Wireless Button Presser

cults3d

This is arguably the most pointless project I've ever conceptualized, yet it does serve a purpose. And I blame Oleg for convincing me to pursue this endeavor. It's an ideal way to squander half a gigabyte of memory and the impressive processing capabilities of a Raspberry Pi Zero W on the trivial task of pressing a button. Given that the Raspberry Pi Zero W is wireless and running Robo4J, you can press the button wirelessly over a rest API or log into the Raspberry pi and run the code to press a button. However, regardless of your approach, you'll essentially be wasting your powerful Raspberry Pi Zero W on the mundane task of pressing a button. Congratulations. That said, this project does provide a straightforward example of how you can control a servo using Robo4J, a Raspberry Pi Zero W, and no additional hardware. Perhaps there's more to this than meets the eye. Here are the necessary components: Raspberry Pi Zero W (1) Screws (2.2 x 4.5mm) (7) Nano Servo (e.g., Turnigy T541BBD) (1) Videos demonstrating the project in action can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hPZF4_aZSA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uxH6LvMODM The source code for this project is available on GitHub: https://github.com/thegreystone/button-activator To assemble the project: Print two of the point halves and one of each other component. Take a piece of piano wire (0.5 mm thick) and bend it so that it fits partially into the hole of one of the point halves without protruding on the other end. Cut the other end and shape it into a Z to accommodate the servo arm. The point should slightly protrude when inserted into the point holder, ensuring the piano wire touches the bottom. Glue the halves together. Insert the point assembly into the holder and attach the servo arm to the piano wire through the guide hole on the side of the point holder. Secure the servo with tape but leave the cover on the opposite side untouched. Connect the servo to the Raspberry Pi: connect red to 5V (pin 2), brown/black to GND (pin 6), and yellow/white to GPIO 18 (pin 12). Consider building a Dupont 6p to 3p servo adapter cable, with red in the first slot, black in the third slot, and white in the sixth slot. This will allow you to simply plug the cable into the top outer corner of the Raspberry Pi header. Place the servo in its designated spot and run the Robo4J program without attaching the arm. Once the servo has completed its cycle and returned to its low point, attach the servo arm as low as possible, almost allowing the piano wire to touch the button. Run the Robo4J program again to verify that the trim and servo end points are set correctly. If necessary, modify the example settings file. Remove the cover from the servo tape and secure the servo to its base using a small screwdriver. Screw on the servo arm through one of the USB port openings. Finally, screw the Raspberry Pi onto the bottom with four screws. After ensuring everything functions as expected, screw on the lid.