If you have a kid aged 15 or above with a Raspberry Pi and he is clueless about his next project, Rapiro, the customizable robot may be very suitable for him. Designed for the tiny credit card sized single board computer, the Raspberry Pi or RBPi, Rapiro is a humanoid robot kit. It is an affordable kit and is very easy to assemble, needing only two screwdrivers. With an Arduino compatible controller board, the kit comes with 12 servomotors and limitless possibilities.
Even if you are not a programmer, Rapiro is easy to assemble and set up. The assembly instructions are simple and given in a step-by-step method, so anyone can follow them. Rapiro’s controller board is pre-programmed, so that Rapiro will come alive as soon as you have finished assembling it. However, if you are a programmer, you could make Rapiro sweep your desk or have him dance to a tune. For this, you will need to use the Arduino IDE to reprogram Rapiro.
Rapiro is highly customizable. Limited only by your imagination and the sensors you have at hand, simply install the RBPi board and go on expanding the capabilities of Rapiro. For example, you can add image recognition, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and anything else you can think of to make Rapiro livelier.
Rapiro has 12 servomotors to make it move. There is one servomotor in its neck, one in its waist, two each in its feet and three each in its two arms. There are six servos in its neck, waist and feet have a torque of 2.5kgf-cm each. The servos in its two arms have a torque of 1.5kgf-cm each. The operating speed for all the servos is 0.12sec/60° and the maximum angle they can move through is 180°.
You can program it’s eyes to give its face a full and colorful expression. Its eyes are made of bright LEDs, which can be programmed for different colors as they are of the RGB type. Plastic parts of Rapiro suit both models of RBPi – A and B. With small modifications, Rapiro can accommodate RBPi model B+ as well.
Rapiro’s controller board is very similar to an Arduino board and you can program it using the Arduino IDE. Anyone familiar with C++ development environment can use the Arduino IDE to program the 8-bit AVR based micro-controller on board Rapiro. However, that does not mean only those with programming skills can work with Rapiro – beginners can also learn how to program.
Once you have installed RBPi inside Rapiro, you can make it do more functions. With RBPi, you can use your favorite programming language on Linux to program Rapiro. For example, you could program Rapiro to watch over your home while you are away and to keep in touch by sending you text messages over Wi-Fi. You could have Rapiro acting as a security robot for your house if you give it vision by installing a camera module.
Rapiro requires five AA Ni-MH batteries to function. You can replace this with an AC adapter also. For transferring data, you will also require a USB cable to connect Rapiro to your PC.
