 set the direction
    S1.pwmWrite(Math.abs(msx));
    if(msx > 0) A1.digitalWrite(1);
    else A1.digitalWrite(0);
      
    S2.pwmWrite(Math.abs(msy));
    if(msy > 0) A2.digitalWrite(1);
    else A2.digitalWrite(0);

  });

Here's why: Usually you would have four analog inputs on simple dual motor controllers. One for each direction of each motor. That's why in my original code spinning forward means "MA1 = 255, MA2 = 0" and backwards is "MA1 = 0, MA2 = 255". The sabertooth does not work like that. Instead the inputs can be configured so that S1 and S2 control the speed with analog PWM values and A1 and A2 control the direction. In the code the only change needed is to make sure the S1/S2 output is a positive value and A1/A2 is 0 or 1 depending on the direction.

You could also use the bidirectional mode where you don't need A1/A2 at all, so forward is "S1 = 255" and backward is "S1 = 0". The problem is that the motors only stop if the PWM value is exactly in the middle at "S1 = 127,5" or 2.5V which is difficult to archive. If the Raspberry is off that also means the motors might spin uncontrollably. So it's best to use the "single direction mode".

Can you teach me how to use a wifi module for this? I want to control it for up to 100 meters. And also I want to add a thermal camera module for it. I will also replace the default camera with toggle-able IR cut so that it will change when dark and a thermal camera as a backup.

The Pro version uses LED's as headlights and few new addons

where to buy

while I haven't seen this one for sale anywhere there are a number of small inexpensive tank like or car kits one could easily use for a base platform and could easily hold pi zero and batteries. 

I _soooo_ need to build this.  I'm adding it to my resolutions for 2019.  (Might as well make them fun, right?)

I have built and tested this for days and love the project! I do now have questions as I have a similar project currently using r/c receiver connected to my motor controller on a heavier model. Its currently configured to use PWM however I see in yours there are 4 inputs to the motor driver where I only need 2? Left and Right channel  Im not sure I understand the code fully but it appears only 2 wires are used? motor driver Im using is sabertooth 2x32

It looks like your motor driver is "smarter" and only needs one PWM input per motor. The driver I'm using has two separate inputs for rotating left or right. You would have to change two lines of code to make the Raspberry Pi work with the sabertooth driver. Is this what you are trying to do or are you going to use an RC receiver instead?

Hi thanks for the reply , I can currently use R/C on it and Yes I am trying only to modify this to work with sabertooth. I believe changes need to be made withing the following just not sure how:

var Gpio = require('pigpio').Gpio,
  A1 = new Gpio(27, {mode: Gpio.OUTPUT}),
  //A2 = new Gpio(17, {mode: Gpio.OUTPUT}),
  B1 = new Gpio( 4, {mode: Gpio.OUTPUT}),
  //B2 = new Gpio(18, {mode: Gpio.OUTPUT});
  LED = new Gpio(22, {mode: Gpio.OUTPUT});

app.get('/', function(req, res){
  res.sendfile('Touch.html');
  console.log('HTML sent to client');
});

child = exec("sudo bash start_stream.sh", function(error, stdout, stderr){});

//Whenever someone connects this gets executed
io.on('connection', function(socket){
  console.log('A user connected');
  
  socket.on('pos', function (msx, msy) {
    //console.log('X:' + msx + ' Y: ' + msy);
    //io.emit('posBack', msx, msy);

    msx = Math.min(Math.max(parseInt(msx), -255), 255);
    msy = Math.min(Math.max(parseInt(msy), -255), 255);

    if(msx > 0){
      A1.pwmWrite(msx);
     // A2.pwmWrite(0);
    } else {
     // A1.pwmWrite(0);
      A2.pwmWrite(Math.abs(msx));
    }

    if(msy > 0){
      B1.pwmWrite(msy);
     // B2.pwmWrite(0);
    } else {
     // B1.pwmWrite(0);
      B2.pwmWrite(Math.abs(msy));
    }

  });

Wondering if this would get it? may have to try and see

 Heyyy Max, thank for your sharing. I adapt your project on a lego, as i do not have a printer 3d. i open ports on router its very fun. The next step, makean inductive chargning station for run 24h/24 and modify web page to put the password http://www.instagram.com/p/BqUueMrnLPv/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=44scyx7mx4gd

Hello Max. Your project is really great! I embarked on its construction and I have an error message at the line: "sudo npm install pigpio".
Here it is: "npm WARN engine pigpio@1.1.4: wanted: {" node ":"> = 4.0.0 "} (current: {" node ":" 0.10.29 "," npm ":" 1.4.21 "})

could you help me ?
Thank you

Hi, is there a reason you are doing the manual install? There are fully finished and tested SD-card images that are very easy to use: https://hackaday.io/project/25092-zerobot-raspberry-pi-zero-fpv-robot/log/97988-the-new-zerobot-pro

Hi Max, thank you for your answer and for your work with this robot. In fact I am a total beginner in the field of Rpi and I wish, by this construction, to train me. Your explanations are very detailed and what gives me the information to learn ;-) I will still test the version "turnkey" because I can't wait to test the editing.
Thanks again

339/5000

Hello, a great project. My ZeroBot works wonderfully. However, I have no housing, but looks good too.
I control the ZeroBot on the way normally over the Browser. You just have to establish a VPN connection to the home router. Works wonderfully. Or only the camera stream on the port release of port 9000.

Hi !

Thanks for reply

A IP work, I have enter 192.168.1.2 in firefox and he propose to redirect me on port 3000 and interface function.

My camera don't have light is a link of my camera : https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiB6MD80rfeAhVMXBoKHVPRBLMQjhx6BAgBEAM&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.kiwi-electronics.nl%2Fraspberry-pi-zero-w-camera-pack%3Flang%3Den&psig=AOvVaw3kSL9IcLrJKnI_35lHyb3k&ust=1541314734700685

This camera have a light to specific is in on, Do you thinks the problems is a wrong camera

Thanks for reply

You can try the usual camera beginner tutorials from the Pi foundation to see if your camera is functional. As yours seems to be a genuine Raspberry pi camera it must be compatible. The software on the SD card image was tested by many people so this can only be a hardware problem. Please make sure that the camera is correctly plugged in etc.