GoPiGo with the Raspberry Pi Zero

Step 1: Setup

Parts Needed to Make the Raspberry Pi Zero into a Robot!

Before we begin, you should note that you’ll need the Cinch Operating System. This is an easy-to-use operating system for the Raspberry Pi, specially designed for mobile robotics. Cinch works by broadcasting a wifi Access Point from the wifi dongle, allowing you to connect over wifi from a laptop, a phone, or a tablet. You can read more about Cinch here, you can download it for free here, and you can find instructions for getting Cinch it on your microsd card here. You can also purchase Cinch, preloaded on an SD Card from our website here.

For this setup, we will need the following:

• GoPiGo Raspberry Pi Robot

• Raspberry Pi Zero

• MicroSD Card with Cinch

• OTG USB Cable

• Dexter Industries Wifi Dongle

The Raspberry Pi Zero Slides into the GoPiGo, it should be placed so that it hangs over the red GoPiGo board.

The Raspberry Pi Zero Seated on the GoPiGo

Insert the SD Card into the Raspberry Pi Zero (caution: make sure the power is off!). Finally, insert the OTG USB cable into the Raspberry Pi Zero port labeled “USB” and insert the Wifi Dongle into the USB cable.

After assembly, your GoPiGo should look something like below!

Fully Assembled GoPiGo and Raspberry Pi Zero.

Step 2: Connect

Connecting with Cinch is easy! First power up the GoPiGo by connecting the battery pack and switching the power button on the GoPiGo to “On”.

After approximately a minute, a new wifi network will appear, called “dex”. Connect your device to this network.

Finally, in a browser, type in “.”. This should connect you to the Raspbian for Robots Front page.

Entrance Screen on Cinch.

From here, you can login to VNC or SSH.

The standard password is “robots1234”.

Step 3: Run the Robot

The fastest way to try out the GoPiGo is to run the demo. If you click the Scratch icon and select the GoPiGo as your robot, you will see a button to test the hardware. If you click this, the motors will run back and forth.

You can also run the following in the command line:

sudo python Desktop/GoPiGo/Software/Python/basic_test_all.py

That’s all! Three simple and quick steps to turning your Raspberry Pi Zero into a Raspberry Pi Robot!