5 original Raspberry Pi-based projects for Spring 2022

It is hard to imagine what DIY electronics enthusiasts would do if no one had invented the Raspberry Pi. There are so many projects based on the Raspberry Pi from different generations that it is impossible to imagine, and every day there are more and more new ones. There are some that are quite simple and some that are very advanced and complex. Here are 5 interesting Raspberry Pi based projects we have collected. Details are below.

Open source agricultural robot

Cultivating edible plants is becoming more and more difficult. More plants are required, and so is maintenance. Farmers in many countries are now automating farming, because farming is becoming more and more difficult when it comes to people.

And the Raspberry Pi is helping with that. Not so long ago a robot was developed based on the “Raspberry”, which now helps people automate routine work in the field. You can see the system discussed below in San Gregorio, California, USA.

The project itself is not that new, but it was upgraded not so long ago. The developers added an emergency braking system, which allows you to stop the robot very quickly. In addition, there is also an improved navigation system, which allows the robot to move along difficult routes. And the third important update is the simulation mode, which allows you to run the robot software inside a Docker container and test without physically engaging the robot itself.

In addition to the Raspberry Pi 4, there is an Nvidia Jetson board, which is geared for machine learning and automation. It serves as the “brain” for all this useful system. The rest of the work is done by the Raspberry single board. The robot can be programmed to move quickly along the roads, and when it arrives at the place, it recognizes the field and starts working. There is telemetry, and there are plans to train the system to listen to the owner’s voice commands.

Port of Doom on the Pi Pico

You’d think a microcontroller-based game system would be possible. But yes, it is possible, with a special Doom port built just for this system. In general Doom has been launched everywhere, including programmable calculators, smart watches and even a pregnancy test (however, after the demonstration it turned out that the test was modified in a special way).

And now the developers decided to launch the game on Pico.

By the way, the dual-core Pico processor renders the game, but the GPIOs are used to connect up to four players in multiplayer mode. Technical details of the project (all of them) are available on GitHub

It uses a specialized WHD image compression method, which stands for “Where’s Half the Data? It can compress the file by 57% and recompress the audio. The resulting executable fits in 256KB of Pico RAM with 34KB to spare, allowing six slots for saving the game.

According to the developer, named Graham Sanderson, single-boards are capable of more. For example, the same Adafruit’s Feather RP2040 can easily run and play Doom II and Ultimate Doom. Of course, also specially adapted.

PCB UV system

A picture of this system for making printed circuit boards has already been published on Habra, its author is also here, if he has the desire and opportunity, we hope he will be able to tell more details in the comments. The system is awesome, it allows you to create prototype printed circuit boards for any kind of electronics.

According to the author, he implemented the project to be able to quickly prototype boards. The final result is on the photo – it is called Medusa. The device runs on a Raspberry Pi 4 and uses a2K display.

To create the final product, a blank circuit board must be prepared using photoresist, a coating that is resistant to UV radiation. The PCB design file is uploaded to Jellyfish for processing. According to Wolfy-j, it takes about 20 minutes to render a single-sided PCB with a mask.

The “jellyfish” uses a Raspberry Pi 4 Model B running a 64-bit version of the Raspberry Pi OS. Here is a list of other elements and modules that are included in the design:

• A 5V (5A) step-down module.
• 10W Cree UV LED + driver.
• 3W red LED + PWM driver.
• 2K screen with HDMI driver.
• Arduino pro – temperature sensor and ws28 LEDs.
• WS28 LEDs for progress indicator.

A robot for searching stars based on “Malinka” and Lego

Another extremely interesting project that will definitely appeal to astronomy lovers. It allows you to search for a star and finds a distant star, which can be thousands of light years away from Earth, according to the data entered by the user.

It’s called Galilego, and even though it’s made out of Lego (not just any Lego, but Mindstorms), it has a very accurate positioning system.

The developer, nicknamed EldenGoat, used the Lego Mindstorms Robot Inventor 51515 kit to assemble the body. This project uses a 12.3 MP HD camera, which is ideal for capturing stars at unimaginable distances. It also includes a built-in compass and is fully portable thanks to a 10,000 mAh 3.7V battery.

Fiber optic display based on the Raspberry Pi

The developer ElliotMade has succeeded in creating an excellent fiber optic system for displaying colorful moving images on a specialized pixel display. It doesn’t make any practical sense, but as a decorative element it’s a dream.

The Raspberry Pi here controls the display of a user-defined image on the screen, and it’s really spectacular.

Most of the parts from which the project is assembled can be 3D-printed, laser-cut, or manufactured in some other way. The display consists of three plates, one of which serves as a base for the entire system. The second supports the LED matrix. And the front plate holds the fiber optics so that the display is created.