The Raspberry Pi Challenge Accepted!

Raspberry Pi

Remember our recent announcement about the Raspberry Pi Challenge we’re running? Well, we’ve found our challenger, and it’s Eric B!

Eric’ joined Milwaukee Makerspace last summer, and rumor has it he’s a pretty skilled software guy, so hopefully the challenge of writing code for the Raspberry Pi won’t be too difficult for him. He’s also done a bit of metalwork, woodworking, and a few electronics projects. But wait, we should explain what he plans to do!

Here’s the project that Eric proposed:

As an outgrowth of the Travelling Gnome Prank, many groups have adopted their own traveling mascot, where a statue, doll, gnome, or action figure voluntarily travels with various group members to far off places. The group documenting the travels of the mascot collects photos and travel reports

I propose that a Milwaukee Makerspace traveling mascot be equipped to report on its own travels. Built around a Raspberry Pi, with the addition of a battery, GPS unit, and a camera sensor, the traveling mascot could take its own photos and report its own location.

I believe that with this kit, a few additions, and the tools at the Milwaukee Makerspace, I could pull off making a working self-reporting traveling mascot. With the help and input of artists, designers, developers, and makers of any kind, we could make this thing great.

This project can help build the Milwaukee Makerspace community by keeping the space in our member’s minds as they travel, sharing with our community. Also, the traveling mascot will encourage frequent additions to our website.

Sounds cool! I don’t think anyone has used a Raspberry Pi to create a self-documenting mascot that can track itself. Eric’s made it clear that he wants this to be a community project, and is hoping for input (and assistance) from other Milwaukee Makerspace members. We’ll keep you up-to-date with blog posts as things progress.

(Thanks again to Adafruit Industries for helping make this project possible.)