SunFounder PiSloth User manual

SunFounder pisloth
www.sunfounder.com
Feb 13, 2023

CONTENTS
1 Component List and Assembly Instructions 3
2 About Robot HAT 5
3 Play with Ezblock 7
3.1 Quick Guide on EzBlock ......................................... 7
3.2 Move ................................................... 10
3.3 Don’t Touch Me ............................................. 12
3.4 Obstacle Avoidance ........................................... 15
3.5 Emotional PiSloth ............................................ 17
3.6 Dance ................................................... 21
3.7 Let’s Fight! Warrior! ........................................... 26
3.8 Remote Control ............................................. 31
3.9 Custom Step ............................................... 34
3.10 Custom Action .............................................. 40
4 Play with Python 45
4.1 Quick Guide on Python ......................................... 45
4.2 Move ................................................... 79
4.3 Dance ................................................... 80
4.4 Obstacle Avoidance ........................................... 83
4.5 Don’t Touch Me ............................................. 85
4.6 Let’s Fight! Warrior! ........................................... 87
4.7 Emotional PiSloth ............................................ 89
4.8 Remote Control ............................................. 92
4.9 Custom Step ............................................... 95
4.10 Custom Action .............................................. 98
5 Appendix 101
5.1 About the Battery ............................................ 101
5.2 Filezilla Software ............................................. 102
5.3 PuTTY .................................................. 104
5.4 Install OpenSSH via Powershell ..................................... 105
6 Thank You 107
7 Copyright Notice 109
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Thanks for choosing our PiSloth.
PiSloth is a Raspberry Pi Bionic robot with an aluminum alloy structure. It can talk, dance, and even express emotions,
such as happiness and excitement.
It has 22 different actions, such as: Stomp, Swing and MoonWalk, and you can customize the actions according to
your needs. PiSloth’s eyes consist of an ultrasonic sensor module that can be used to detect distance for obstacle
avoidance and following functions.
In this tutorial, a list and assembly pdf, introduction to Robot HAT, and programming of PiSloth are included.
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The programming part is divided into two chapters: Play with Ezblock &Play with Python, and each of them can get
you stated on making PiSloth work in way you want.
EzBlock Studio is a development platform developed by SunFounder designed for beginners to lower the barriers to
getting started with Raspberry Pi. It has two programming languages: Graphical and Python, and available on almost
all different types of devices. With Bluetooth and Wi-Fi support, you can download code, remote control a Raspberry
Pi, on Ezblock Studio.
More experienced makers can use the popular programming language - Python.
Content
2 CONTENTS

CHAPTER
ONE
COMPONENT LIST AND ASSEMBLY INSTRUCTIONS
You need to check whether there are missing or damaged components according to the list first. If there are any
problems, please contact us and we will solve them as soon as possible.
Please follow the steps on the PDF to assemble.
Note:
1. Before assembling, you need to buy 2 18650 batteries and fully charge them, refer to About the Battery.
2. Robot HAT cannot charge the battery, so you need to buy a battery charger at the same time.
•Component List and Assembly Instructions.
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4 Chapter 1. Component List and Assembly Instructions

CHAPTER
TWO
ABOUT ROBOT HAT
Robot HAT is a multifunctional expansion board that allows Raspberry Pi to be quickly turned into a robot. An MCU
is on board to extend the PWM output and ADC input for the Raspberry Pi, as well as a motor driver chip, Bluetooth
module, I2S audio module and mono speaker. As well as the GPIOs that lead out of the Raspberry Pi itself.
It also comes with a Speaker, which can be used to play background music, sound effects and implement TTS functions
to make your project more interesting.
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Accepts 7-12V PH2.0 2pin power input with 2 power indicators. The board also has a user available LED and a button
for you to quickly test some effects.
Note: You can see more details in the Robot HAT Documentation.
6 Chapter 2. About Robot HAT

