Early tests have put a Pi-controlled concept
craft through its paces in calm waters
In the same way that sport reveals
character, the Raspberry Pi is revealing the creativity of the people who own
one of the barebones computers.
Confronted with that tiny device,
some have seen a way to play old arcade games, as a media server or to monitor
their sleeping children. There are some that have used a Pi to control balloons
that float to the edge of space.
And then there is Greg Holloway.
On receiving his Raspberry Pi, Mr
Holloway did not want to try anything that he calls "a bit run of the
mill".
So, he thought big. Almost as big as
it gets.
His Raspberry Pi will be used to
control a robot boat that will pilot itself across the Atlantic Ocean. If the
little craft succeeds in crossing thousands of miles of ocean, it will have
completed a task that currently can only be done by robots that cost more than
£200,000. Not bad for a gadget that cost only a few quid.
"I just wanted to do something
a bit more adventurous," he said.
Long voyage
Work on the Fish Pi hardware and software has
now been under way for about 12 months. It has got beyond the concept stage and
now, said Mr Holloway, he has all but completed tests on the hardware that will
be on-board the finished robot craft.
The Pi will be at the centre of the
small, solar-powered craft, taking in data from sensors that measure the
environment through which the ship is sailing.
The Pi will not just log data but
will be constantly called on throughout the voyage to control the speed of the
craft's engine and work out which direction it should sail. It will have to be
robust as the journey across the Atlantic is likely to take a few months.
Also on board will be an
anti-collision system that will help the craft avoid bumping into human-piloted
ships while on the open ocean.
The Raspberry Pi will also handle
communication with the control centre on land and constantly report its
position.
"We should have complete
two-way communication," he said.
All the hardware has been installed
on a proof-of-concept (POC) vehicle that will act as a test bed so early bugs
can be ruled out before being transferred to the final roving robot craft.
Kit idea
The proof-of-concept vehicle is only about 12in
(30cm) long and all the components sit in the hull of a model boat.
"I built the POC to get familiar with
the components and concepts," he said, "I've never done anything like
this before."
The Fish Pi that will be venturing across the
Atlantic will be much bigger than the concept vehicle. Early plans suggest it
will be about 5ft 6in (1.7m) long, a foot (90cm) wide and its hull will be made
of carbon fibre. Development costs will be about £15,000, estimates Mr
Holloway.
Ultimately, Mr Holloways hopes to recoup his
costs by putting together a kit that anyone can buy to turn their Pi into a
robot boat.
Already, he
said, he has had interest from oceanographers keen to cut the cost of the craft
they send out to gather data.
Software to help the Pi control the
craft is being written by project member Al Gray and should be finished soon.
With that installed and on-board, proper water trials will begin. Mr Holloway
has permission from a local model boat club to use its lake as a proving
ground.
Mr Holloway admits that the scale of
the project has been daunting.
"We all have day jobs," he
said of the project members, "so it's taking a bit longer than I
anticipated."
This also makes him reluctant to
commit to a firm launch date for a finished Fish Pi.
However, he's confident that the
water trials will start soon and that then work will begin in earnest on the
full-scale robot boat. Mr Holloway is undaunted by the sheer difficulty of what
he and his fellow project members are taking on. [BBC]
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