So, I decided the best way to interface the pi was to use the tried and tested ssh command. After adding the wireless network to the configurations via the command line. I wanted to do it without installing nmap on every machine. This is how it was done.

On the pi:

Things you will need:

1. MAC address of your pi
2. Enable the SSH server using raspi-config or some other method

You also need to edit a file and add to the end of it if you are using wifi. A possible command is:

sudo nano /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf

then add

network={

ssid="<name of your network>"

psk="<network password>"

}

After that, if it doesn't connect right away, simply reboot.

On the *nix machine you are connecting from:

I am using a linux machine so rather than having to type in the IP every time I want to connect, and rather than setting up a static IP I chose to write a small script.

Put the following in a text file on the machine you are connecting from, you can name the file whatever you want. I named it robot.sh since it is the brain of my robot :) Be sure to change <username> and <mac address of your pi> to the proper values.

ssh <username>@`for ((i=1; i<=29; i++));do arp -a 192.168.1.$i; done | grep <mac address of your pi> | awk '{print $2}' | sed -e 's/(//' -e 's/)//'`

to make the script executable you can:

sudo chmod +x <filename>

Now, whenever I invoke the robot script, it looks for the pi by mac address, then connects to it via ssh. You still need to enter a password if your pi is properly secured.

Other info:

The pi is running the latest, as of this writing, version of Raspian lite. I did not want to clutter up space with unnecessary software and just install the required development tools.

on a side note, htop is also a useful program to install for monitoring running software on the pi.

Another useful script for monitoring the temperature of the pi is:

#!/bin/bash

cpuTemp0=$(cat /sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone0/temp)

cpuTemp1=$(($cpuTemp0/1000))

cpuTemp2=$(($cpuTemp0/100))

cpuTempM=$(($cpuTemp2 % $cpuTemp1))

echo CPU temp"="$cpuTemp1"."$cpuTempM"'C"

echo GPU $(/opt/vc/bin/vcgencmd measure_temp)

Save it to a text file on the pi and make it executable like before using the chmod command. I had to run the temperature script with sudo to get it to report the GPU temp properly.

These are some of the things I found useful when prepping the pi for use in my robot. Hope others find it useful too!

Cheers!