Another episode of "You just need to put a Raspberry Pi in a blender": someone has decided that the Raspberry Pi Zero makes an excellent companion for an electric skateboard (read: skateboard). A motor, a speed controller, a battery pack, a Bluetooth adapter, a Wiimote, and the Raspberry Pi Zero acting as the brain come together to form this excellent project. Its top speed is 30 kilometers per hour, more than enough for a calm and relatively safe commute around the city.
Yesterday we looked closely at the potential of the Raspberry Pi Zero as a pentesting tool (not to mention pure hacking), but today we're going in a different direction. One of the many possible applications for the Raspberry Pi is controlling other devices. If there's enough space, the mini computer can manage all sorts of functions in a device, and this became especially true with the arrival of the Raspberry Pi Zero, which measures just 6.5 by 3 centimeters and is five millimeters thick. Where did they install it this time? On an electric skateboard.
Hardware details
The dirty work on the electric skateboard is handled by its motor (3,200 watts, as far as we can tell from the video), its battery (six cells, 8Ah), and a 120A speed controller, which in turn is managed by the Raspberry Pi Zero. Since it lacks the necessary hardware, the Zero must give up its main micro USB port for a Bluetooth adapter, while the computer is powered via GPIO and a small voltage regulator. The Bluetooth signal is used to pair a Wiimote, which essentially acts as the throttle. It seems incredible that Nintendo's controllers are so useful beyond the console, but we love the idea of reusing hardware.
The software
And what about the software? Basically, it's about a hundred lines of Python code, available to any interested programmer through GitHub.
I imagine the Raspberry Pi Zero must be (by far) the cheapest component of this project, and I'm the first to admit it's not for everyone, but at the same time it confirms (again) the extraordinary versatility of the hardware.
