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ZeroBot - Raspberry Pi Zero FPV Robot
Raspberry Pi Zero 3D Printed Video Streaming Robot
Raspberry Pi Zero 3D Printed Video Streaming Robot
All new features: More battery power, a charging port, battery voltage sensing, headlights, camera mode, safe shutdown, new UI
The new software should work on all existing robots.
When I designed the ZeroBot last year, I wanted to have something that "just works". So after implementing the most basic features I put the parts on Thingiverse and wrote instructions here on Hackaday. Since then the robot has become quite popular on Thingiverse with 2800+ downloads and a few people already printed their own versions of it. Because I felt like there were some important features missing, I finally made a new version of the robot.
The ZeroBot Pro has some useful, additional features:
If you are interested in building the robot, you can head over here for the instructions: https://hackaday.io/project/25092/instructions
The 3D files are hosted on Thingiverse: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2800717
Download the SD card image: https://drive.google.com/file/d/163jyooQXnsuQmMcEBInR_YCLP5lNt7ZE/view?usp=sharing
After flashing the image to a 8GB SD card, open the file "wpa_supplicant.conf" with your PC and enter your WiFi settings.
After a few people ran into problems with the tutorial, I decided to create a less complicated solution. You can now download an SD card image for the robot, so there is no need for complicated installs and command line tinkering. The only thing left is getting the Pi into your network:
If you don't want the robot to be restricted to your home network, you can easily configure it to work as a wireless access point. This is described in the tutorial.
EDIT 29.7. Even easier setup - the stream ip is selected automatically now
The goal for this project was to build a small robot which could be controlled wirelessly with video feed being sent back to the user. Most of my previous projects involved Arduinos but while they are quite capable and easy to program, there are a lot of limitations with simple microcontrollers when it comes to processing power. Especially when a camera is involved, there is now way around a Raspberry Pi. The Raspberry Pi Zero W is the ideal hardware for a project like this: It is cheap, small, has built in Wifi and enough processing power and I/O ports.
Because I had barely ever worked with a Raspberry, I first had to find out how to program it and what software/language to use. Fortunately the Raspberry can be set up to work without ever needing to plug in a keyboard or Monitor and instead using a VNC connection to a remote computer. For this, the files on the boot partition of the SD card need to be modified to allow SSH access and to connect to a Wifi network without further configuration.
The next step was to get a local website running. This was surprisingly easy using Apache, which creates and hosts a sample page after installing it.
To control the robot, data would have to be sent back from the user to the Raspberry. After some failed attempts with Python I decided to use Node.js, which features a socket.io library. With the library it is rather easy to create a web socket, where data can be sent to and from the Pi. In this case it would be two values for speed and direction going to the Raspberry and some basic telemetry being sent back to the user to monitor e.g. the CPU temperature.
For the user interface I wanted to have a screen with just the camera image in the center and an analog control stick at the side of it. While searching the web I found this great javascript example by Seb Lee-Delisle: http://seb.ly/2011/04/multi-touch-game-controller-in-javascripthtml5-for-ipad/ which even works for multitouch devices. I modified it to work with a mouse as well and integrated the socket communication.
I first thought about using an Arduino for communicating with the motor controller, but this would have ruined the simplicity of the project. In fact, there is a nice Node.js library for accessing the I/O pins: https://www.npmjs.com/package/pigpio. I soldered four pins to the PWM motor controller by using the library, the motors would already turn from the javascript input.
After I finally got a camera adapter cable for the Pi Zero W, I started working on the stream. I used this tutorial to get the mjpg streamer running: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ix0ishA585o. The latency is surprisingly low at just 0.2-0.3s with a resolution of 640x480 pixels. The stream was then included in the existing HTML page.
With most of the software work done, I decided to make a quick prototype using an Asuro robot. This is a ancient robot kit from a time before the Arduino existed. I hooked up the motors to the controller and secured the rest of the parts with painters tape on the robot's chassis:
After the successful prototype I arranged the components in Fusion 360 to find a nice shape for the design. From my previous project (http://coretechrobotics.blogspot.com/2015/12/attiny-canbot.html) I knew that I would use a half-shell design again and make 3D printed parts.
The parts were printed in regular PLA on my Prusa i3 Hephestos. The wheels are designed to have tires made with flexible filament (in my case Ninjaflex) for better grip. For printing the shells, support materia is necessary. Simplify3D worked well with this and made the supports easy to remove.
After printing the parts and doing some minor reworking, I assembled the robot. Most components are glued inside the housing. This may no be professional approach, but I wanted to avoid screws and tight tolerances. Only the two shells are connected with four hex socket screws. The corresponding nuts are glued in on the opposing shell. This makes it easily to access the internals of the robot.
For...
Read more »DISCLAIMER: This is not a comprehensive step-by-step tutorial. Some previous experience with electronics / Raspberry Pi is required. I am not responsible for any damage done to your hardware.
