We're Gonna Build a Robot!

Hi. There’s only two things you need to know about me to understand if this blogs for you. I’m a software developer and a Doctor Who fan. Still with me?  Good, let’s move on...

I’ve been fascinated by the Raspberry Pi since I first heard about it a couple of years ago.  For more details  go here, but basically, it’s a fully functional PC on a circuit board the size of a credit card - and it costs just £25.00.  It’s intended for educational use, but at that size and price, you can imagine lots of people are having lots of ideas about what it can be used for.

Like all good geeks, I wanted one, but didn’t really have any ideas about what to do with it.  As the computer is literally a circuit board with some ports nailed onto it, my first idea was to build a case for it. As with any any new product in this market, as soon as it’s announced, there springs up a secondary market for accessories.  So, you can buy a smart looking case like this...


Or like this...

Build one yourself out of Lego...


Or, just stick one in a fag packet!...

I decided that I wanted to put my RPi into a case that more reflected me, so I looked around for some ideas.
My first was to put the RPi into an R2-D2 body.  There have certainly been enough plastics R2s made over the years, so finding one to enclose the RPi would no big deal.  But...  It’s a bit boring. And because of the locations of the various ports on the circuit board, R2 would be full of some pretty random holes and bits of metal – no, bad idea.
My other thought about putting the RPi into R2 was that I‘ve already got something similar – Hasbro’s Interactive R2-D2. Admittedly it’s more than a case; it moves, has some basic voice recognition and plays games, it’s pretty awesome actually.   And it’s given me the idea for this blog.
I’m going to build my own robot K-9 from Doctor Who!
About 5 years ago, my wonderful (and very understanding) partner Liz bought me a remote Control K-9 for Christmas.  He’s brilliant, but fairly basic – he moves around on two independently controlled wheels, lights up, and speaks a few pre-recorded phrases.
But what if he could do more? What if I could actually put a real PC ‘brain’ in to him? Let’s find out...

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