Remote Control

In this project, we will learn how to use the keyboard to remotely control the PiSloth. You can control the PiSloth to move up, down, left, and right and speak through specific keys.

Run the Code

cd ~/pisloth/examples
sudo python3 keyboard_control.py

Once the code runs, you can control PiSloth by pressing wasd, play different sound effects by pressing 1234, and make PiSloth talk by pressing qe.

Press esc to exit.

• w: Go Forward

• a: Turn Left

• s: Backward

• d: Turn Right

• 1: Sound effect: talk1

• 2: Sound effect: talk2

• 3: Sound effect: talk3

• 4: Sound effect: depress2

• q: Say: “Oh hello there”

• e: Say: “bye”

• esc: Quit

Code

Note

You can Modify/Reset/Copy/Run/Stop the code below. But before that, you need to go to source code path like pisloth\examples. After modifying the code, you can run it directly to see the effect.

from pisloth import Sloth
from robot_hat import Music
from robot_hat import TTS
import sys
import tty
import termios
import time

sloth = Sloth([1,2,3,4])
tts = TTS()
music = Music()
sloth.set_offset([0,0,0,0])

def readchar():
    fd = sys.stdin.fileno()
    old_settings = termios.tcgetattr(fd)
    try:
        tty.setraw(sys.stdin.fileno())
        ch = sys.stdin.read(1)
    finally:
        termios.tcsetattr(fd, termios.TCSADRAIN, old_settings)
    return ch

manual = '''
Press keys on keyboard to control PiSloth!

    w: Forward
    a: Turn left
    s: Backward
    d: Turn right
    1: Sound effect: talk1
    2: Sound effect: talk2
    3: Sound effect: talk3
    4: Sound effect: depress2
    q: Say: "Oh hello there"
    e: Say: "bye"
    esc: Quit
'''

def main():
    print(manual)
    while True:
        key = readchar().lower()
        # print(key)
        if key == "w":
            sloth.do_action('forward', 1, 90)
        elif key == "a":
            sloth.do_action('turn left', 1, 90)
        elif key == "s":
            sloth.do_action('backward', 1, 90)
        elif key == "d":
            sloth.do_action('turn right', 1, 90)
        elif key == "1":
            music.sound_effect_play('./sounds/talk1.wav')
        elif key == "2":
            music.sound_effect_play('./sounds/talk2.wav')
        elif key == "3":
            music.sound_effect_play('./sounds/talk3.wav')
        elif key == "4":
            music.sound_effect_play('./sounds/depress.wav')
        elif key == "q":
            tts.say("Oh hello there")
        elif key == "e":
            tts.say("bye")
        elif key == chr(27): # 27 for ESC
            break
        time.sleep(0.05)
    print("\nQuit")

if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

How it works?

This function refers to the standard input stream and returns the first character of the data stream read.

• tty.setraw(sys.stdin.fileno) is to change the standard input stream to raw mode, that is, all characters will not be escaped during transmission, including special characters. Before changing the mode, back up the original mode, and restore it after the change.

• old_settings = termios.tcgetattr(fd) and termios.tcsetattr(fd, termios.TCSADRAIN, old_settings) plays the role of backup and restore.

def readchar():
            fd = sys.stdin.fileno()
            old_settings = termios.tcgetattr(fd)
            try:
                    tty.setraw(sys.stdin.fileno())
                    ch = sys.stdin.read(1)
            finally:
                    termios.tcsetattr(fd, termios.TCSADRAIN, old_settings)
            return ch

Finally, according to the read keyboard characters, let PiSloth do the actions we set, call the tts.say() function to speak or play the sound effects prepared in advance.

key = readchar().lower()
    # print(key)
    if key == "w":
        sloth.do_action('forward', 1, 90)
    elif key == "a":
        sloth.do_action('turn left', 1, 90)
    elif key == "s":
        sloth.do_action('backward', 1, 90)
    elif key == "d":
        sloth.do_action('turn right', 1, 90)
    elif key == "1":
        music.sound_effect_play('./sounds/talk1.wav')
    elif key == "2":
        music.sound_effect_play('./sounds/talk2.wav')
    elif key == "3":
        music.sound_effect_play('./sounds/talk3.wav')
    elif key == "4":
        music.sound_effect_play('./sounds/depress.wav')
    elif key == "q":
        tts.say("Oh hello there")
    elif key == "e":
        tts.say("bye")
    elif key == chr(27): # 27 for ESC
        break

Note

You can add different sound effects or music to musics or sounds folder via Filezilla Software.