Pi-puck

Based on published sources · Not tested by us · Sources checked 2026-10-01

Overview

Raspberry Pi extension for e-puck and e-puck2 robots, with Linux integration, separate controller firmware and an optional YRL expansion board. [S001] [S005] [S011] [S014] [S015]

Pi-puck adds Raspberry Pi computing to e-puck and e-puck2 robots. The selected documentation names Raspberry Pi Zero W, Zero WH and Zero; other compatible boards are described only as potential alternatives. This is an extension ecosystem for an existing robot, not a complete replacement robot fabricated from this repository. [S001] [S005]

Official website · Source code

Specifications

Detail	Description
Type	Raspberry Pi extension mounted on an existing e-puck or e-puck2 wheeled robot. Reported by source [S001] [S005] · Checked 2026-10-01
Intended users	Researchers matching e-puck generation, Pi-puck board and software image Editorial assessment [S001] · Checked 2026-10-01
Assembly	Not known
Calibration	Not known
Operating system	Linux; selected YRL distribution uses a custom Raspbian image Reported by source [S005] [S007] · Checked 2026-10-01
Computer needed	Selected documentation names Raspberry Pi Zero W, Zero WH or Zero; other compatible boards are only described as potential alternatives. Reported by source [S005] · Checked 2026-10-01

3D preview

Preview not available yet. A model has not yet been prepared and approved for display on this page. This does not mean the project lacks CAD files; see Source files and licenses for the reviewed source availability.

Assembly and use

Linux integration has a specific hardware and image context

The preserved integration revision is 9cb1a25f0ff13c01091213f553bb8e2a44b537a2. It contains a device-tree overlay, Linux configuration and utilities, Python control code, examples and documentation. The YRL software overview also points to separate Raspbian-image, Debian-package and ROS repositories. Those external dependencies are not all included in the selected archive. [S002] [S004] [S007]

The overlay enables the board's I2C buses, battery inputs, LEDs and audio interfaces, with optional settings for Bluetooth/UART and software I2C. Some ADC options are explicitly limited to kernels older than 5.4. The documented software-I2C alternative has additional CPU cost. These details make the image, kernel and peripheral configuration part of the reproduction task; current distribution compatibility was not tested. [S006]

Two firmware components have different jobs

The main repository pins separate e-puck1 and FT903 firmware submodules. Their exact commits were collected independently: cd5e278cbd01cb05722c3483324c2ff667e0cc8e and e62e97edb60315419b7aeed9eee11a816c9639e1. This preserves the documented source relationship without claiming that the binary files were rebuilt or matched byte-for-byte. [S014] [S015] [S017]

The e-puck1 firmware targets the dsPIC30F6014A and exposes robot control over I2C. Its build instructions name MPLAB X, XC16 and a legacy peripheral library. Its Pi-based bootloader route also calls for a board modification that disables the dsPIC Bluetooth UART; that is a consequential hardware choice, not merely a software setting. The FT903 firmware instead provides a USB camera interface and I2C control for RGB LEDs, using a separate Bridgetek toolchain. No programming, board modification or hardware test was performed. [S014] [S015]

The optional expansion board is a separate design

The linked YRL expansion adds an IMU, XBee socket, navigation switch, RGB LED and Raspberry Pi-compatible header. Its separately preserved revision f3f1298ef8ea4a860a84cc0bfd2ad1cf67c0a893 contains EAGLE board and schematic files plus a BOM. These files describe the optional expansion, not the complete GCtronic Pi-puck carrier or base e-puck robot. [S010] [S011] [S013]

The main software declaration is MIT unless otherwise specified; the YRL hardware design uses CC BY-SA 4.0. FT903 source files carry vendor-specific notices and other component terms, so this profile leaves the whole firmware license unresolved rather than assigning MIT to everything. Documentation and media rights also require artifact-specific confirmation before reuse. [S001] [S008] [S009] [S011] [S012] [S016]

A complete budget still requires the base robot, Pi-puck hardware, Raspberry Pi and selected optional peripherals. No current delivered package cost, installation result, camera throughput or robot-control performance was established by this review. [S005] [S007] [S011]

Cost

No current, complete configuration-specific build cost has been established for this profile.

Source files and licenses

Available project sources support research coverage; complete build and commercial qualification remain separate.

Layer	Availability / license
mechanical design	not found · License not fully assessed No complete base-robot or mounting fabrication package established by these integration and optional expansion-board archives. [S004] [S005] [S013]
electronics	available · CC-BY-SA-4.0 Optional YRL expansion board includes EAGLE design files and BOM; this does not license or establish the full base robot or GCtronic carrier fabrication package. [S010] [S011] [S012] [S013]
firmware	available · License not fully assessed Both exact firmware gitlinks preserved separately. FT903 files contain vendor-specific notices and other component terms; no blanket MIT or normalized whole-firmware license assigned. [S014] [S015] [S016] [S017]
software	available · MIT Main repository software is MIT unless otherwise specified; separate firmware and external distribution dependencies are outside that blanket claim. [S001] [S008]
documentation	available · License not fully assessed Documentation available; root declarations distinguish hardware and software but do not establish a single explicit license for every documentation/media artifact. [S001] [S008] [S009]

Selected conventional extension/control stack does not require a learned policy or training dataset.

