Forward: I have to say, being an engineering student it has been such a tool and resource to have Element 14. For example tuition costs are pricey, so to afford all the awesome electronics I received from this bundle would have been far and in between. Just the experience I have gained alone from the devices received in this bundle have been so valuable. As a forward I would like to thank Element 14. For enabling engineers like me all over the world. For having all the products we need that we can purchase from Newark .To up-keeping this website where fellow engineers can build off of and support one another. From me and in behalf of all in the Community Thank you Element 14!
Pi Dozer
If you are interested in reading the proceedings to this post here are the links:
First blog post:The Ultimate Raspberry Pi Bundle PI DozerPost 1
Second post:The Ultimate Raspberry Pi bundle Pi Dozer Post 2
Road Test Road Test Pi Dozer
Project: The entire Pi Dozer in enclosed in a classic Macintosh Plus case. I had prevoiusly gutted out the contents of the mac. The Pi Dozer main brain is the Raspberry pi which has a servo and LED connected to it. The servo is connected to a rod which attached to a piece of acrylic. The servo and Lever attached to the servo are on a sheet of acrylic which is 2 inches elevated from the bottom of the mac floor. The coins fall from a slot which is located on the top of the mac. As the motor pushes the coins near the edge as coins fall of the acrylic bottom they are captured underneath (shown below). There is also another slot on the face of the mac which allows coins to come out (WINNER, WINNER! Chicken dinner!).
Below is the Python code used to drive the servo with the Raspberry pi. It isn't the prettiest code but it gets the job done.
*NOTE: One thing to keep in mind when hooking motors up to your raspberry pi is that sometimes these motors produce back current so it is a good idea to put a diode on the connection so that the back-flow is prevented.
Code for the servo
Pi and Servo
Pi mounted on Mac plus.
Picture of the Mac Plus Logo
The Lever Pushing some coins into the slot and trap under neath the slide.
The Pi mounted on the back, the lever servo coins on slide and coins underneath wear the are trapped and stored.
Pi Dozer with the Face on. Underneath the Mac Plus logo is where the slot is that the pennies fall from when pushed by the servo and lever.
Top view these are the slots in which you can push coins through.
Video of the Pi Dozer in Action. I remote into the Raspberry pi over VPN. Then execute the script which activates the servo.
Future Plans: Now I know that the Pi Dozer still looks like a work in progress which it is (that one of the great things about working on projects like these). I plan on polishing my design and improving the things that i have learned from my first attempt at the pi dozer.
Twitter: I have registered an account for the Pi Dozer on twitter. My plan is to attach the Raspberry pi cameraRaspberry pi camera to the Pi Dozer and have it upload the pictures it takes to the twitter account @pidozer.
Embedded Pi: I plan on attaching the embedded pi to the project. The embedded pi will act as a LED driver for the project. I will add addressable LED strips all over the Mac I plan on placing them underneath the acrylic sheet the coins set on, on the roof, and walls of the MAC.
Motor: I plan on improving the motor a servo isn't a good design for pushing the coins.