
Show HN: Build a robot with the $9 C.H.I.P. Computer - johncole
https://www.dexterindustries.com/projects/make-a-chip-robot/
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jnbiche
Cool project, well done. I'd suggest that instead of instructing users to
clone your Github project and then detailing how to adapt the RPi code to the
CHIP computer, rather create a Github branch that has the CHIP-specific diffs,
and link to that branch for users to clone instead of the original branch.
That way, your tutorial is also more condensed (a good thing, imho).

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djaychela
Yes, I'd echo that. I teach for a living, and it's amazing the number of
different ways people can come up with when interpreting what you think is a
straightforward instruction. When I read the "delete lines ...." bit, it
didn't seem completely explicit, and in addition, I'd think that alone would
put a LOT of people off having a go. Much of this kind of thing is generating
confidence in people, and if they fall at the first hurdle, it's game over;
possibly for their entire lifetime if it happens at the wrong point!

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AstroJetson
Love getting people into robotics. The problem is that this kit has two motors
and some sensors that go into a car, for $199. Not much you can do other than
drive or program the car. With starter kits like this one
[http://www.vexrobotics.com/starter-kit-with-
controller.html](http://www.vexrobotics.com/starter-kit-with-controller.html)
you get parts to build a number of different robots. Granted, it's $280, but
the extra $80 gets you a lot more learning.

~~~
panglott
Yep. A better title would be "Build a robot with a $9 CHIP computer and a $100
robotics kit"

Still, this is a very useful tutorial on how to adapt a RaspPi robotics kit to
the CHIP computer.

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geppetto
Really nice project!

A side note on the chassis. It's similar - not the same - to the ones I've
been using in high school classes for a few years. I've bought mine off
amazon/ebay for 15$ and while they're good enough to get started they have
several weak points: motors are undersized, power supply is too low for 5V
boards, assembly is not so good with parts not fitting well. They're certainly
not an example of good design. Unfortunately I couldn't find any better option
in the sub 100$ range with two DC motors so I understand why OP chose
something similar. Does anybody know of a better chassis for these kind of
projets?

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protopete
I got this Arduino bot for $70. Has its own battery for sufficient power. The
motor gearing is a bit fast, so it's better to use PWM to slow down the
motors, except the default pinout disables PWM on the drive gpios when the
servo is enabled. The build quality is ok, except there are no spacers for the
bolts between the PCBs and acrylic base, so I worry about damaging the PCB
during assembly.

[https://www.amazon.com/Elegoo-Four-wheel-Ultrasonic-
Intellig...](https://www.amazon.com/Elegoo-Four-wheel-Ultrasonic-Intelligent-
Educational/dp/B01DPH0SWY)

~~~
geppetto
Li-ion battery is much better but I don't need an Arduino board nor sensors -
we've plenty of - and I don't get the 4 motors design... more problems and no
particular gains.

Al these kits and chassis look like a different mix of the same - not so good
- parts.

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captaindiego
Does anyone have any experience running some sort of real-time OS on cheap
hardware like this? Seems like more high speed control applications could
maybe benefit from a really cheap platform to prototype on.

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plaes
I'll just put this here:
[https://github.com/laurivosandi/sumochip](https://github.com/laurivosandi/sumochip)

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baby
I received two C.H.I.P last week, wanted to take that as an opportunity to
learn as well as teach my girlfriend about this kind of stuff. I was looking
for an easy project to start with, but couldn't find anything.

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troygoode
Awesome project John. Glad to see your company doing well and making cool
stuff!

~~~
johncole
Thank you Troy!

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iuguy
This is a Raspberry Pi robot kit called GoPiGo[1]. And this is the biggest
problem I've found with the C.H.I.P. - everything you do with the C.H.I.P. is
something that can be done more easily on a Raspberry Pi.

It's not an indictment of the C.H.I.P., which is a massive effort (although
having played around a bit with two I'm sad to say it has too many problems
for me to stick with), but more a testament to the Pi.

[1] -
[https://github.com/DexterInd/GoPiGo](https://github.com/DexterInd/GoPiGo)

~~~
tlrobinson
The C.H.I.P. has three features I absolutely love compared to the Pi Zero:
built-in WiFi, built-in flash, and USB serial console.

Steps to set up a Raspberry Pi Zero on WiFi:

    
    
      1. buy the Pi Zero ($5), MicroSD card ($5), USB WiFi adapter ($10), and USB OTG adapter ($1) (total = ~$21)
      2. flash the MicroSD card
      3. either:
        a. mount the SD card on your computer and figure out which WiFi configuration files to edit
        b. buy a serial cable, open a serial console, configure WiFi
        c. buy a mini HDMI adapter + mouse/keyboard, connect to a monitor, configure WiFi
    

Steps to set up a C.H.I.P. on WiFi:

    
    
      1. buy C.H.I.P ($9)
      2. connect to USB, open serial console, configure WiFi

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chrisballinger
One caveat I noticed is that you need to use 'cu' instead of 'telnet' or
'screen' or the console gets garbled during wifi setup, at least on my
machine. Took a while to figure that one out.

~~~
tlrobinson
I use `screen` and immediately do `export TERM=ansi` after logging in and it
seems to work fine.

