Raspberry Pi

[Robonaut]

I recently stumbled upon this website. http://www.raspberrypi.org/ They are releasing a credit-card sized computer board next month for 25 bucks. It seems to be very powerful (700 MHG ARM11) for it's size and I was thinking it may be a good canidate for "Robot Brain". This is the block layout they have on their site along with an image of the RaspBerry PI.

I found it interesting that it has a "Camera In" port. Currently I use arduino based boards and I have ponder about using something a little more powerful. This would be a big change for me because it uses Linux for an OS. I found these tidbits on the FAQ page.

Will it run WINE (or Windows, or other x86 software)?
No.

What Linux distros will be supported at launch?
Debian, Fedora and ArchLinux will be supported from the start. We hope to see support from other distros later. We will be selling SD cards with the distros preloaded. (Sept 4 2011 – originally, this FAQ suggested that Ubuntu would be supported. Because of issues with newer releases of Ubuntu and the ARM processor we are using, Ubuntu can’t commit to support Raspberry Pi at the moment.)

Will it run <insert name of program here>?
In general, you need to look to see whether the program you want can be compiled for the ARMv6 architecture. In most cases the answer will be yes. Specific programs are discussed on our forum, so you might want to look there for an answer.

What are the power requirements?
The device is powered by 5v micro USB. You can read more about it here.

Can I run power Raspberry Pi from batteries as well as from a wall socket?
Yes. The device should run well off 4xAA cells.

Does the device support networking? Is there Wi-Fi?
The Model B version of the device includes 10/100 wired Ethernet. There is no Ethernet on the Model A version (which we expect to be taken up mostly by the education market), but Wi-Fi will be available via a standard USB dongle.

How do I connect a mouse and keyboard?
Mice, keyboards, network adapters and external storage will all connect via a USB hub.

Does the device support networking? Is there Wi-Fi?
The Model B version of the device includes 10/100 wired Ethernet. There is no Ethernet on the Model A version (which we expect to be taken up mostly by the education market), but Wi-Fi will be available via a standard USB dongle.

There are more FAQ's listed on their website along with a wiki that has a lot of info http://elinux.org/RaspberryPiBoard

Something else that caught my interest was the expansion board. Seems it will also cost $25. About all they say about it is:

It's a GPIO expansion board. Use it to flash LEDs on and off, drive motors, run sensors and all that other fun stuff.

I posted this because I am interested in what folks think about it. Does it have potential to be a good robotic platform? Is there a better way to go? Does it look like it will run current robotic software? Does it have enough power? The price point looks decent.

[ArduTank]

I plan to use this for my Arduino based Mech Warfare bot to control the system using remote desktop over Wifi.

[SteamAutomaton]

Camera input, digital outputs, WIFI, low power. Now if it can control AX series servos. Hint, hint, hint.

[jwatte]

It has USB. There exists USB to Dynamixel controllers. :-)

Although finding a camera that works for the input that's not just a bare lens+sensor seems to be impossible. You can use a USB camera instead.

Then you'll want a USB WiFi dongle (there's no native WiFi onboard, just wired Ethernet.) Which brings you to 3 USB devices, and only 2 ports. Which means you need a 4 port hub to attach it to :-(

It does have I2C and SPI, so something could possibly be built that controls servos without USB, but the I/O is 3.3V and *not* 5V tolerant, so that's additional circuitry.

[SteamAutomaton]

It has USB. There exists USB to Dynamixel controllers. :-)

Although finding a camera that works for the input that's not just a bare lens+sensor seems to be impossible. You can use a USB camera instead.

Then you'll want a USB WiFi dongle (there's no native WiFi onboard, just wired Ethernet.) Which brings you to 3 USB devices, and only 2 ports. Which means you need a 4 port hub to attach it to :-(

It does have I2C and SPI, so something could possibly be built that controls servos without USB, but the I/O is 3.3V and *not* 5V tolerant, so that's additional circuitry.

From my understanding, they are trying to have a camera for the camera port. I am not sure if it is flat mounted or 90°.

[jwatte]

I ended up with a hub anyway. Allows me to hook up a keyboard (and display on HDMI) for direct control, if nothing else.
Also, the same USB hub has one of the ports going out to power the Raspberry Pi itself. It's almost like the self-charging laptop :-)
(Except this hub is powered, from a 5V switching regulator hooked to the LiPo)