Connecting to Your Robot
Table of Contents
Background Information
Before you connect to the robot and start programming it, it is important to know that once your computer is connected to the robot, you will no longer be connected to the internet.
You might want to use a second device to look at these instructions while you use your main device (tablet, labtop or chromebook) to connect to the robot.
VERY IMPORTANT: These instructions are for running GoPiGo OS software. They will not work for standard Raspbian for Robots or Raspbian Software.
Power On
Make sure the rechargeable battery pack is fully charged and plugged into the robot. Turn on the battery.
Then press the power button the side of the GoPiGo to turn it on. You’ll know it is ready to go when the light next to the power button is solid green.
It can take up to two minutes before the robot is the light turns green. Take a quick stretch break or drink some water while you wait! This long wait only happens the first time. After this, turning on your robot will only take a few seconds!
Look for Wifi
There is a little robot painted on the top of your robot whose name is Dex.
Dex has an antenna LED, which will turn green when the robot is broadcasting the wifi network and is ready for you to connect. The first time you turn on your robot it is normal for the light to take a while before it turns on – and it may blink on and off a few times. It is important to leave the robot turned on while it completes the entire booting up process!
Connect to GoPiGo Wifi
On your device (computer, laptop, chromebook or tablet), connect to the wifi network, GoPiGo. There is no password.
Once you are connected, Dex’s antenna light will turn blue.
IMPORTANT: When you connect your device to the GoPiGo wifi network, you will no longer be on the internet. You will only be connected to the robot. Some browsers might show a pop-up asking you to connect to a network. Since this is something we expect, it is ok to ignore them.
Go to mygopigo.com
Open a web browser (preferably Chrome) and type mygopigo.com into the URL bar. You should see the screen below, which means you are ready to go!
DRIVE: The drive section allows you to drive the robot around and learn how to it moves.
LEARN: This section is full of lessons to teach you how to program the GoPiGo in Bloxter, our block-based language based on Google’s Blockly. There are dozens of lessons that teach you from the ground up, so go in order and work your way through the lessons. There are also lessons that teach you how to program all the different sensors we offer, and that’s a great way to get familiar with your hardware before you do other projects.
CODE in BLOXTER: This takes you to the main coding section where you can program the GoPiGo in Bloxter.
CODE in PYTHON: This takes you to a Python coding environment that allows you to run built-in sample python programs as well as write and run your own!
If mygopigo.com doesn’t show you this window, try typing 10.10.10.10 into the URL bar.
Multiple Robots?
If you will be connecting to more than one robot, like in a classroom or camp, you will need to rename each robot individually ahead of time. This video will show you how to do so!
Take it for a Drive
Click on the Drive Button. You will get access to the remote controller page. From here, you can control your newly built GoPiGo and take it for a spin.
Have fun!
IMPORTANT: Turning off Your Robot
When you are done playing with the GoPiGo, turn off the robot first. Then, after the robot has shut down completely, turn off the rechargeable battery pack. If you turn off the battery before the robot, you run the risk of corrupting the microSD card.