Learn Robotics Programming

Develop an extendable smart robot capable of performing a complex series of actions with Python and Raspberry Pi

Key Features

• Get up to speed with the fundamentals of robotic programming and build intelligent robots
• Learn how to program a voice agent to control and interact with your robot’s behavior
• Enable your robot to see its environment and avoid barriers using sensors

Book Description

We live in an age where the most complex or repetitive tasks are automated. Smart robots have the potential to revolutionize how we perform all kinds of tasks with high accuracy and efficiency. With this second edition of Learn Robotics Programming, you’ll see how a combination of the Raspberry Pi and Python can be a great starting point for robot programming.

The book starts by introducing you to the basic structure of a robot and shows you how to design, build, and program it. As you make your way through the book, you’ll add different outputs and sensors, learn robot building skills, and write code to add autonomous behavior using sensors and a camera. You’ll also be able to upgrade your robot with Wi-Fi connectivity to control it using a smartphone. Finally, you’ll understand how you can apply the skills that you’ve learned to visualize, lay out, build, and code your future robot building projects.

By the end of this book, you’ll have built an interesting robot that can perform basic artificial intelligence operations and be well versed in programming robots and creating complex robotics projects using what you’ve learned.

What you will learn

• Leverage the features of the Raspberry Pi OS
• Discover how to configure a Raspberry Pi to build an AI-enabled robot
• Interface motors and sensors with a Raspberry Pi
• Code your robot to develop engaging and intelligent robot behavior
• Explore AI behavior such as speech recognition and visual processing
• Find out how you can control AI robots with a mobile phone over Wi-Fi
• Understand how to choose the right parts and assemble your robot

Who this book is for

This second edition of Learn Robotics Programming is for programmers, developers, and robotics enthusiasts who want to develop a fully functional robot and leverage AI to build interactive robots. Basic knowledge of the Python programming language will help you understand the concepts covered in this robot programming book more effectively.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction to Robotics
2. Exploring Robot Building Blocks – Code and Electronics
3. Introducing the Raspberry Pi – Starting with Raspbian
4. Preparing a Raspberry Pi for a Robot – Headless by Default
5. Protecting Robot Code with Git and SD Card Copies
6. Building Robot Basics – Wheels, Power, and Wiring
7. Moving Motors with Python
8. Programming Distance Sensors with Python
9. Programming RGB Strips in Python
10. Using Python to Control Servo Motors
11. Programming Encoders with Python
12. IMU Programming with Python
13. Robot Vision – Using a Pi Camera and OpenCV
14. Line Following With A Camera with Python
15. Voice Communication with a Robot Using Mycroft
16. Diving Deeper with the IMU
17. Controlling the Robot With A Phone and Python
18. Taking Your Robot Programming Skills Further
19. Planning Your Next Robot Project – Putting It All Together

About the Author

Danny Staple builds robots and gadgets as a hobbyist, makes videos about his work with robots, and attends community events such as PiWars and Arduino Day. He has been a professional Python programmer, later moving into DevOps, since 2009, and a software engineer since 2000. He has worked with embedded systems, including embedded Linux systems, throughout the majority of his career. He has been a mentor at a local CoderDojo, where he taught how to code with Python. He has run Lego Robotics clubs with Mindstorms. He has also developed Bounce!, a visual programming language targeted at teaching code using the NodeMCU IoT platform. The robots he has built with his children include TankBot, SkittleBot (now the Pi Wars robot), ArmBot, and SpiderBot.