Great CPD: Picademy

I was fortunate to get a place at Picademy (#picademy) in December 2015. Such a fantastic opportunity and great fun, especially as most of it was about Physical computing.

In the screenshot above I was playing SonicPi (http://sonic-pi.net/) programming music (or trying to create music in my case). If you haven't had a go at throughly recommend it. It is great that SonicPi is available on the Mac and PC as well - I spend quite a bit of time playing with it over Christmas. 

Playing with connecting Python and Minecraft is very engaging and fun, but programming LEDs and Motors through either the the GPIO or using an HAT (see the images below) is just what I enjoy the most.

In the above image was my attempt at a simple 'Dalek' - essentially a cup and straw, with a wheeled motor inside. Controlled using python,  Pi through an ExplorerHat. It essentially moved in a circle either clockwise or anti-clockwise.

Rise of Rabbitsapien - A team of us put together a project of a robot with a rabbit (no other soft toys were available) with a Passive IR sensor in its belly; that carries out a set routine when movement is detected.

It was also great to come away with some many resources both physical and activities. I was so inspired by it that since I built an X-Wing in Minecraft that is control by gestures see  http://robotsandphysicalcomputing.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/gesture-controlled-minecraft-x-wing.html for more detail.

Thank you to the Pi Foundation for such a good experience. I would love to hear other people's experiences of Picademy.

All opinions in this blog are the Author's and should not in any way be seen as reflecting the views of any organisation the Author has any association with.