Pi Robot: What Do You Think?

Camera and tilt bracket with face recognition to follow a face, I have seen that idea somewhere but can't remember where

Very cool.  I'm guessing you've already got a range sensor.  How about voice sensor.  Maybe not in the sense of responding to a command (which would be awsome) but just moving towards a call.  Alternately, directing by way of a laser or flashlight, like I might do with a cat :-).  For an really adventurous robot, let it go towards the dark.  Got infra-red? let it take infrared photos in a dark area.

Cool ideas!  We're thinking of putting easy-brackets on it for the camera.  Did not think about the idea of letting them tilt.  I would like to be able to do that; just don't want to drive the cost up with some servos.

Got another idea:

How about series of robot shields where you can pick your sensor preference. 

Also a dev sheild dedicated to directional movement. A PiFace or PiPlate kind of thing. Along with that create software modules where the dev can interface with a 'mobilize' library based on sensor data from the dev shield.

Okay, here's another idea to drive up the price:  what would it take to have it run on 2 wheels like a Segway?

It need bluetooth or wi-fi for communication.

Lou: I think it would just need a gyroscope.  We would have to rebalance the battery over the wheel-base too I think.  It's another cool idea, going totry to work through it.  It woudn't bust the total price too badly.

bad_boy_y:  definitely has wifi!

Is any detaield information online somewhere? Such as...

How does the Pi communicte with the Arduino

What programmng language is being used on the PI? (I assume that the Arduino is using the Processir based language native to it.)

How long does it run on the 4 x AA batteries?

I have pondered the idea of building a Pi powered robot, but hvae not found any conclusive information that I can run the Pi on batteries. I see that you used 4 AAs so this seems pretty straightforward. Some of the information that I found basically adviced against using batteries due to the Pi's high power comsumption and thatthe Pi was not designed to run on batteries.

I've also thought about the method I would use to interface the Pi to the external world and have thought about the Arduino, even thtough I have also wondered how necessary it really is to have a second controller board. I thought about experimenting with interfacing directly to the Pi using some sort of breakout board.

My objectives for the robot were to allow it to compete in a RoboMagellan competition. In this case, the chassis and drive system need to be robust enough to supoprt an outdoor terrain. The robot would have various sensors, specifically a rudimentary vision system, sonar, GPS and possibly a compass.Since te RoboMagellan competition is about avoiding obstacles and locating orange traffic cones given the GPS coordinates, the on board sensors described would do the job.

A good variation of line following is sidewalk following where the robot attempts to distinguish between the sidewalk and rougher terrrain such as dirt and grass. Feel free to consider any of these ideas, since my project at this time is delayed indefinitely. Regards, Salvador

PS: For those curious, here is some information I found about powering the Pi with batteries:

http://www.daveakerman.com/?page_id=1294

http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=46824

A  forward looking proximity sensor would be great.  It could detect how near it was to objects and avoid collisions.  It could then change direction.