Using Legos to turn a Raspberry Pi into a mobile device

Lead Image © Daniel Villeneuve, 123RF.com

Let's Play

We show how to build a remote control for a toy car built out of Lego parts, a Rasp Pi, a game pad, and a Java program.

You could easily build a remote control for a toy car using LEGO® Mindstorms [1] parts, or you could even add remote control functionality using the infrared components in the Lego Power Functions (PF) series [2]. However, buying all these components won't teach you much, and the toy you get for your efforts becomes boring pretty quickly. If you like to tinker, you might want to build a remote-controlled Lego car yourself and save the expense of setting yourself up with a Mindstorms kit. Adding a Raspberry Pi to your Lego car gives you freedom and flexibility that Mindstorms could never match.

Of course, if you want your car to move around, you'll need more than just a Raspberry Pi. The project described in this article requires parts that can interface a Lego car to the control electronics. The motors from the Lego PF series are very well suited for this task. You can integrate PF series parts directly into your existing Lego set without a problem.

The 42006 "Excavator" Lego set is a good one to start with, and you can augment it with two PF motors (Figure 1). Constructing electrical drives in this set is very easy, and you will not need any other parts for gears and steering.

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