Book Image

Python Robotics Projects

By : Prof. Diwakar Vaish
Book Image

Python Robotics Projects

By: Prof. Diwakar Vaish

Overview of this book

Robotics is a fast-growing industry. Multiple surveys state that investment in the field has increased tenfold in the last 6 years, and is set to become a $100-billion sector by 2020. Robots are prevalent throughout all industries, and they are all set to be a part of our domestic lives. This book starts with the installation and basic steps in configuring a robotic controller. You'll then move on to setting up your environment to use Python with the robotic controller. You'll dive deep into building simple robotic projects, such as a pet-feeding robot, and more complicated projects, such as machine learning enabled home automation system (Jarvis), vision processing based robots and a self-driven robotic vehicle using Python. By the end of this book, you'll know how to build smart robots using Python.
Table of Contents (24 chapters)
Title Page
Packt Upsell
Contributors
Preface
Index

The basics


Whenever we talk about moving from one place to another, we think about wheels and similarly whenever we think about moving the wheels of a robot, we think about motors. There are various different types of motors that exist. So let's firstly look at the most basic type of motor, which is called a brushed DC motor. As the name suggests, it works on a direct current. You may find such motors like this:

Trust me, these things are omnipresent, from the Christmas gift you bought for your neighbor to the biggest baddest machines out there—you will find these motors hiding under the hood. These motors are common for a reason and that is because they are very, very simple. So simple that powering them up only requires a battery and two wires. Simply connect the positive to one terminal and negative to the other, and the motor will start spinning. Interchange those connections and the direction of the rotation will change. Take two cells and double the voltage and the motor will spin even...