David Briddock explains why CamJam EduKits are perfect for novice hardware hackers
Jam events are packed with people having fun with Raspberry Pi technology, albeit fun with a heavy educational flavour. Attend one of these events, and you can’t help but be impressed by the possibilities and drawn in by the high levels of enthusiasm and innovation.
However, there’s a perennial problem: working out how to get started. To overcome this hurdle, the CamJam organisation has launched a series of educational Pi kits, which offer an affordable, easy-to-understand introduction to hardware hacking.
CamJam
The Cambridge Jam organisation, aka CamJam (camjam.me), is one of the most popular and forward thinking Raspberry Pi Jam setups in the country. One of its key advantages is that the event takes place in the Raspberry Pi Foundation’s home town, so CamJam events always attract an impressive line-up of high profile speakers, like Adventures in Raspberry Pi book author Carrie Anne Philbin (goo.gl/fcRL4X). Sometimes even Pi Foundation founder Eben Upton (goo.gl/WavWah) makes an appearance.
CamJams attendees feel the excitement of electronic circuit building and discover how to interact with the various electronic components, LEDs, buzzers, sensors, motors and so on, using hand-crafted Python code. And they can witness that wonderful sense of achievement and pride that light up a maker’s face, whatever their age, when a new project springs to life.
Low Cost
Cost is a critical element for schools when considering classroom equipment, like Raspberry Pi kits and accessories. Too expensive and they won’t be available in sufficient numbers for whole-class exercises – or maybe even bought in the first place.
As you’d expect, CamJam is keenly aware of this issue. That’s why EduKits start from a very pocket-friendly £5. Great news for cashstrapped schools and for parents looking for birthday or Christmas present inspiration.
CamJam has established commercial arrangements with the Pi Hut (thepihut.com/edukit) to distribute the kits. Unusually for a commercial arrangement, this deal ensures any profits raised by sales are ploughed back into future CamJam events, educational initiatives and the Pi community.
Easy Start
One of the problems that beginners to electronic circuitry construction face is soldering. While it’s certainly a useful skill to have, it does take a little time to master. Along the way, some electronic components may be overheated, destroying their function. More importantly, a soldered circuit precludes later modification and experimentation.
With this in mind one of the main drivers behind each EduKit is to adhere to a ‘no soldering’ construction methodology. Instead the various component wires are pushed into ready-made slots in a small prototyping breadboard, where the outer rails provide power and ground connection points.
This is a perfect scenario for the novice circuit builder. If a mistake is made (say an incorrect resistor location or an LED component placed the wrong way round), the offending component is simply pulled out of the board, then pushed back in correctly.
Of course, you’ll need to write some code to control these circuits, but they’re typically quite short programs, sometimes just a few lines. And each kit has a number of fully explained code examples written in the popular Python language.
Free Worksheets
In addition to the kits themselves, CamJam supplies a number of downloadable, step-bystep worksheets for each EduKit. This means you can investigate the sort of electronic projects you can tackle with each kit before you buy.
Each worksheet has a high-level project description, a project component list, breadboard wiring diagrams, example Python code and an explanation of how the code works. And every worksheet for every EduKit is freely available to download from camjam.me/edukit.
However, there’s nothing particularly special in terms of an EduKit’s electronic components, so if you prefer, you could source your own breadboard and components, then download one or more worksheets and use the instructions to build the electronic circuits and associated controller code.
And, what if you’re a teacher? Well, there’s nothing to stop you using a worksheet as the foundation for a maker-style information technology lesson.
Now let’s dive into each of three EduKits currently announced to discover their scope, the components they contain and the associated worksheets.
EduKit 1
The very first EduKit is purposefully designed to establish a gentle yet rewarding start to Raspberry Pi hardware hacking.
Open the CamJam EduKit 1 presentation tin (see image), and you’ll find a neatly packaged selection of components (see the EduKit 1 Contents below), carefully chosen to begin your journey into electronic circuit building and Pi-based control.
While the component list isn’t huge, there’s plenty of fun things to try, as can be seen in the eight EduKit 1 worksheets (as discussed below). In addition, the very same components can be reused to build other interesting electronic experiments. And all these components come in handy when you’re experimenting with some of the more advanced kits.
EduKit 1 Worksheets
As we mentioned earlier the kit is accompanied by a set of downloadable worksheets, a total of eight in this case.
EduKit 1 worksheets show you how to light up LEDs, handle button presses, make a buzzer go beep, simulate a set of traffic lights and even explore some simple game scenarios.
