Book Image

Raspberry Pi Zero W Wireless Projects

By : Vasilis Tzivaras
Book Image

Raspberry Pi Zero W Wireless Projects

By: Vasilis Tzivaras

Overview of this book

The Raspberry Pi has always been the go–to, lightweight ARM-based computer. The recent launch of the Pi Zero W has not disappointed its audience with its $10 release. "W" here stands for Wireless, denoting that the Raspberry Pi is solely focused on the recent trends for wireless tools and the relevant use cases. This is where our book—Raspberry Pi Zero W Wireless Projects—comes into its own. Each chapter will help you design and build a few DIY projects using the Raspberry Pi Zero W board. First, you will learn how to create a wireless decentralized chat service (client-client) using the Raspberry Pi's features?. Then you will make a simple two-wheel mobile robot and control it via your Android device over your local Wi-Fi network. Further, you will use the board to design a home bot that can be connected to plenty of devices in your home. The next two projects build a simple web streaming security layer using a web camera and portable speakers that will adjust the playlist according to your mood. You will also build a home server to host files and websites using the board. Towards the end, you will create free Alexa voice recognition software and an FPV Pi Camera, which can be used to monitor a system, watch a movie, spy on something, remotely control a drone, and more. By the end of this book, you will have developed the skills required to build exciting and complex projects with Raspberry Pi Zero W.
Table of Contents (11 chapters)

Official Alexa vs AlexaPi

Now, it is time to compare these two technologies. In this chapter, we developed a clone of "Alexa" over our Raspberry Pi Zero W. Obviously, both technologies are great and produce so many functionalities that the benefits outweigh the total cost. However, the official Alexa is quite expensive compared to a Raspberry Pi Zero W. So, in this, all the points go to Raspberry. Furthermore, AlexaPi is quite small compared to the official Alexa. Once more, the points go to Raspberry Pi. However, Raspberry Pi Zero W will not replace the official Alexa, and this is because it is a low-cost device that simply works. This project works better with the Raspberry Pi 3, since it has more hardware and it is easier to set up, but even with that the official Alexa was built exactly for this purpose. It probably has a longer working lifetime and minimum bugs...