Peppy and Pi become One

Some of you have asked: "What has happened to Pi?" At the Stanford Robot Party, I used the name "Pi" instead of "Peppy" for the robot. And of course, he had on his π t-shirt. The kids asked about his name and I explained that since Pi ran on mathematics, I thought he should have a special number as his name. They agreed.

In the meantime, it has come time to focus on one robot design and one name. The original Pi Robot chassis was too boxy to accommodate the movement of the arms which is the main reason Peppy was built. But Peppy—now Pi—is about to become a little bigger and more sophisticated. In particular, I am working on adding the omnidirectional vision system into his torso. I will also add stereo vision to his head when I have the funds. The wheels and drive motors will eventually have to grow to support the extra weight, especially when I add the onboard computer (which is standing by) and extra batteries. One option is to use a self-balancing Segway base.

To reflect the merging of Peppy and Pi, I have edited the Pi Robot home page accordingly. Of course, this will be confusing in the short term but hopefully it will straighten out over the long run.