Summary

Everyone loves to imagine what they would do if they had their own robot. This week we spoke with Gunther Cox and Kevin Brown about their work on Zorg, which is a Python library for building a robot of your own! We discussed how the project got started, what platforms it supports, and some of the projects that have been built with it. Give it a listen and then get building!

Brief Introduction

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• Your host as usual is Tobias Macey
• Today we’re interviewing Gunther Cox and Kevin Brown about Zorg, a Python framework for robotics and physical computing

Interview with Gunther Cox and Kevin Brown

• Introductions
• How did you get introduced to Python? – Tobias
• What is Zorg and what is its origin story? – Tobias
• How would you define and differentiate the concepts of robotics, physical computing, and the internet of things? – Tobias
• I noticed in the documentation that Zorg is based on the Cylon.js project. How closely does the implementation of Zorg stick to that of Cylon and how much needs to be changed due to differences in the language? – Tobias
• Is Zorg useful for production applications or is it primarily intended for educational purposes and hobby projects? – Tobias
• Zorg currently only supports the Intel Edison, with plans for Raspberry Pi and Arduino Firmata support in the works. What is involved in adding compatibility with other platforms? – Tobias
• What are some of the most interesting projects that you have seen created using Zorg? – Tobias
• How does Zorg compare to other Python robotics projects such as ROSPy? – Tobias
• Robotics is a large and complex problem space. What are some of the other features and projects in Python that are often used when building robots? – Tobias

Keep In Touch

• GitHub
• Newsletter

Picks

• Tobias
  • Padlock Password Manager
  • Vault
• Gunther
  • Robot Builder’s Bonanza
• Kevin
  • Facial Recognition with OpenCV in Python

Links

• RS232
• The Hybrid Group
• Gobot
• Artoo
• Cylon.js
• Salvius
• ROSPy

The intro and outro music is from Requiem for a Fish The Freak Fandango Orchestra / CC BY-SA