Overview
At Vilros, one of the most rewarding parts of our work is hearing about the incredible things our customers create. In this post, we're highlighting three standout Raspberry Pi projects from the Vilros community.
Whether you're just getting started or looking for your next challenge, we hope these builds spark your imagination and inspire you to Make Something Amazing.
Project 1: The PiKey
Maker: Brendan Donahe
Hardware: Raspberry Pi Pico
Website: pikey.tech
What he built
Brendan created the PiKey - a wired USB keyboard and Atari-style joystick adapter. It allows users to connect systems with full-sized wired USB keyboards or 9-pin Atari joysticks or Sega joypads.
Why Raspberry Pi Pico?
- Easy to program for the Pico in C using Raspberry Pi 400
- Numerous GPIOs available to bit-bang the MT8808 analog switch matrix chip protocol and read Atari joystick switches
- TinyUSB HID device driver is open source and readily available for Pico
- USB OTG port can be used not only for programming but also as a HID host for USB keyboard
- The Pico is insanely inexpensive
- Standard form factor makes it easy to layout on a circuit board using KiCAD
Goals
Brendan wanted to enable people like him with full-size hands to touch-type and enjoy the old TRS-80 MC-10 home computer from 1983 that otherwise only had a miniaturized chiclet keyboard. He also wanted to maintain backwards compatibility with all of the MC-10's original keyboard features, enable the use of Atari joysticks and Sega joypads, and allow reconfigurability of keyboard layout and joystick-to-keypress mapping to make the use of the MC-10 customizable and compelling.
Project 2: Forest of Lights
Maker: Keith Hartloff (Western New York)
Hardware: Raspberry Pi Picos and Raspberry Pi 4
Website: forestoflights.com
What he built
Keith created the Forest of Lights - an installation in Western New York that has deployed light and sound devices in a forest. Visitors are given a tracking medallion that remotely triggers the devices as they walk through the forest, giving them a unique experience that complements the natural scenery.
Why Raspberry Pi?
Keith was inspired to use Raspberry Pi Picos and Raspberry Pi 4s because of the reasonable costs and high functionality of the devices. The Pico microcontrollers have just enough capabilities to power custom-made devices.
Goals
The goal is to place hundreds of light nodes along trail in a forest which will play audio and display lighting effects. Everything will be centrally controlled by a Raspberry Pi 4 acting as a server. Guests will walk the trail and be awed by the lights and sounds.
Project 3: Sudoku Tracker
Maker: Vivek Rao
Hardware: Raspberry Pi server with SQLite database
Website: vivrao9.github.io/nyt-sudoku
What he built
Vivek is using Raspberry Pi technology to improve his sudoku performance. By tracking his own computer activity and storing it in a database, Vivek has been steadily improving his ability to solve sudoku problems quickly and effectively.
Inspiration
Vivek loves doing the NY Times sudoku so much that he wanted to use data analytics to analyze performance and get faster, like the movie "Moneyball." The problem was in getting his data.
After some research, he created a browser extension on his laptop to track movements across the sudoku grid. After capturing movements, the extension would communicate with a server running on his Raspberry Pi and store the data in a SQLite database. Additionally, his Pi would scrape that day's sudoku grids (raw data, not after filling) and store it in a different database.
Why Raspberry Pi?
Vivek needed a headless way to collect and store data - his Raspberry Pi was perfect for this. Raspberry Pis are great at hosting database management systems and servers. He also needed a way to periodically scrape the New York Times' sudoku grids, so he used the Raspberry Pi's cron job features for that.
The Pi runs on a schedule to collect data and stores it in a database. It also communicated with his laptop's browser through a browser extension.
Goals
Vivek's goals were twofold: to collect New York Times' sudoku data on a daily schedule, and to store his solve activity once he filled out each puzzle.
By Zachary Strong