What are we fundraising?
Robots, we all love robots. We want to help you start making budget Raspberry Pi robots using our kits for only £28.
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A fully assembled kit + Raspberry Pi Model B (Not Included) + Power Bank (Not Included)
£28 Budget Robotics Kits
We are planning to make a £28 robotics kit for use with the Raspberry Pi, this includes:
- One RTK-000-001 RPi Motor Controller Board Kit - This is our board we have designed to be able to drive motors using a Raspberry Pi
- One Robot Kit - This is a laser cut out robot chassis including motors, wheels and screws.
- Wi-Fi Adapter - One USB Wi-Fi Adapter tested for the Raspberry Pi
- Battery Box for the Robot - A 4xAA Battery holder that is used to power the motors.
- Wires - 2 X 2 Wire cables, used to connect the motors to the RPi M.C.B
- Documentation & Code - A set of online documentation and code that will guide you through making robots with the kit.
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What you receive, electronics kit pre assembled only in the soldered version.You require:
- Raspberry Pi Model A or B - The software works on both.
- An SD Card - A SD card that you can install Raspbian or our own SD Image on.
- Power source for your Pi - You will need to use your own power source for the Raspberry Pi
The idea of this is to promote the use of Raspberry pi in schools in a fun and enjoyable way while still learning and teaching programming.
Why?
I love robots, the first project I made with my Raspberry Pi was a robot but required lots of soldering, hacking and wires to make it work and cost me a lot of money to make. Now using the budget RTK-000-001 Motor controller board all that is required is now a budget robot to go along with it.
Robots are one of the great things that everyone loves even if they are not fully interested in Raspberry Pi. They help teach the basic fundamentals of programming and can be extended by adding sensors on top or coding in extra functions or new software.
Documentation & Code
One of the things that we are doing is creating unique documentation and code samples to use with your budget 'bots.
Documentation -
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Assembly guide - How to assemble the robot chassis, where best to position the Pi and wiring instructions.
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Plug and Play guide - How to setup and configure the Plug and Play robot software, to start controlling it straight away.
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Python Guide - a step by step guide to programming your robot in python to make it move .
- Spacebrew Guide Part 1* - Python, a step by step guide to then taking the python code and adding in Spacebrew on the python side.
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Spacebrew Guide Part 2* - Javascript, a step by step guide on then creating a basic robot controller in Javascript and then communicate to the robot using Spacebrew.
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Scratch GPIO Guide - A lesson on moving the robot around using scratch and input from the keyboard. Also includes setting up a VNC server on your Raspberry Pi to be able to use Scratch.
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Adding sound - Robots are even more awesome when they make noises. This guide will show you how to add sound with a pair of off the shelf budget speakers.
* The out come of these two guides will be the same as the Plug and Play guide, this is from where we use these software and code for the core of the Plug and Play software.
Do you have an idea for any documentation? Contact us @ Indiegogo@ryanteck.ltd.uk
Code -
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Plug and Play Robot Code - The python and HTML5 & JS code will be provided as plug and play robot code. All that is required is to put the python onto a Raspberry Pi, Configure Wi-Fi and then launch the client on the Javascript Side.
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Plug and Play SD card image - this is a downloadable SD card image for the Raspberry Pi where all is required is your Wi-Fi details. After just connect to the client and configure spacebrew.
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Scratch Example - A downloadable scratch project that can be used to show off what the robot will do after the end of the tutorial.
Open Source At Heart
We love open source software and use it day to day from running our websites to the software that powers our robots. That's why we are releasing the documentation and source code out into the public, as soon as its written via Github.
All documentation will be released under CC BY-SA allowing you to reproduce them, share them and edit them (as long as you release your changes under the same license and attribute us). The license has no restrictions on commercial use allowing schools to freely use the documentation as well.
All code will be released publicly, any code we write will be under GNU GPL V3 / LGPL V3 where possible. This can depend on if we use external libraries or software in our programs.
About Us
Who are we?
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We're Ryanteck LTD. A new start up based in the United Kingdom aiming to allow people to make awesome projects using a Raspberry Pi for a budget and with ease.
Currently it's just one person, Ryan Walmsley. A 17 year old student who is currently studying Information Technology at College by day but at night runs a company and creates awesome stuff.
We currently make and manufacture a successful motor controller board which is designed to be an easy way to start controlling robots and making motors spin. We currently sell this for ~£11 including Postage and Packing and sold 130 kits in our Tindie Fundraiser. You can also just buy one of these during this fundraiser to help support us at a special price of £10.
Spread the word!
Even if you can't contribute to the fundraiser we still need your help to spread the word about our fundraiser. You can do this by using the share tools that can be found on the campaign at the bottom.
Fundraiser Information
Risks & Challenges
There is little risk by backing this project, this is from where half of the project has already been funded by us (The V2 RTK RPi M.C.Bs are all already brought). You are helping us raise funds so we can buy the robot bases, motors and accessories along with the documentation costs. We have already ordered sample units from the companies that are manufacturing these and they have performed well in our tests.
Timescale
We are expecting to be able to complete this fundraiser by the end of June, this is from where we have already funded and received half of the goods required. The final parts is ordering the Robotic parts and writing the documentation and then shipping them out.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: I don't live inside the United Kingdom!
A: We are hoping to allow the robot kits to be brought worldwide. We are currently evaluating how much to charge due to higher shipping costs. We should know this within 1 week of the campaign starting. This is looking at £10-15 PNP. (£38-43 in total).
Q: Why do you need the money?
A: From where we are a small business we need more funds to be able to buy all of this equipment, by running a fundraiser we also find out how many people want kits and if we do not raise enough money we know there is no market. Our current market research is strongly on the side of people wanting to buy a complete kit.
Q: Why do you not include a power source for the Raspberry Pi?
A: There is a couple of reasons for this and they are:
- The first prototype of the controller board was designed to have a regulator on but this caused a few issues, the A RTK RPi M.C.B (UK)voltage regulator got extremely hot for use in schools which is one of our main target markets. The second is that we would require very expensive regulators that are either cooler and / or support low drop out voltages. Both of these factors made it easier to buy an off the shelf power bank for a mobile phone a better solution as the costs to manufacture a voltage regulator and sell them for the same prices was near impossible to do.
- The second main reason is that we have looked into selling an off the shelf power bank with the kit but this causes big issues on the postage side, doing this requires extra paperwork to be able to post inside the UK and is restricted to post outside of the UK. We will be contacting suppliers to find the best one we can recommend for you to buy a power bank from.
Q: What is your VAT Status?
A: All prices shown do not include VAT, This is from where we are currently not VAT Registered and do not have to charge VAT on top yet. This also means you cannot claim VAT back.
Q: Can I get the documentation pre-printed?
A: We won't be providing this as part of the Indiegogo campaign but it may be possible in the future to be brought separately.
Thank you
Thank you for participating in this Ryanteck LTD. campaign.
Ryanteck LTD. is an registered limited company in the UK (08750096)