I am also providing an easier alternative to this setup process using a SD card image: https://hackaday.io/project/25092/log/62102-easy-setup-using-sd-image
https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/installation/installing-images/
This tutorial is based on Raspbian Jessie 4/2017
Personally I used the Win32DiskImage for Windows to write the image to the SD card. You can also use this program for backing up the SD to a .img file.
IMPORTANT: Do not boot the Raspberry Pi yet!
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:
Max.K
ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=netdev
update_config=1
network={
ssid="wifi name"
psk="wifi password"
}
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
sudo raspi-config
In the interfacing options enable Camera and VNC
In the advanced options expant the file system and set the resolution to something like 1280x720p.
Now you can connect to the Raspberry's GUI via a VNC viewer: https://www.realvnc.com/download/viewer/
Use the same IP and login as for Putty and you should be good to go.
sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get upgrade sudo apt-get install apache2 node.js npm git clone https://github.com/CoretechR/ZeroBot Desktop/touchUI cd Desktop/touchUI sudo npm install express sudo npm install socket.io sudo npm install pi-gpio sudo npm install pigpio
Run the app.js script using:
cd Desktop/touchUI sudo node app.js
You can make the node.js script start on boot by adding these lines to /etc/rc.local before "exit 0":
cd /home/pi/Desktop/touchUI sudo node app.js& cd
The HTML file can easily be edited while the node script is running, because it is sent out when a host (re)connects.
Have you tried entering the port behind the ip address like this?
192.168.1.4:3000
Thanks for putting all this work into making this project accessible to others. I finally got mine to work last night. In you opinion, how hard would it be for someone with no coding experience to add a pan tilt servo movement to the camera and implement it into your code? I can follow tutorials on pan/tilt servo movement with plenty of resources online but implementing the control into your modified UI seems intimidating. Do you have any tips for me or any bits of advice as I venture into this? Thanks again!
Interesting! A good place to start would be Seb Lee's multitouch example, that I used as a base for my interface: http://seb.ly/2011/04/multi-touch-game-controller-in-javascripthtml5-for-ipad/
On his website is an example where the left side of the touchscreen is used as a joystick and the right as a button for shooting. You would have to implement a second joystick for the right side instead of this button.
I have prepared this for you:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1h302oW-rB5X-Or0XyqRSEptGoJcSReeV/view?usp=sharing
It should work on pc and touch devices but I'm not sure if multitouch is functional.
The html will "send" two more values for pan an tilt next to the motor control values. You will only have to modify the app.js file to receive these values.
Thank you so much for this! I very much appreciate it. I am very excited to try all this out soon.
One more question not relating to the above. I am attempting to update the existing code to run the upgraded version of zerobot. Step one of that process you listed is to GIT clone the touchUI. However when I run that command I get informed that the folder touchUI already exists and contains files. What is the correct way to update it? I attempted to simply delete the old touchUI folder on the desktop and replaced it with the new. This however bricked the whole thing. I would love your advice on how to proceed from here. Thank you.
The easiest way is probably to install the new sd card image instead of trying to update the older one. The update should usually work however.
This has been so much fun putting together. The software was a breeze to install thanks to all your hard work. Everything seems to work fine. I tested the software and the motors move, the video works and the lights turn on! I ended up using a lithium ion battery pack from adafruit because I wasn't having much success soldering the two batteries together . My main problem right now is wire management. Right now I can't fit everything in the case. I'm working on cutting down the length of the wires, because I made them too long. Anyone have tips on other ways to save space? Thanks!
That's great to hear, thanks!
About the wire management: Do not use more than one boost converter module. Some of my images show two, but both won't fit. Also, if you are using a flat lipo battery maybe you can break off the parts of the printed case that would hold the standard batteries. That might give you some more room. But the most important thing is to get the wires as short as possible.
Great project! I got mine up and running tonight. I have a quick question, is there a way in software to to rotate the camera image? It seems to be flipped on mine? Its odd, because it looks like I installed it correctly.
Yes, that can be fixed easily. In the file start_stream.sh in the folder touchUI on the desktop you have to remove „-vf -hf“. Use VNCviewer to get access to the user interface, then change the file with a text editor and reboot.
How long does this robot last on a full charge? and what is the overall dimensions of the robot? Thanks.
At least two hours, probably a lot more depending on the usage.
95mm length, 115mm width, 70mm height
Hi very nice project. I didn't see diode to protect Dual Channel DC Motor Driver. It is not necessary to reduce damage on MOS ?
Thanks
I guess the IC on the board has internal diodes, or else the H-bridge would not work. There is also a diode soldered to the board, that might just be for reverse polarity protection.
