RaspiJS

A Raspberry PI and Arduino based smart robot.
Built with Johnny-Five, React, esbuild and Typescript.
Powered with NodeJS, express, socket.io and firebase.
Assembled with LEGO bricks.

Raspi's actual abilities

• Remote control from GUI (arrows + joystick)
• Exploration mode
• Play songs on buzzer :)
• It speaks!
• View from USB Camera through GUI
• Yamaha AV receiver control from GUI

Hardware specification

Raspberry Pi

• Raspberry Pi 3 Model B + Lithium Battery Board (3800mAH, 5.1V)
• Raspberry Pi Camera Module V2 IR 8MP
• USB Sound Card

Arduino

• Arduino Mega 2560 + Sensor Shield V2.0
• Arduino Uno R3
• NodeMcu Lua Wifi ESP8266 + NodeMcu Base ver 1.0 (NodeMcu v3 CH340 Lua WIFI )
• LiPo Battery (2200mAH, 11,1V)
• L298N H-bridge Dual Motor Controller + 2 x LEGO Technic - Power Functions L-Motor 88003
• L298N H-bridge Dual Motor Controller + 1 x LEGO Technic - Power Functions L-Motor 88003
• 5161AS Seven Segment LED Display with 74HC595 Shift Register
• RGB Common cathode LED
• Buzzer
• LCD 2x16 Display with PCF8574 I2C converter
• Arduino Uno R3 + Sensor Shield V4.0
• TowerPro SG90 Servo
• Ultrasonic sensor HC-SR04

Software specification

Raspberry Pi

• Johnny-Five - javascript robotic platform with great API for controlling ardunino via socket.io from node server
• ReactJS GUI hosted on firebase hosting with socket.io communication to RaspiJS
• GitHub Actions CI automated deploys to firebase hosting
• Docker with Docker Compose for running the environment in containers
• Fabric for managing containers
• Makefile for running scripts
• Node v18.x
• Typescript
• Bootstrap 5
• Raspbian Buster

Fresh start

For running scripts you must have a SSH connection or direct bash access to Raspberry Pi.

Make sure to have docker, docker compose and fabric installed on your Raspberry Pi.

Firebase

For firebase API and deployment create .env file in root catalog with following

FIREBASE_API_KEY=your-api-key
FIREBASE_AUTH_DOMAIN=your-domain.firebaseapp.com
FIREBASE_DATABASE_URL=https://your-domain.firebaseio.com
FIREBASE_PROJECT_ID=your-domain
FIREBASE_STORAGE_BUCKET=your-domain.appspot.com
FIREBASE_MESSAGING_SENDER_ID=your-messaging-sender-id
FIREBASE_APP_ID=your-app-id

(optional) For openai add this line to .env file

OPENAI_API_KEY=your-api-key

Starting app

First you have to init certbot to generate new SSL certificates:

$ ./init-letsencrypt.sh

Build dockerfiles:

$ fab build

Start all containers:

$ fab run

To run in development mode:

$ fab purge --names webapp
$ fab run-dev --names webapp

$ fab purge --names johnny
$ fab run-dev --names johnny

Run commands in containers:

$ fab sh
$ fab zsh --docker johnny

Running scripts

Johnny

To be executed on johnny container

Run Johnny Five app with NodeJS server, socket.io server and Arduino connection

make run

Build app

make build

Run app in development mode

make start-dev

Webapp

To be executed on webapp container

Build GUI

make build

Watch GUI

make watch

Github actions

This command is executed to build webapp with firebase config on Github Actions, before publishing to firebase hosting.

./build.sh

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Useful informations

For preparing your Raspberry Pi connection through Node.js with Arduino Uno, You have to upload StandardFirmataPlus on Arduino. For more information please refer to Johnny-Five

Install nodebots-interchange for HCSR04 sensor (change /dev/ttyACM0 to arduino correct interface)

20.03.2023: Removed from package.json "nodebots-interchange": "^2.1.3",

interchange install hc-sr04 -a uno -p /dev/ttyACM0 --firmata

TODO: find a way to install nodebots-hcsr04 on Arduino Mega 2560

For AirPlay install shairport

Install motion for USB webcamera:

sudo apt-get install motion

Useful commands:

sudo modprobe bcm2835-v4l2
sudo vim /etc/motion/motion.conf
sudo service motion start

https://raspberry-valley.azurewebsites.net/Streaming-Video-with-Motion/#setup-streaming

TODO: write about flite: https://learn.adafruit.com/speech-synthesis-on-the-raspberry-pi/speak-easier-flite?view=all