Learn Robotics Programming: Build and control AI-enabled autonomous robots using the Raspberry Pi and Python

Cover
Title Page
Copyright and Credits
About Packt
Contributors
Table of Contents
Preface
Section 1: The Basics – Preparing for Robotics
Chapter 1: Introduction to Robotics
	What does robot mean?
	Exploring advanced and impressive robots
		The Mars rovers
	Discovering robots in the home
		The washing machine
		Other household robots
	Exploring robots in industry
		Robot arms
		Warehouse robots
	Competitive, educational, and hobby robots
	Summary
	Assessment
	Further reading
Chapter 2: Exploring Robot Building Blocks – Code and Electronics
	Technical requirements
	Looking at what\'s inside a robot
	Exploring types of robot components
		Types of motors
		Other types of actuators
		Status indicators – displays, lights, and sounds
		Types of sensors
	Exploring controllers and I/O
		I/O pins
		Controllers
		Choosing a Raspberry Pi
	Planning components and code structure
	Planning the physical robot
	Summary
	Exercise
	Further reading
Chapter 3: Exploring the Raspberry Pi
	Technical requirements
	Exploring the Raspberry Pi\'s capabilities
		Speed and power
		Connectivity and networking
		Picking the Raspberry Pi 3A+
	Choosing the connections
		Raspberry Pi HATs
	What is Raspberry Pi OS?
	Preparing an SD card with Raspberry Pi OS
	Summary
	Assessment
	Further reading
Chapter 4: Preparing a Headless Raspberry Pi for a Robot
	Technical requirements
	What is a headless system, and why is it useful in a robot?
	Setting up Wi-Fi on the Raspberry Pi and enabling SSH
	Finding your Pi on the network
		Setting up Bonjour for Microsoft Windows
		Testing the setup
		Troubleshooting
	Using PuTTY or SSH to connect to your Raspberry Pi
	Configuring Raspberry Pi OS
		Renaming your Pi
		Securing your Pi (a little bit)
		Rebooting and reconnecting
		Updating the software on your Raspberry Pi
		Shutting down your Raspberry Pi
	Summary
	Assessment
	Further reading
Chapter 5: Backing Up the Code with Git and SD Card Copies
	Technical requirements
	Understanding how code can be broken or lost
		SD card data loss and corruption
		Changes to the code or configuration
	Strategy 1 – Keeping the code on a PC and uploading it
	Strategy 2 – Using Git to go back in time
	Strategy 3 – Making SD card backups
		Windows
		Mac
		Linux
	Summary
	Assessment
	Further reading
Section 2: Building an Autonomous Robot – Connecting Sensors and Motors to a Raspberry Pi
Chapter 6: Building Robot Basics – Wheels, Power, and Wiring
	Technical requirements
	Choosing a robot chassis kit
		Size
		Wheel count
		Wheels and motors
		Simplicity
		Cost
		Conclusion
	Choosing a motor controller board
		Integration level
		Pin usage
		Size
		Soldering
		Power input
		Connectors
		Conclusion
	Powering the robot
	Test fitting the robot
	Assembling the base
		Attaching the encoder wheels
		Fitting the motor brackets
		Adding the castor wheel
		Putting the wheels on
		Bringing the wires up
		Fitting the Raspberry Pi
		Adding the batteries
		The completed robot base
	Connecting the motors to the Raspberry Pi
		Wiring the Motor HAT in
		Independent power
	Summary
	Exercises
	Further reading
Chapter 7: Drive and Turn – Moving Motors with Python
	Technical requirements
	Writing code to test your motors
		Preparing libraries
		Test – finding the Motor HAT
		Test – demonstrating that the motors move
		Troubleshooting
		Understanding how the code works
	Steering a robot
		Types of steering
		Steering the robot we are building
	Making a Robot object – code for our experiments to talk to the robot
		Why make this object?
		What do we put in the robot object?
	Writing a script to follow a predetermined path
	Summary
	Exercises
	Further reading
Chapter 8: Programming Distance Sensors with Python
	Technical requirements
	Choosing between optical and ultrasonic sensors
		Optical sensors
		Ultrasonic sensors
		Logic levels and shifting
		Why use two sensors?
