The Laika Explorer board provides powerful robotics control for the Raspberry Pi. Connect with USB and start with Scratch or Python.

For more information on Laika please visit www.project-laika.com

Introducing Laika: The Laika platform allows control of motors, switches, lamps, robots and more using Scratch, Python or C on your computer, such as a Raspberry Pi.

The system is simple, and anyone can start by using the Scratch programming language to control hardware in a matter of minutes: download the drivers, connect to the Rapsberry Pi with a USB cable and Scratch away!

All this whilst being powerful and flexible enough to meet the needs of advanced users - a high speed, reliable design with a variety of programming interfaces.

Features: Laika provides you with an expandable, easy to use platform on which to build your skills in both hardware and software. Use Laika in your next robotics project and benefit from these features:

• USB connectivity.
• Modular and expandable.
• Multiple programming interfaces.
• Simplicity for beginners.
• Sophistication for advanced users.
• Flexible and universal hardware mounting.
• Robust industrial grade design.

The Laika Explorer board is well suited to people who want to learn how to control hardware like motors, LEDs and sounders, by developing software graphically in Scratch on the Raspberry Pi. This will be supported by the online Laika tutorials and forums to guide novices.

For advanced programmers, the Laika Explorer provides a quick way to prototype and develop technical projects by calling functions from the Laika library to manage the hardware fast and efficiently.

Hardware specification:

• 2x analogue and 4x digital inputs - to connect sensors, switches and other input devices.
• 7x digital outputs - to control LEDs, motors, sounders and other output devices.
• 2x H-Bridge motor driver circuit - to allow two motors to be driven in forward, reverse or brake, ideal for creating robots and buggies.
• 4x built-in switches - to allow convenient interaction between hardware and software.
• 7x indicator LEDs - present on each digital output for easy diagnostics.Powering Laika: The board has a 2.1mm centre positve DC power and runs off a supply voltage of between 4.6V and 10.8V.

Resources:

• Datasheet.
• ZIP Collection of Tutorials, Code Examples, and more (33 Files/9MB).