Cambridge Consultants & ZSL – saving the rhino with the #RaspberryPi

Raspberry Pi and Cambridge Consultants saving the rhino | Cambridge Business News | Cambridgeshire Local Business & Corporate News

Cambridge News have done a nice piece on this ecology project from the Zoological Society of London. They have partnered up with Cambridge Consultants (who recently hosted our second Cambridge Raspberry Jam to great success) to create remote cameras which monitor wildlife and help to catch poachers. It’s all part of the “Instant Wild” project. The cameras are connected to satellite, are motion-triggered and run off a long-life battery which means they can be deployed in remote areas.

Read more about this great project

New kit launched – RasWIK, the #RaspberryPi Wireless Inventors Kit

 

I have no affiliation, connection or arrangement with Ciseco, apart from meeting them at a recent Jam and talking to them about this product since then.

RasWIK - Raspberry Pi Wireless Inventors Kit - Ciseco PLC

Ciseco, who attended July’s Cambridge Raspberry Jam and will be making an appearance at September’s Jam, have just announced the launch of their Wireless Inventors Kit which aims to bring together the Pi and an Arduino-compatible board via wireless communication. This brings with it a whole host of practical things you can build when you need wireless connectivity.

RasWIK - Raspberry Pi Wireless Inventors Kit - Ciseco PLC

The Kit comes with loads of things including:

  • A wireless module (called a Slice of Radio) for the Pi that plugs straight into the GPIO pins.
  • An SD card with an operating system and software to get you started.
  • A XinoRF, a wireless-enabled Arduino-compatible board
  • Loads of electronic components such as LEDs, a buzzer and connecting wires.

Ciseco, a Nottingham-based company, have also added an extensive tutorial/guide for the RasWIK which is available here. This takes you through the basics of setting everything up as well as detailing an extensive list of projects you can do. Take a look and see for yourself what kinds of things you can make happen.

The kit costs £49.99 (including VAT) and is available from their store here. This may seem like a lot, comparing it to the Pi itself, but contains a hell of a lot for the money. With more hobbyists wanting to explore the link between the Pi and Arduino, and also wanting easy connectivity to remote projects, this Kit seems like a great deal and should ignite a lot of interest and ingenious, wireless projects.

RasWIK - Raspberry Pi Wireless Inventors Kit - Ciseco PLC