CHAPTER
THREE
PLAY WITH EZBLOCK
For beginners and novices, EzBlock is a software development platform offered by SunFounder for Raspberry Pi.
Ezbock offers two programming environments: a graphical environment and a Python environment.
It is available for almost all types of devices, including Mac, PC, and Android.
Here is a tutorial to help you complete EzBlock installation, download, and use.
3.1 Quick Guide on EzBlock
There are 2 parts here:
•Servo Adjust allows you to keep all the servos at 0 degrees to complete a proper and safe assembly (otherwise
you will probably damage the servos).
•Install and Configure EzBlock Studio will guide you to download EzBlock Studio to play with your robot.
3.1.1 Servo Adjust
When assembling to the part with the servo, you need to keep the servo at 0° and secure it with the servo screw. Please
follow the tutorial below to do this.
1. Firstly, Install EzBlock OS onto a Micro SD card, once the installation is complete, insert it into the Raspberry
Pi.
2. To ensure that the servo has been properly set to 0°, first insert the rocker arm into the servo shaft and then
gently rotate the rocker arm to a different angle.
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3. Follow the instructions on the assembly foldout, insert the battery holder cable and turn the power switch to the
ON. Wait for 1-2 minutes, there will be a sound to indicate that the Raspberry Pi boots successfully.
4. Next, plug the servo cable into the P11 port as follows.
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5. At this point you will see the servo arm rotate to a specific position (0°). If the servo arm does not return to 0°,
press the RST button to restart the Robot HAT.
6. Now you can continue the installation as instructed on the assembly foldout.
Note:
• Do not unplug this servo cable before fastening this servo with the servo screw, you can unplug it after fastening.
• Do not turn the servo while it is powered on to avoid damage; if the servo shaft is inserted at the wrong angle,
pull out the servo and reinsert it.
• Before assembling each servo, you need to plug the servo cable into P11 and turn on the power to set its angle
to 0°.
• This zeroing function will be disabled if you download a program to the robot later with the EzBlock APP.
3.1.2 Install and Configure EzBlock Studio
As soon as the robot is assembled, you will need to carry out some basic operations.
•Install EzBlock Studio: Download and install EzBlock Studio on your device or use the web-based version.
•Connect the Product and EzBlock: Configure Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and calibrate before use.
•Open and Run Examples: View or run the related example directly.
Note: After you connect the PiSloth, there will be a calibration step. This is because of possible deviations in
the installation process or limitations of the servos themselves, making some servo angles slightly tilted, so you can
3.1. Quick Guide on EzBlock 9

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calibrate them in this step.
But if you think the assembly is perfect and no calibration is needed, you can also skip this step.
Projects
Here, we show you the projects of playing PiSloth on EzBlock Studio. If you are new to these, you can refer to the
code images inside each project to program, and can learn the use of blocks according to TIPS.
If you don’t want to write these projects one by one, we have uploaded them to EzBlock Studio’s Examples page and
you can run them directly or edit them and run them later.
3.2 Move
This is the first project. PiSloth has woken up, and it moves freely.
Before programming, you need to learn the basic usage of EzBlock Studio from here.
•How to Create a New Project?
TIPS
This is the basic structure of the program, the Start block is used to do some initialization (even if no block is placed,
it cannot be deleted) and the Forever block is, as the name suggests, a continuous loop that allows your program to
change and respond.
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This block is used to make PiSloth do a specific action several steps at a speed (%), for example, let PiSloth go forward
1 step at 50% speed.
Different actions can be selected from the drop down options, there are 22 in total.
This is a block that sets the duration of the previous block, unit: ms.
EXAMPLE
Note:
• You can write the program according to the following picture, please refer to the tutorial: How to Create a New
Project?
• Or find the code with the same name on the Examples page of the EzBlock Studio and click Run or Edit directly.
After writing the code according to the following figure, click the download icon in the bottom right corner, you will
see PiSloth move forward 3 steps, backward 4 steps, left 3 steps, right 5 steps, and finally stop. Since the whole code
is placed inside the Forever block, PiSloth will repeat the above actions after stopping for a while.
You can try putting the code from the Forever block into the Start block and see what happens.
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3.3 Don’t Touch Me
If you don’t meet PiSloth’s needs, it will get angry and stay away from your touch.
TIPS
You can directly use this block to read the distance to the obstacle right ahead.
Note: When assembling, Trig and Echo are connected to D2 and D3 respectively, you also need to change them
simultaneously when programming.
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To achieve conditional judgment of “if” type, you need to use an if do block.
When you need to implement multiple conditional judgments, you will have to change if do into if else do. This can
be achieved by clicking on the setting icon.
You need to use a conditional statements block in conjunction with if do. Judging conditions can be “=”, “>”, “<”, “”,
“”, “”.
A number block.
This block can emit some preset sound effects, such as siren sound, gun sound and so on. The range of volume is
1~100.
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EXAMPLE
Note:
• You can write the program according to the following picture, please refer to the tutorial: How to Create a New
Project?
• Or find the code with the same name on the Examples page of the EzBlock Studio and click Run or Edit directly.
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3.4 Obstacle Avoidance
In this project, when PiSloth detects an obstacle, it will send a signal and look for another direction to move forward.
TIPS
This is based on the previous project Don’t Touch Me, which adds autonomous judgment, so that PiSloth can actively
avoid obstacles in front of it.
EXAMPLE
Note:
• You can write the program according to the following picture, please refer to the tutorial: How to Create a New
Project?
• Or find the code with the same name on the Examples page of the EzBlock Studio and click Run or Edit directly.
After the code runs, PiSloth will walk forward. If it detects that the distance of the obstacle ahead is less than 10cm, it
will stop and sound a warning, then turn left for 7 steps and stop. If there is no obstacle in the direction after turning
left or the obstacle distance is greater than 10, it will continue to move forward.
Since the effective detection distance of the ultrasonic sensor module is 2-400cm, when the detection distance is less
than it will do nothing.
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16 Chapter 3. Play with Ezblock