	Attaching and reading an ultrasonic sensor
		Securing the sensors to the robot
		Adding a power switch
		Wiring the distance sensors
		Installing Python libraries to communicate with the sensor
		Reading an ultrasonic distance sensor
		Troubleshooting
	Avoiding walls – writing a script to avoid obstacles
		Adding the sensors to the robot class
		Making the obstacle avoid behaviors
	Summary
	Exercises
	Further reading
Chapter 9: Programming RGB Strips in Python
	Technical requirements
	What is an RGB strip?
	Comparing light strip technologies
		RGB values
	Attaching the light strip to the Raspberry  Pi
		Attaching the LED strip to the robot
	Making a robot display the code object
		Making an LED interface
		Adding LEDs to the Robot object
		Testing one LED
	Making a rainbow display with the LEDs
		Colour systems
		Making a rainbow on the LEDs
	Using the light strip for debugging the avoid behavior
		Adding basic LEDs to the avoid behavior
		Adding rainbows
	Summary
	Exercises
	Further reading
Chapter 10: Using Python to Control Servo Motors
	Technical requirements
	What are servo motors?
		Looking inside a servo
		Sending input positions to a servo motor
	Positioning a servo motor with the Raspberry Pi
		Writing code for turning a servo
		Troubleshooting
		Controlling DC motors and servo motors
		Calibrating your servos
	Adding a pan and tilt mechanism
		Building the kit
		Attaching the pan and tilt mechanism to the robot
	Creating pan and tilt code
		Making the servo object
		Adding the servo to the robot class
		Circling the pan and tilt head
		Running it
		Troubleshooting
	Building a scanning sonar
		Attaching the sensor
		Installing the library
		Behavior code
	Summary
	Exercises
	Further reading
Chapter 11: Programming Encoders with Python
	Technical requirements
	Measuring the distance traveled with encoders
		Where machines use encoders
		Types of encoders
		Encoding absolute or relative position
		Encoding direction and speed
		The encoders we are using
	Attaching encoders to the robot
		Preparing the encoders
		Lifting the Raspberry Pi
		Fitting the encoders onto the chassis
		Wiring the encoders to the Raspberry Pi
	Detecting the distance traveled in Python
		Introducing logging
		Simple counting
		Adding encoders to the Robot object
		Turning ticks into millimeters
	Driving in a straight line
		Correcting veer with a PID
		Creating a Python PID controller object
		Writing code to go in a straight line
		Troubleshooting this behavior
	Driving a specific distance
		Refactoring unit conversions into the EncoderCounter class
		Setting the constants
		Creating the drive distance behavior
	Making a specific turn
		Writing the drive_arc function
	Summary
	Exercises
	Further reading
Chapter 12: IMU Programming with Python
	Technical requirements
	Learning more about IMUs
		Suggested IMU models
	Soldering – attaching headers to the IMU
		Making a solder joint
	Attaching the IMU to the robot
		Physical placement
		Wiring the IMU to the Raspberry Pi
	Reading the temperature
		Installing the software
		Troubleshooting
		Reading the temperature register
		Troubleshooting
		Simplifying the VPython command line
	Reading the gyroscope in Python
		Understanding the gyroscope
		Adding the gyroscope to the interface
		Plotting the gyroscope
	Reading an accelerometer in Python
		Understanding the accelerometer
		Adding the accelerometer to the interface
		Displaying the accelerometer as a vector
	Working with the magnetometer
		Understanding the magnetometer
		Adding the magnetometer interface
		Displaying magnetometer readings
	Summary
	Exercises
	Further reading
Section 3: Hearing and Seeing – Giving a Robot Intelligent Sensors
Chapter 13: Robot Vision – Using a Pi Camera and OpenCV
	Technical requirements
	Setting up the Raspberry Pi camera
		Attaching the camera to the pan-and-tilt mechanism
		Wiring in the camera
	Setting up computer vision software
		Setting up the Pi Camera software
		Getting a picture from the Raspberry Pi
		Installing OpenCV and support libraries
	Building a Raspberry Pi camera stream app
		Designing the OpenCV camera server
		Writing the CameraStream object
		Writing the image server main app
		Building a template
		Running the server
		Troubleshooting
	Running background tasks when streaming
	Following colored objects with Python
		Turning a picture into information
		Enhancing the PID controller
		Writing the behavior components
		Running the behavior
		Troubleshooting
	Tracking faces with Python
		Finding objects in an image
		Planning our behavior
		Writing face-tracking code
		Running the face-tracking behavior
		Troubleshooting
	Summary
	Exercises
	Further reading
Chapter 14: Line Following with a Camera in Python
	Technical requirements
	Introduction to line following
		What is line following?
