MAKE Asks: Raspberry Pi Projects

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By Michael Colombo
Posted 2012/12/04 @ 12:00 pm
Category Raspberry Pi, General

MAKE Asks: is a weekly column where we ask you, our readers, for responses to maker-related questions. We hope the column sparks interesting conversation and is a way for us to get to know more about each other.

This week’s question: Some of the most buzz in physical computing for the last several months has come from the Raspberry Pi. What projects have you been working on using this board, or what are some things you’ve seen using this powerful prototyping platform?

I haven’t fiddled around with one yet, but so far my favorite project using the Pi has to be Sprite_tm’s Mini MAME cabinet. It brings me back to the handheld arcade games of the 80s, but also boasts an OLED marquee, and a nifty laser-cut design.

Post your responses in the comments section.

In the Maker Shed

26 Responses to MAKE Asks: Raspberry Pi Projects

Adam Jahnke on December 4th, 2012 at 12:09 pm said:

I’ve been working on setting up an AirPlay enabled Pi that I can wire into my car with a nano wifi adapter, so I can AirPlay from iOS devices while driving.

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- Nick Hedberg on December 8th, 2012 at 5:01 pm said:
  
  You should try xbmc http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Raspberry_Pi. I did a quick proof of concept enabling air play and it worked. There’s a little bit of lag and the transitions between songs is rough, but xbmc is open source so you could work on it.
  
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spinstabilized on December 4th, 2012 at 12:13 pm said:

I am starting to work on slowly build up my own JARVIS for my workshop based on the Raspberry Pi.

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Nehal Pate on December 4th, 2012 at 12:19 pm said:

I’m working on a dual-use Pi project. Part A) uses a switch, relay, and ssh/web server to allow me to check and open/close my garage door remotely; B) uses motion sensors and a relay to keep pooping animals off my lawn.

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Nathan Lasseter (@User_4574) on December 4th, 2012 at 12:46 pm said:

A friend and I built an internet controlled colour changing tent. All the details are here: http://user.4574.co.uk/p/RGBTent

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scgibson81 on December 4th, 2012 at 12:49 pm said:

I’ve been working on a turning my Pi into a network controlled lighting fixture. Using OLA (open lighting architecture) and the SPI and I2C bus I have network controlled lighting (addressable pixels, servos for positioning, RGB control).
http://thegreatgeekery.blogspot.ca/2012/11/introducing-lightingpi.html

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djnastyc on December 4th, 2012 at 1:01 pm said:

A coworker and I are working on a coffee monitoring system, which includes a webcam and several sensors connected to the R-Pi, which communicates via HTTP with our company’s workflow software. The Pi monitors coffee pot temperature and position and sends an email or SMS notification when it thinks there’s a fresh pot of coffee. A webcam provides the opportunity for visual verification of the coffee status.

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Dan on December 4th, 2012 at 1:03 pm said:

I’m waiting for the camera attachment so I can make an autonomous sentry turret that shoots ‘D’ batteries. Until then, I’m playing Pitfall in Stella.

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Ben Miller-Jacobson on December 4th, 2012 at 1:35 pm said:

I’ve been working on a wearable computer (coming along nicely) and also on an APRS to Twitter gateway using a cheap TV tuner as a software defined radio. The second project still has a ways to go. http://is.gd/AQKAzd

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Trav on December 4th, 2012 at 2:00 pm said:

I’m working on an in vehicle camera system. A kind of dash cam when driving/motion detecting security cam when parked. I have a wifi dongle so I can communicate with it in my driveway, and have it upload picture/video to my network at home. I would like to find a way for motion software to input GPS info into the picture. I have a GPS dongle that should work,

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- Harald Hansen on December 6th, 2012 at 12:48 pm said:
  
  I’d really like to see that project, Trav!
  