Hi. This is a great project! Thanks for all your hard work! I got the image downloaded to an SSD and the software seems to be running fine. Just waiting on a few more parts to arrive so in the meantime I decided to get the nuts glued into the shell. This has proven to be quite frustrating for me. Wondered if anyone had any tips on how they did this and what type of glue they used. It was hard to apply the glue and then try to position the nut in place with tweezers but maybe I’m doing something wrong?
Thanks!
Thanks! The easiest way would be to stick a longer m3 bolt though the plastic part and to screw it into the nut. Before pulling on the bolt to sink the nut in place, apply a few drops of glue to the nut. This way the nut is aligned perfectly.
Ahhh. Brilliant - don’t know why I didn’t think of that ! Thanks!
Hi.
Why is the ADS1115 powered at 3.3 volts? According to the data sheet, it can be up to 7 volts. Does that have a definite reason?
In order to communicate via i2c with the Raspberry Pi, the ADS1115 also needs to run at 3.3V. The ADS1115 has two pullup resistors that you could desolder, then it would work at 5V. But I though setting it to 3.3V was the easier option.
Hi all, The zerobot works as a charm but when I forward the port through my router, I get only access to the remote CTL but I receive no video stream. Any advice ? Thx !
There are two ports that you have to forward, 9000 and 3000.
User averneus wrote that he got this to work in the comments here: https://hackaday.io/project/25092/instructions
Thank you so much !
I certainely read that to quickly! My bad !
Hi
I want to connect with ssh, but I don't know the user and pass
Hi Max,
I try your code during I wait to receive component. When I hit "Off" button, my pi shutdown even if I answer "cancel". So in the code I saw :
if(confirm("This will shutdown the Pi.\nAre you sure?"))
alert('Shutting down...\nPlease wait 20s before turning the power off.')
socket.emit('power', 1);
I guess "{ }" are missing !? And alert() and socket.emit() are always executed...
So I wrote that :
if(confirm("This will shutdown the Pi.\nAre you sure?")){
alert('Shutting down...\nPlease wait 20s before turning the power off.');
socket.emit('power', 1);
}else{
alert("Okay, on the road again!");
}
I aim to redesign the body to avoid support and add lego compatibility. I will tell you more.
Very very thanks for your work. Beautifull job!
Best regards
Thanks, Good catch! I must have though I was using Python. Will be fixed asap.
Hey, why is the USB port and Ethernet disabled in the given image?? Is there any particular reason, what if I turn it on. How to turn it on?
Sorry about the late answer. If you scroll down on this site, spencerjack96 has asked the same question and got a solution from someone.
Thanks for the detailed description of the process, it turned out very cool https://192168ll.mobi/ 192.168.1.1
Hi, I love this project. I have yet the Pi zero and motors. I ordered the other components.
I have some idea to upgrade this robot after my first try :
- make body "Lego" (and "Lego technic") compatible
- improve code to add other stuff (other light, servo, WS2812 lights).
Best regards
Hey nice job! wondering why your project didn't win the 2017's edition?
[this comment has been deleted]
I'm not exactly sure what the link does. What version of the image file are you using? Have you tried adding ":3000" after the IP? This should get you to the interface immediately.
Did it work before you upgraded to the newer version? The message that you get should only show when the port is not entered after the ip, but I'm no sure about that. In most occasions it might be easier to download the Zerobot Pro image and flash that to the sd card.
This looks awesome - I am trying to buy the components to make one.
What is the little board between your battery and one of the motors?
Hi. Did you lock down the USB ports as they don't appear to work booting from a fresh image :(
Sorry for the late answer. Yes, at some point I configured the usb port as a usb-lan bridge to my computer. It should be reversible but I would have to look that up.
that explains why i couldnot pair the ps3 controller directly. had to do pair separately via pc app
if you can please do so next step is trying to add a usb mic and speaker
you need to edit /boot/cmdline to remove modules-load=dwc2,g_ether .. and remove the reference dtoverlay=dwc2 from /boot/config.txt
seems to work
i dont know but doing a update and upgrade killed node and a few other things. what should i do?
I'm not sure what that problem could be. Maybe it installed a new version of that is not compatible with the code. If nothing else works you can flash the SD image again.
yeah but im adding other features like ps3 controller,audio mic and sound and i got the robot also to samba share files.
Maybe you can try to run the node script from the command line to see if there are any errors. But I‘m not an expert on this.
picked up a new pi 5mp and did a bit of testing everythung works and even the pcb works but not the ccd. ill find a new ccd hopefully
jacksonliam
Hendra Kusumah
Chad
Hello my friend
congratulations for your job!!
I installed and mounted everything and I followed the installation instructions via VNC without errors .... my router sees zerobot at the address 192.168.1.4 I click on the link and then gives me a page error not found .......but I do not know why ?? the wiring is ok ... I do not really see the html page :( ......I'm sorry but I understand little of linux commands ...