		Usage in industry
		Types of line following
	Making a line-follower test track
		Getting the test track materials in place
		Making a line
	Line-following computer vision pipeline
		Camera line-tracking algorithms
		The pipeline
	Trying computer vision with test images
		Why use test images?
		Capturing test images
		Writing Python to find the edges of the line
		Locating the line from the edges
		Trying test pictures without a clear line
	Line following with the PID algorithm
		Creating the behavior flow diagram
		Adding time to our PID controller
		Writing the initial behavior
		Tuning the PID
		Troubleshooting
	Finding a line again
	Summary
	Exercises
	Further reading
Chapter 15: Voice Communication with a Robot Using Mycroft
	Technical requirements
	Introducing Mycroft – understanding voice agent terminology
		Speech to text
		Wake words
		Utterances
		Intent
		Dialog
		Vocabulary
		Skills
	Limitations of listening for speech on a robot
	Adding sound input and output to the Raspberry Pi
		Physical installation
		Installing a voice agent on a Raspberry Pi
		Installing the ReSpeaker software
		Getting Mycroft to talk to the sound card
		Starting to use Mycroft
		Troubleshooting
	Programming a Flask API
		Overview of Mycroft controlling the robot
		Starting a behavior remotely
		Programming the Flask control API server
		Troubleshooting
	Programming a voice agent with Mycroft on the Raspberry Pi
		Building the intent
		Troubleshooting
		Adding another intent
	Summary
	Exercises
	Further reading
Chapter 16: Diving Deeper with the IMU
	Technical requirements
	Programming a virtual robot
		Modeling the robot in VPython
	Detecting rotation with the gyroscope
		Calibrating the gyroscope
		Rotating the virtual robot with the gyroscope
	Detecting pitch and roll with the accelerometer
		Getting pitch and roll from the accelerometer vector
		Smoothing the accelerometer
		Fusing accelerometer and gyroscope data
	Detecting a heading with the magnetometer
		Calibrating the magnetometer
	Getting a rough heading from the magnetometer
	Combining sensors for orientation
	Driving a robot from IMU data
	Summary
	Exercises
	Further reading
Chapter 17: Controlling the Robot with a Phone and Python
	Technical requirements
	When speech control won\'t work – why we need to drive
	Menu modes – choosing your robot\'s behavior
		Managing robot modes
		Troubleshooting
		The web service
		The template
		Running it
		Troubleshooting
	Choosing a controller — how we are going to drive the robot, and why
		Design and overview
	Preparing the Raspberry Pi for remote driving—get the basic driving system going
		Enhancing the image app core
		Writing the manual drive behavior
		The template (web page)
		The style sheet
		Creating the code for the sliders
		Running this
		Troubleshooting
	Making the robot fully phone-operable
		Making menu modes compatible with Flask behaviors
		Loading video services
		Styling the menu
	Making the menu start when the Pi starts
		Adding lights to the menu server
		Using systemd to automatically start the robot
	Summary
	Exercises
	Further reading
Section 4: Taking Robotics Further
Chapter 18: Taking Your Robot Programming Skills Further
	Online robot building communities – forums and social media
		YouTube channels to get to know
		Technical questions – where to get help
	Meeting robot builders – competitions, makerspaces, and meetups
		Makerspaces
		Maker Faires, Raspberry Jams, and Dojos
		Competitions
	Suggestions for further skills – 3D printing, soldering, PCB, and CNC
		Design skills
		Skills for shaping and building
		Electronics skills
	Finding more information on computer vision
		Books
		Online courses
		Social media
	Extending to machine learning
		Robot Operating System
	Summary
	Further reading
Chapter 19: Planning Your Next Robot Project – Putting It All Together
	Technical requirements
	Visualizing your next robot
	Making a block diagram
	Choosing the parts
	Planning the code for the robot
	Letting the world know
	Summary
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Index