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Guillermo A. Amaral (@gamaral) on December 4th, 2012 at 2:17 pm said:

I’ve been working on a game console, sporting a custom distro and some add-on hardware. http://guillermoamaral.com/read/mes

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Nick Kovach on December 4th, 2012 at 3:30 pm said:

I am building a webserver that does internet data-mining with Python and saves this data to mySQL for remote access using PHP. Yeah, kind of boring but it sure beats leaving a laptop on 24/7 to do this for me.

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Chris Wallace on December 4th, 2012 at 4:07 pm said:

I’m working on a talking navigation and monitoring application for walkers, canoeists and sailors. Currently I have a compass, barometer and GPS integrated. The talker uses espeak for TTS and is controlled by a wireless PowerPoint clicker. Progress reports in my blog http://kitwallace.posterous.com/tag/raspberrypi

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Jason Gillis on December 4th, 2012 at 8:31 pm said:

I’m building a 1-wire sensor network to monitor temp, humidity, sunlight, and barometric pressure in the crawlspace, attic and garden. The 1-wire network will be connected to the Pi via an I2C bus.

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- mixmx on December 8th, 2012 at 4:41 am said:
  
  Hello,
  
  Sounds much interesting! Any blog where to follow your progress? Thanks!
  
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- Nick Normal on March 4th, 2013 at 12:40 pm said:
  
  Have you gotten around to documenting this yet? I’d like to see your tech in the garden.
  
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Alex Eames on December 5th, 2012 at 2:51 am said:

I’ve got a weather station logging internal and external temperature, atmospheric pressure and light levels data to COSM. http://raspi.tv/2012/temperatures-light-levels-pressure-logging-lcd-pcb-bringing-it-all-together

And recently been playing with relays to switch mains light and fan based on input from temp/light sensors. http://raspi.tv/2012/pi-controlled-light-and-fan-from-mains-power-socket

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Dries De Roeck (@DriesDeRoeck) on December 5th, 2012 at 2:58 am said:

I’m using my Pi as a DVB-t recorder / media server. It has been quite a challenge for me as a non-programmer to follow the excellent guide by http://tandrepires.wordpress.com/2012/08/01/raspberry-pi-openelec-pvr-dvb-t/, but after two weeks of persistance I got it working. Besides that I’m mostly on a quest to find out what the Pi does that the Arduino does not, or how I can combine both platforms.

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barnabypaulkent on December 7th, 2012 at 11:14 pm said:

We’ve been building a radio controlled car you can control from your raspberry pi as a fun way of introducing people to programming, you can view our project at http://www.pi-cars.com it’s been great fun!

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Ward Mundy (@NerdUno) on December 8th, 2012 at 3:52 am said:

We’ve ported our full-featured Incredible PBX to the Raspberry Pi. It includes Asterisk, FreePBX, Apache, MySQL, and about 40 preconfigured Asterisk applications. It also supports free calling in the U.S. and Canada with any Google Voice number. There’s also a one-click script to turn your Raspberry Pi into a full-featured fax machine. Quick Start Guide and download instructions are available here: http://nerdvittles.com/?p=3026

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matt whitehouse on December 8th, 2012 at 7:50 am said:

internet controlled maisto rock crawler!!!!! using raspberry pi and arduino
http://www.instructables.com/id/raspberry-pi-wifi-controlled-rock-crawler-with-ard/

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peledies on December 8th, 2012 at 10:42 am said:

I’m working on an open source home thermostat that can be controlled from a smartphone or computer. Features include a LCD for temperature display, an array of temperature sensors for super accurate temperature sensing, push buttons for temperature adjustment on the unit and multi zone temperature monitoring. The pi is powered from the furnace and it includes wifi and a nice zero config setup assistant.

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Dave on December 9th, 2012 at 12:03 pm said:

I’d like to make a programmable chime for a large clock I have in my living room. Right now, I have a separate battery powered chiming module in it, but I think it would be cool to have it play changeable, custom songs on the hour, like Christmas songs in December, etc. I am a tinkerer, but have done no programming since Basic and Fortran in high school. So I don’t really have any idea where to start.

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buggouts on December 21st, 2012 at 7:32 am said:

Anybody know if you could make a rendering farm with a couple of PI’s?

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