The Gadget Show

[The Gadget Show]

Hello all,

I work for the Gadget Show, the UK's leading consumer electronics show on Channel 5: http://gadgetshow.channel5.com/.

We are looking for someone to help us code a Raspberry Pi board in Python for a build on the show. We have a really tight turn around for the item but the code its self should be simple enough to write and there is the potential for your work to appear on the show.

Please do get in touch with me via email if you are interested in this project and I will drop over the details.

andrew.parkes@northonetv.com

Many thanks,
Andrew.

[Davespice]

Hi there o/ Is there any specific task that you need done in Python? Or are you just looking to demonstrate the Pi with a quick slot? I have a little teacher baiting thing you could use? However the Pi comes with a load of demo programs which are actually quite nice.
I'm going to assume you're using Raspbian, after logging in with pi for the username and raspberry for the password, enter these commands to compile the demo programs.

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cd /opt/vc/src/hello_pi/
./rebuild.sh

Then when it's finished compiling them you can go into each folder and run the binaries.
Like so;

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cd hello_video
./hello_video.bin test.h264

This will play a short video clip with no sound which will show how good the video resolution and playback is.
Then to get back to the other demos enter

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cd ..
ls

That will show you a list of folders, inside each one is a different demo program.

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cd hello_triangle
./hello_triangle.bin

This one will show a 3D cube spinning etc. Try the others yourself and see what you think. A lot of them are designed to demonstrate various coding techniques and some are more impressive than others.

[The Gadget Show]

Hi Davespice,

Thanks for your reply. Essentially we are building a Raspberry Pi powered ice cream machine. An engineer is building the physical unit for us but, due to a family emergency, he is unable to complete the coding.

Below is a very rough outline of the code needed for the Raspberry Pi. We have ordered this IO board ( http://uk.farnell.com/piface/piface-dig ... UK-GEN-KWL ) to interface it with the rest of the system.

Inputs

Potentiometer to vary the time the Icecream valve is open
IR Beams to break indicating cone is under the nozzle

Outputs

One Relay to activate Icecream valve
One light/LED Strip to indicate when the machine is ready to dispense Icecream

Process

- Ready LED on to start

-Is beam broken for more than 1 second?

No - Loop

Yes...

-Open Main Icecream valve

Wait duration set by potentiometer (Map 0-1023 to 0-20 seconds)

-Close valve annd turn off ready LED

wait 20 seconds

-Turn Ready LED on

- Loop

Unfortunately there is no one in the office with coding experience hence the reason why I'm reaching out to the good people of Raspberrypi.org

Many thanks,
Andy.

[Davespice]

I think you’re going to be a little hard pressed to get a working solution for this. Having someone else code this remotely, without having the extra hardware attached to their Pi for testing will make doing something like this quite difficult. But good luck with it.

[gordon@drogon.net]

Shame you don't want it in C or BASIC

But there must be plenty of Pythonistas out there - go for it!

-Gordon

[PiGraham]

I can do that. I have a Pi with PiFace and the spec is simple.

One question, How are you interfacing the potentiometer?

[Mortimer]

I suppose a few questions should be:

(1) Is the target system at North One (Pentonville?) or elsewhere?
(2) Can the coder work at the location with the system, or can the system be brought to the coder?
(3) Will the coder be given a G rating afterward!!?

[davef21370]

Contact these guys... http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/projects/raspberrypi/
I reckon they'd be glad to help and, being students, they'll have all the time in the world

Dave.

[alexeames]

Doesn't sound very hard, but access to the hardware would be necessary for proper testing.

Someone who's got a PiFace would be an advantage if the hardware and coder can't be put together.

[csoutreach]

The results were on TV tonight.
http://gadgetshow.channel5.com/gadget-s ... udio-build

It appears the Raspberry Pi and PiFace made it easier to program a simple control system than it is to actually freeze ice cream. I think it's time to show The Gadget Show how it should be done. How about at a Raspberry Jam, we get kids to build something better?

http://pifacedigital.wordpress.com/2013 ... dget-show/

[gordon@drogon.net]

The results were on TV tonight.
http://gadgetshow.channel5.com/gadget-s ... udio-build

It appears the Raspberry Pi and PiFace made it easier to program a simple control system than it is to actually freeze ice cream. I think it's time to show The Gadget Show how it should be done. How about at a Raspberry Jam, we get kids to build something better?

http://pifacedigital.wordpress.com/2013 ... dget-show/

Yea, and program in in BASIC too

-Gordon