The full list of EduKit 1 worksheets are:
• Hello world
• Basic LEDs
• Blinking LEDs
• User Input
• Button
• Buzzer
• Traffic Lights LEDs
• Games
These worksheets are compatible with the original and new Raspberry Pi models. Just remember that on later models (such as on the Model B+ and Pi 2), where the GPIO pin count is larger, the first 26 pins are identical to those found on the earlier Model A and Model B.
EduKit 2
Although EduKits are often announced at the CamJam event, full availability invariably happens later the same year. The timing often coincides with the PiWars event (piwars.org) held every December at the Cambridge Computer Centre.
EduKit 2 was indeed launched at PiWars 2014. Once again, there’s no soldering required to build any of the projects. Instead, each quality component can be neatly inserted into the breadboard slots.
As you see in the package components (see the EduKit 2 Contents boxout), there are quite a few more items to play with. Nevertheless, EduKit 2 still only costs £7. Note the 14 jumper wires are divided into ten male/female and four male/male types, to cope with both breadboard and GPIO connections.
EduKit 2 Worksheets
This time, there are just six worksheets, but the enhanced component list ensures the type of projects you can build with EduKit 2 are a step up from EduKit 1.
The full list of EduKit 2 worksheets are:
• Hello world
• LEDs and Buzzer
• Temperature
• Light
• Movement
• Alarms
Some worksheet instructions (for example, the Temperature one) differ depending on the Pi model you own, so you’ll need to read everything carefully to ensure everything works as expected.
As usual, all the worksheets are freely available to download from camjam.me/edukit, and there’s additional information online (see the Links boxout), which demonstrates how to apply these worksheets to real-world applications. Ideas include a bedroom burglar alarm, a frost temperature alarm and a low-light triggered LED lamp.
Of course, if you merge EduKits together it’s possible to build even more ambitious projects.
EduKit 3
During CamJam 2015, organiser Tim Richardson and the Pi Hut representative Jamie Mann announced the new EduKit 3. Unlike the first two EduKits, the third incarnation has a specific focus. This time it’s all about robotics.
A quick glance at the component list (see the EduKit 3 Contents below) confirms that it has all the electronic elements necessary to build your own motorised, environmentsensing robot – and the whole thing comes packaged in a sturdy two-part cardboard box.
Once again, CamJam has managed to achieve fantastic affordability. EduKit 3 costs just £17 plus delivery, which is £2 with a Pi Hut order. In other words, it’s quite possibly the cheapest robotic kit available in the UK.
As always, this is a non-soldering kit to ensure anyone can follow the robot construction instructions. This means both DC motors come with pre-soldered wires (which are shrink-wrapped for protection and sturdiness). And thanks to partner 4tronix, the motor controller board is also pre-soldered and incorporates ready-made GPIO connectors.
The only extra bits you’ll need are some sort of chassis and four AA batteries to power the motors. The chassis could be anything you like, even something as simple as a cardboard/plastic box lid or a ply-wood off-cut. It’s an opportunity to be imaginative and make your robot unique, so maybe you’ll decide to design your very own 3D-printed creation.
The only disappointing news is that the kit won’t be available until later this year. As you’d expect, CamJam is determined to have lots of EduKit 3 boxes on sale at the December PiWars event, which itself features an impressive array of Pi-powered robots for the various competition classes.
From the information released so far, it seems a November 2015 date is most likely. This is also the time when we can expect to see the associated robotic-project worksheets appear on the CamJam website.
Considering adding a Raspberry Pi robotic kit to your Christmas 2015 present list? Then keep a lookout for news on the CamJam and Pi Hut websites. Or sign up to the CamJam email list (goo.gl/NxOnWi) to be notified when EduKit 3 hits the shelves.
Links
• CamJam Home: camjam.me
• CamJam EduKits: camjam.me/edukit
• CamJam mail list: goo.gl/NxOnWi
• Pi Hut EduKits: thepihut.com/edukit
• 4tronix: 4tronix.co.uk
UduKit 1 Components
• 1 x breadboard
• 1 x red LED
• 1 x yellow LED
• 1 x green LED
• 1 x button
• 1 x buzzer
• Resistors
• Jumper wires
UduKit 2 Components
• 1 x breadboard
• 1 x immersible temperature sensor
• 1 x PIR sensor
• 1 x LDR
• 1 x Active buzzer
• 1 x red LED
• 1 x blue LED
• 1 x 4.7K resistor
• 2 x 330 resistors
• 14 x jumper wires
• 1 x presentation tin
UduKit 3 Components
• 2 x red wheels
• 1 x ball-caster third wheel
• 2 x DC motors
• 1 x motor controller board
• 1 x battery holder
• 1 x line follower sensor
• 1 x ultrasonic distance sensor
• Resistors
• Jumper wires