References

Links identify the documentation and revisions used in this profile. Access dates record when each source was retrieved.

S001 · yorkrobotlab / project contributors
Upstream project overview
Accessed 2026-10-01 · README.md
Source notes
Source text inspected for the cited scoped claims; see profile claim notes.
S002 · yorkrobotlab / project contributors
Repository revision and release metadata
Accessed 2026-10-01 · 9cb1a25f0ff13c01091213f553bb8e2a44b537a2
Source notes
Source text inspected for the cited scoped claims; see profile claim notes.
S003 · yorkrobotlab / project contributors
Repository license
Accessed 2026-10-01 · LICENSE-CC-BY-SA
Source notes
Source text inspected for the cited scoped claims; see profile claim notes.
S004 · yorkrobotlab / project contributors
Pinned repository artifact inventory
Accessed 2026-10-01 · 9cb1a25f0ff13c01091213f553bb8e2a44b537a2 archive file inventory
Source notes
Source text inspected for the cited scoped claims; see profile claim notes.
S005 · yorkrobotlab / project contributors
Pi-puck docs/about.rst
Accessed 2026-10-01 · 9cb1a25f0ff13c01091213f553bb8e2a44b537a2 / docs/about.rst
Source notes
Source text inspected for the cited scoped claims; see profile claim notes.
S006 · yorkrobotlab / project contributors
Pi-puck device-tree/README.md
Accessed 2026-10-01 · 9cb1a25f0ff13c01091213f553bb8e2a44b537a2 / device-tree/README.md
Source notes
Source text inspected for the cited scoped claims; see profile claim notes.
S007 · yorkrobotlab / project contributors
Pi-puck docs/software/overview.rst
Accessed 2026-10-01 · 9cb1a25f0ff13c01091213f553bb8e2a44b537a2 / docs/software/overview.rst
Source notes
Source text inspected for the cited scoped claims; see profile claim notes.
S008 · yorkrobotlab / project contributors
Pi-puck LICENSE-MIT
Accessed 2026-10-01 · 9cb1a25f0ff13c01091213f553bb8e2a44b537a2 / LICENSE-MIT
Source notes
Source text inspected for the cited scoped claims; see profile claim notes.
S009 · yorkrobotlab / project contributors
Pi-puck LICENSE-CC-BY-SA
Accessed 2026-10-01 · 9cb1a25f0ff13c01091213f553bb8e2a44b537a2 / LICENSE-CC-BY-SA
Source notes
Source text inspected for the cited scoped claims; see profile claim notes.
S010 · yorkrobotlab / project contributors
Pi-puck docs/extensions/yrl-expansion/hardware.rst
Accessed 2026-10-01 · 9cb1a25f0ff13c01091213f553bb8e2a44b537a2 / docs/extensions/yrl-expansion/hardware.rst
Source notes
Source text inspected for the cited scoped claims; see profile claim notes.
S011 · yorkrobotlab / project contributors
YRL expansion board README.md
Accessed 2026-10-01 · f3f1298ef8ea4a860a84cc0bfd2ad1cf67c0a893 / README.md
Source notes
Source text inspected for the cited scoped claims; see profile claim notes.
S012 · yorkrobotlab / project contributors
YRL expansion board LICENSE-CC-BY-SA
Accessed 2026-10-01 · f3f1298ef8ea4a860a84cc0bfd2ad1cf67c0a893 / LICENSE-CC-BY-SA
Source notes
Source text inspected for the cited scoped claims; see profile claim notes.
S013 · yorkrobotlab / project contributors
YRL expansion board inventory.json
Accessed 2026-10-01 · f3f1298ef8ea4a860a84cc0bfd2ad1cf67c0a893 / inventory.json
Source notes
Source text inspected for the cited scoped claims; see profile claim notes.
S014 · yorkrobotlab / project contributors
e-puck1 firmware README
Accessed 2026-10-01 · cd5e278cbd01cb05722c3483324c2ff667e0cc8e
Source notes
Source text inspected for the cited scoped claims; see profile claim notes.
S015 · yorkrobotlab / project contributors
FT903 firmware README
Accessed 2026-10-01 · e62e97edb60315419b7aeed9eee11a816c9639e1
Source notes
Source text inspected for the cited scoped claims; see profile claim notes.
S016 · yorkrobotlab / project contributors
FT903 source notices
Accessed 2026-10-01 · e62e97edb60315419b7aeed9eee11a816c9639e1 preserved source file headers
Source notes
Source text inspected for the cited scoped claims; see profile claim notes.
S017 · yorkrobotlab / project contributors
Firmware gitlink revisions
Accessed 2026-10-01 · 9cb1a25f0ff13c01091213f553bb8e2a44b537a2 recursive Git tree
Source notes
Source text inspected for the cited scoped claims; see profile claim notes.

Research and review details

Source research only; no installation, physical build or performance test performed. No affiliate links added.

Profile edited 2026-10-01 · Sources checked 2026-10-01 · Next review target 2026-10-31

Revision: 9cb1a25f0ff13c01091213f553bb8e2a44b537a2 (commit snapshot; no published stable release found). Combined hardware and software repository activity recorded 2020-10-15 [S002]

Correction guidance · Discussion is not enabled · Profile format 0.6.0-draft.1

Change history