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: Vintage Jukebox Restoration
Maker: Scott Petersen (New York State)
Hardware: Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W with GPIO programming
Community: Wallbox and Jukebox Restoration Facebook Group
What he built
Scott has been converting old jukeboxes into MP3-compatible machines using the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W. The small size means no visible changes to the outside of the jukebox - people enjoy the full experience without knowing it's powered by modern electronics.
Why Raspberry Pi?
Scott was always impressed with beautiful jukebox designs built to attract customers. These machines were built so well that 60 years later they still work with a little maintenance. He specifically likes converting wallboxes because they fit in small apartments or living spaces.
The Raspberry Pi is so versatile - you can program the wallbox to do anything you can think of, even music videos. An old rotary telephone can also work in place of a wallbox since the pulse system is similar.
Technical approach
The Raspberry Pi's GPIO pins were essential - Scott could not do without them. Built-in wireless allows remote login to change songs and choose songs. Eventually he wants to create a web interface (work in progress). Support for a DAC is also awesome. Any other solution was not as versatile.
Project 2: Ray Tracing Animation
Maker: George MacDonald (California)
Hardware: Raspberry Pi 5
YouTube channel: George's YouTube Channel
What he built
George has been pushing Raspberry Pi 5 to its computational limits with ray tracing animations. Ray tracing is typically done on high-powered computers running Unreal Engine, but George's work shows what the Raspberry Pi 5 can accomplish.
Why Raspberry Pi?
Ray traced animations are an amazingly expressive form of communication and one of the most computing-intensive activities on digital computers. George got a RPi 5 as an experiment to see how well it would function as a daily computing environment.
After editing and compiling programs, doing disk-based activities, browsing the web, listening to music, and playing games, he decided to run something that would truly exercise it. If a computer can raytrace images faster than his current computer, then it's up to the task of replacing it.
Results and goals
After ripping through standard images and being very impressed, George realized the Pi 5 was so fast that serious animations were practical. He's been having an absolute blast making animations of various interests: space exploration, AI art, and chess. Still absolutely amazed at the performance and value for money.
Ray tracing and animation is a great way to express concepts, convey messages, and communicate in new ways. While rendering, George frequently plays chess online and watches streaming chess content. This technique is a huge opportunity for niche streamers and content creators - what a cool way to add nice visuals, craft custom content, and improve a channel.
Project 3: The B_Bot
Maker: Alfredo Baeza
Hardware: Raspberry Pi Pico with sensors and motors
Website: digiTekXplorer.com
What he built
Alfredo is a retired electrical engineer who developed the B_Bot - a robot that navigates environments using sensors. The project uses Raspberry Pi Pico to create an educational robotics platform.
Why Raspberry Pi?
Alfredo started his engineering career as an embedded systems engineer. When he retired a few years ago, he wanted to return to his roots and build something interesting and fun. He wanted a low-cost, low-power mobile platform and chose the Raspberry Pi and Pico ecosystems for their flexibility and community support.
After diving deep into the Pico with Hunter Adams's fantastic Cornell course, all that learning and experimentation culminated in the B_Bot.
Goals
The primary goal is to keep learning. The B_Bot is a personal platform for exploring advanced topics like real-time control, wireless communication with BLE, and sensor/actuator integration. Beyond that, Alfredo hopes the project inspires others, especially young people, to see how accessible and fun robotics can be.
He wants to show them that you can build something really cool with low-cost components and a desire to learn. The B_Bot is an excellent case study in robotics offering students the opportunity to work with sensors, motors, and coding. Since the Pico is one of the most cost-effective Raspberry Pi units available, it's ideal for schools looking to acquire electronics hardware on a budget.
By Zachary Strong