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Element14 lets London school cook up Raspberry Pi code | IT PRO

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>Element14 lets London school cook up Raspberry Pi code | IT PRO:
A group of London school children have been given the chance to test out their coding skills on a Raspberry Pi computer.
Nearly 250 students at St Saviour’s Primary School in Paddington, London, got their hands on the British-developed device to programme a Lego robot crocodile as part of the school’s day of creativity.
The credit card-sized computers were supplied by Raspberry Pi global distributor element14.

Making, My Projects, Picorder, Raspberry Pi Foundation

Picorder – Raspberry Pi-powered Tricorder

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Long-term hardware project: a Raspberry Pi tricorder. It’s not exactly a novel idea, but it gives me the opportunity to merge my software skills with the hardware side of the Pi, which I’m just learning.

PHASE 1 – Tricorder
BASICS

  • Battery-powered Raspberry Pi with 3.5mm (or larger) screen.
  • Additional diagnostics via 16×2 lcd screen.
  • Wifi network access.
  • Extended capabilities via Windows Mobile phone connecting with VNC and Putty.
  • Rii Bluetooth keyboard and touchpad. (Touchpad will be visible all the time as will a couple of the keys, but the main part of the keyboard will be a ‘revealable’ affair.
  • Contained in a clamshell case of some sort.
  • LCD readout panel. (PARTIALLY DONE)
  • LCDs and moving parts for function and decoration.

SENSORS

  • Temperature/humidity
  • Distance via ultrasonic
  • Movement via PIR
  • Barometric pressure

PHASE 2 (Location and Environment)

  • Add GPS module
  • Add mapping interface to GPS
  • Light level sensor
  • Compass module
  • Some kind of on/off switch for the Pi itself
  • Accelerometer

PHASE 3 (Medical tricorder)

  • Some kind of bluetooth/wireless peripheral (“Medical tricorder”) for taking temperatures, that kind of thing.
  • A camera to take picture of ‘patients’.
  • Heart rate / blood oxygen monitor – http://www.coolcomponents.co.uk/catalog/heart-rate-monitor-p-816.html
  • Geiger counter (for when you absolutely MUST know the level of cosmic radiation on that alien planet!)
  • Some kind of sound sensor
  • Some kind of bluetooth/wireless peripheral (“Medical tricorder”) for taking temperatures, that kind of thing.
  • A camera to take picture of ‘patients’.

Hoping that at each Milton Keynes Raspberry Jam I can show a bit more.

The Picorder will run Adafruit’s Occidentalis distro with my Redwing script suite.

Now, if only I could find my original toy tricorder…