Perfect STEM course. Module 1 - Smart Car with Raspberry PI

Disassemble a remote control car. Change the brain of the car with a smart computer like Raspberry Pi. Build a smart device with artificial intelligence that you could control from your phone and that could freely navigate itself in the real world and on the Internet. Use your hands. Develop programs for your robot and your phone. Be curious and invent.

The perfect course lives up to its name. You move through the content, we check it and return feedback to you.

In the end, you should be able to program and design smart devices that would make the world a better place. For everybody age 12+, 16+, 21+, 35+, etc. The hardware costs about 150$ and you could also use it in many of the other courses that we are planning to release.

Goal

Take an already constructed Remote Control toy car, replace its electronic with a small computer and start controlling it from your mobile phone and programming it from your computer. Don't just buy the cars, build them.

Learn about Programming with the Python programming language, Electronics, Mobile Applications, Internet of Things and take first steps in Artificial Intelligence.

At the end you will have a Robot, that could be controlled from your phone and programmed from your computer. You would have learned about connecting electronic elements to bring a robot to live, developing smart programs for the robot, and apps for the mobile phone.

All the schemes as 3D building instructions

In order to build the full construction, you'll have to subscribe to FLLCasts.

Image for Perfect Course Connecting Raspberry Pi - Motor Driver - Batteries - Motors

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Start Building

NO MORE difficult to read electronics schemes. We've prepared everything in 3D format. Every scene with how to connect the different elements and how to use the components.

Main advantages

Learn how to build a Remote Control toy car Robot. Use Raspberry PI computer without the need for monitor, keyboard and mouse. Connect a living hardware gadget with your phone. Learn to program it. All of this without the need of soldering, but you can still do it if you have a soldering iron.

Inventors spark, Curiosity Spark

We would take an already constructed Remote Control toy car and disassemble it.

There is a repetitive pattern when it comes to the early memories of every inventor. Many of them remember disassembling things and learning how they work.

So we've set our goal - let's take something that works, something that is quite fun and interesting and we are all familiar with it - like a Remote Control toy car. Let's build a robot from it. Let's disassemble it, see what's inside and understand how it works. And then let's change it. We will remove the electronics and add our own small Raspberry PI computer and make our Remote Control car about a billion times smarter. This actually has a term in the professional world and is formally called Reverse Engineering.

Mobile Applications

We all have mobile phones.

So we've set our goal - let's turn the phone into the remote control of our robot. Let's control and program the remote control car robot from the phone and learn how to develop applications for our phones (both Android-based and iPhones)

Internet of things, Artificial Intelligence, Alexa, Mobile Apps

We live in a contemporary, gadget-based, machine-improved, internet-driven and a very connected world.

So we've set our goal - let's make a course that allows you to build a gadget and connect it to the internet. Let's also show a few examples of how you could build something similar to Amazon Alexa (or at least start with it) at home. Let's make the gadget smart enough using some Artificial Intelligence and let's control this from a mobile application. We would also develop program with the Python Programming language.

Work with your hands

We firmly believe that you should be able to construct something with your own hands.

So we've set our goal - let's make a course involving things like drilling, screwing, glueing, disassembling and assembling, cutting. And we've only left soldering out. We still show you how to do it, but if you do not have a soldering iron, that's ok. We do not require it.

Hardware and Electronics

Few things are as difficult as introducing students to the details of electronics. It requires a lot of math and physics. Buying electronic parts is also quite challenging because there are so many options for what exactly you should buy.

So we've set our goal - let's pre-select the electronics and hardware required. Let's make it possible to very easily connect the hardware, see how it works and then enter into details depending on the age and interest of the student.

Raspberry Pi and the need for Monitor, keyboard and mouse

We install a small computer called Raspberry Pi on the Remote Control toy car Robot. The main disadvantage of Raspberry Pi is that you need to connect an HDMI monitor, keyboard and mouse to initially use it.

So we've set our goal - let's make the required modifications so that you don't need an additional HDMI monitor, keyboards and mouse. Just connect a power source to the Raspberry Pi and start using it on your computer, phone or tablet that you already have.

Three levels of content for different ages and abilities

Students as young as 10-11 years should be able to start the course. But what is the upper limit and how could we present a more complex material only to those who want it?

So we've set our goal - let's make three levels of content where you move forward through the basic sections, but If you decide to dig deeper there is an option to enter into more and more complex details. When, and if, it gets too complex for you, you can just skip the section and only use the final program from it.

What hardware do you need

You need hardware, but it is difficult to choose exactly what kind of hardware and where to buy it from. It could also get quite expensive.

So we've set our goal - The hardware should cost about $100. You can use this same hardware for a lot of different projects afterwards and you could follow all the other courses that we build on the same hardware. It is a Raspberry Pi computer, with a few electronic elements, SD Card and a Remote Control Car. You can buy them directly from us, or you can just find them somewhere else. It doesn't really matter.

Authors Quote

"I've always searched for the perfect course in technical science (STEM) to organize with students. I wanted to teach students Programming and Electronics. To discuss a little bit about Linux and Embedded. To allow them to work with their hands. To do something at home and for the home. To wake up the inventor in each of them, because each inventor wants to disassemble something that is already working and to see what's inside it. And then to be able to use this knowledge and to build on it.

This is the exact aim of the course and I've finally done it", Kiril Mitov

Fun, Programming, Construction, Electronics, Classes with students, Learn At Home

1. Introduction

Play (with the car)

Unpacking

Set up phones

Power and start the controller

Prepare SD Card with software

Add a diode to indicate controller power up

Phone to Controller Indication with Diode

Configure Raspberry Pi name

Opening the car. Naming internal components

Marking Motors and Lights components in the Car

Identifying the Plus and Minus of the Batteries Holder and the Switch

Disconnecting cables from the controller

Stripping car cables to prepare them for extending

Stripping set cables to prepare them for extending car cables

Extending cables with Heat-shrink tubing

17. Connecting overview

Connecting Car Lights to Raspberry Pi controller

Connecting batteries to the Motor Driver

20. Connecting rear car motor to Motor Driver

Connecting Motor driver to Controller

Position the controller on, in, over, or just next to the car.

Drive Rear motor from Phone

Debugging Motor - Motor Driver - Controller connection issues

Connecting front car motor to the Motor Driver

Drive both Rear and Front motor from the Phone

Finding a place for the Motor driver and Gluing it

Closing the car

Connect car with THE Internet

Connect to the car from computer

Execute Python program about car LEDs from the computer

Execute Python programs about button, from the computer

Execute Python program about car motors from the computer

Execute Python program about car distance sensor from the computer

Start a Python program from the Phone

Collect data from the Sensors

Park the car between two boxes

Teach the AI

Make the car send you an email

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