Robots meet Raspberry Pi: How kids are using their brains
Summary: A troop of scouts has married the Raspberry Pi with a mind-controlled Lego robot and launched it into competition – a sign that the mini PC is already proving its worth in getting kids enthusiastic about computing
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Boreatton scouts' Raspberry Pi robot controller
Twelve-year-old Claire Revans (left) is one of the core members of the Boreatton Scout Troop's robotics team, seen here showing off Scratch-based games running on their Raspberry Pi with a pico projector screen.
She explained to ZDNet UK how the team had decided to work with the Raspberry Pi as its research theme was, coincidentally, about raspberry preservation.
"It's hard to use at first because you don't know what to do, but, once you get the hang of it, it's fun," Claire said on Thursday. "We've been making games on Scratch and we've been linking our mind-control robot to it — it's very portable."
Alan Herbert, who helps run the troop, explained that the EEG headsets are linked to the Lego robots using Python. That will be the main programming environment shipped with the educational release of the RaspBerry Pi, when it comes out.
The Puzzlebox Brainstorms developers in the US are adapting their headset control software to the Raspberry Pi, Herbert added. The aim is to give people the ability to drive the robots by "thinking at them".
"You have a headset on your head, and it reads your brainwaves into the computer. We link the computer to the robot, and when you think a certain thought, we can train our brains to move the robots," Claire said.
Image credit: Alan Herbert; photos used with permission
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