Always wanted a friend who will never lose sight of you? Meet Friend-bot, a robot that simply wants to be friends! Friend-bot will keep you in its sight and follow you around, just like a real friend would do. Be it a party or a fun weekend DIY project, Friend-bot is sure to bring a smile on everyone's face.
Friend-bot uses computer vision to detect faces and moves towards the detected face. This creates an impression of an inquisitive friend who is always interested in you. The project uses a RaspberryPi 4 for face detection, an Arduino Nano for motor control, and a pair of Nema 17 motors driven by A4988 drivers for movement. Requires OpenCV
To build your very own Friend-bot, you'll need:
2 x A4988 Stepper Motor Drivers 2 x Nema 17 Stepper Motors 1 x RaspberryPi 4 1 x Arduino Nano 1 x 4s LIPO Battery 1 x USB camera Passive Components (Resistors, Capacitors, etc.) Lots of enthusiasm! 🎉 Setup and Installation To setup Friend-bot, you'll need to have Python installed on your RaspberryPi along with OpenCV for face detection and PySerial for serial communication. The Arduino Nano needs the Arduino IDE for programming.
Once you have Friend-bot set up, switch it on and it will start searching for a face in its field of vision. Once it finds a face, it will move towards it. If it loses sight of the face for more than a second, it will stop and wait for the face to appear again.
Got ideas to make Friend-bot even friendlier? We'd love to hear them! Please feel free to open an issue or submit a pull request.