rover-pi/README.md

rover-pi

Scripts and documentation for setting up a Raspberry Pi (Zero W 1 or 2) for use in Mechatronics 1 or Cyberphysical Systems. This single-board Linux computer is equivalent in power to the Raspberry Pi 2 but in a smaller form factor, includes WiFi and Bluetooth, and is very affordable at 15USD. For operations that need higher computing power, we recommend the Raspberry Pi 3 or 4 which can be purchased later.

Procedure

1. Raspberry Pi Imager procedure to setup ssh and Raspberry Pi Connect

2. Find out your Pi's ethernet addresss in case you need to find it on iot-research again. Type ip addr show dev wlan0 and for something like link/ether 01:23:45:67:89:ab. Write this information (the 12 characters and colons) in your notebook. In T-411-MECH we want you to put this information in a spreadsheet links from the main page: this allows us connect Pi's to people in case of any issues.

3. Solder the GPIO header pins

4. Login to the pi using ssh or serial. (Pi Connect breaks wihle upgrading the Pi Connect program). Now update the packages on your pi:

   sudo apt-get update
   sudo apt-get -y upgrade
   

5. Gadget Mode to setup a network connection over USB. A more explanatory version in the Raspberry Pi Newsletter

   • If you don't have Internet Connection Sharing, th pi will show up as 10.12.194.1

6. Setup the OLED screen to print the IP Based upon Marcel's script on github to show the IP address on the OLED screen

7. Install Blinka by following the guide CircuitPython Libraries on Linux and Raspberry Pi]

RU student-only guides at ROB-IOT

• Starting on Raspberry Pi Zero

References and Links

• Sparkfun GPIO pinout
• Guide to creating ssh keys Of note, this guide is a little dated as it suggests using RSA keys and many people are moving toward EDCSA keys.
• Raspberry Pi Connect
  • Setting up Raspberry Pi Connect
• Raspberry Pi Zero Headless Quick Start This guide assumes you have a serial cable adapter you can plug into the RX/TX serial pins on the Pi.
• Pi Headless Configuration over Bluetooth Guide from 2017 on how to setup a serial console over Bluetooth
• Turning your Raspberry Pi Zero into a USB Gadget Official Adafruit guide to gadget mode to allow the USB port to be used as a serial console to connect to it. We had trouble getting it to work in 2026 due to some changes in Raspberry Pi OS.
• Python gpiozero library a simple interface for working with GPIO devices
• CircuitPython Libraries on Linux and Raspberry Pi This is one option for GPIO, I2C, SPI, and PWM access in python.
• Comparing Rasbperry Pi python interfaces

For the Future

• Setting up Zeroconf to use local names (.local) to access your Pi: this does not work on iot-research because multicast and MDNS are broken.
• MDNS on iot-research MDNS is still an ongoing development.

TODO

• Finding the Pi using nmap or arp
• Create a interface HAT that makes it easy to attach to a digital analyzer (v207) and an Analog Discovery

Some Tricks

Here is a page of tricks we have discovered that may involve advanced techniques. Credit: Daníel Bjartur Guðmundsson, transcribed by Joseph T. Foley

1. Check for list of networks: nmcli device wifi list
2. Show details of "preconfigured" network: nmcli connection show preconfigured
3. Change the SSID (which wireless network you will connect to) in the "New_SSID": nmcli connection modify preconfigured wifi.ssid "New_SSID"
4. Change the wireless access password in the "New_Password": nmcli connection modify preconfigured wifi-sec.psk "New_Password"

Wifi keeps dropping out. What do I do?

1. sudo raspi-config
2. Advanced Options > A12 WLAN Power Save
3. Yes to disabling

I'd like to stop typing my password all the time

1. Copy your private key to your pi from ~/.ssh/id_* to the Pi
2. On the Pi, start ssh-agent with eval $(ssh-agent)
3. Now add your key ssh-add