There’s a New Robot Caddie & We Must Have It
This Raspberry Pi-powered golf cart, created by Nick O’Hara and shared on the Raspberry Pi blog, looks like a mediaeval Chinese weapon of war but is only half as dangerous. It turns the world’s most boring sport into something more exciting by launching clubs at you based on your position and the conditions.
It Knows All
The robot golf bag knows where you are on the course, what the wind is like, and whether you’re playing uphill, much like a real caddy, but without the need to buy it a beer or engage in conversation afterwards. It can then suggest a club before shooting it with a blast of compressed air from its revolver-like cylinder. If you’re positioned in the perfect spot, you might even catch it.
Your guests will be entertained by the sight of you shouting commands at a collection of pipes before it launches a golf club at your head, thanks to the Raspberry Pi, which, as you might think, runs some custom software.
An air compressor, batteries, and plenty of wiring, including a Raspberry Pi 4 connected to an Arduino Uno-style board, make up the rest of the robot. A protoboard full of MOSFETs is also present, which is most likely used to connect the Pi to the higher voltage motor controllers. When shot, the clubs feature a specific connection that allows them to sit firmly in their tubes and not tangle or knock together.
The creator flew the bot to England so professional golfer Rick Shiels could check it out, according to an entertaining video on O’Hara’s YouTube account. Sadly, terrible weather stopped the trio from trundling across 18 holes, and they were forced to take solace in a driving range.
Despite being one of the best Raspberry Pi projects, the question of what happens if you fill the robot’s launch tubes with golf balls and name its mama a snow-blower has yet to be solved.
Read the original article on Tom’s Hardware.
