1. Safety
Human Safety
Robot Safety
Picoh is designed, engineered and manufactured in the UK by Ohbot Ltd. Halliday’s Mill, London Road, Chalford, Gloucestershire.
For more about Picoh visit www.ohbot.co.uk.
Picoh is a registered Trademark of Ohbot Ltd.
All parts are RoHS compliant.
Support for Picoh is available from [email protected]
- Use by children is for ages 7+ under adult supervision.
- Any external power supply used with the product shall comply with relevant regulations and standards applicable to the country of intended use.
- This product should be operated in a well ventilated environment and, if used inside a case, the case should provide adequate ventilation.
- This product should be placed on a stable, flat, non-conductive surface in use and should not be contacted by conductive items.
- All peripherals used with the product should comply with relevant standards for the country of use and be marked accordingly to ensure that safety and performance requirements are met.
- Where peripherals are connected that do not include the cable or connector, the cable or connector used must offer adequate insulation and operation in order that the requirements of the relevant performance and safety requirements are met.
Robot Safety
- Do not expose it to water, moisture, or place on a conductive surface whilst in operation.
- Do not impede the product’s motors from moving whilst they are powered to move.
- Do not expose it to heat from any source; the product is designed for reliable operation at normal ambient room temperatures.
- Take care whilst handling to avoid mechanical or electrical damage to the printed circuit board and connectors.
- Avoid handling the printed circuit board while it is powered. Only handle by the edges to minimise the risk of electrostatic discharge.
Picoh is designed, engineered and manufactured in the UK by Ohbot Ltd. Halliday’s Mill, London Road, Chalford, Gloucestershire.
For more about Picoh visit www.ohbot.co.uk.
Picoh is a registered Trademark of Ohbot Ltd.
All parts are RoHS compliant.
Support for Picoh is available from [email protected]
3. At a glance
Lucky you, you’ve got your hands on a Picoh!
Take a look at the diagram opposite to see Picoh's outputs:
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A couple of things before you dive in...
First, Picoh does nothing straight out of the box. It needs to be (and stay) connected to a computer to work. Use the supplied USB cable to connect between the socket on the back of Picoh and your computer. Secondly Picoh isn’t one of these robots that has a pre-programmed 'personality’. Excitingly it is a fully programmable robot; its personality and behaviour is completely up to you. All of Picoh’s outputs can be precisely controlled by scripting programs using either graphical blocks or text. Next is to decide how you would like to program Picoh... |
4. How will you program Picoh?
A block programming language designed for programming a robot head to move, speak and sense. Suitable for anyone that is new to programming. It features a simulation of Picoh so can be used without a robot.
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Scratch can be used to program Picohs on a wider range of operating systems than the Picoh app. It has more limited functionality than the Picoh app.
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Python is a text based programming language, suited to more experienced programmers.
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Available for:
Windows |
Available for:
Windows macOS Chromebook Raspberry Pi |
Available for:
Windows macOS Raspberry Pi |
-Using the Picoh app (on Windows PC)
1. Install the app. If you are using Windows 10 Anniversary Edition or later a 'Get it from Microsoft' image will appear below. Click on this to install the app straight from the Windows Store.
6. Check Picoh's health:
- On the file menu select Open
- Select the Welcome program, click Open
- Click the Green Flag icon
- Move the mouse and check that Picoh's head tilts and turns and its pupils move as you move the mouse.
- Press the Space key and check you can hear Picoh speak, Picoh's bottom lip should move at the same time.
-Using Scratch (on Windows PC, macOS and Chromebook)
You will need Google Chrome or the latest version of Microsoft Edge browser.
1. Install the OhBridge Chrome plugin:
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2. Enable Experimental Web Platform features. (June 2023: with the latest version of Chrome/Edge you may not need this)
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4. Go to scratch.ohbot.co.uk
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-Using Python (on Windows PC, MacOS and Raspberry Pi)
Setup for Windows
1. Download a Python installer from here. We have tested the Ohbot library with Python versions 3.6 to 3.11. Please always install Python from the approved Python website www.python.org.
2. Tick the option to Add Python to PATH then click on Install Now.
Once install is complete type “Command” into the Windows search box. Right click on Command Prompt and select Run as administrator.
Once install is complete type “Command” into the Windows search box. Right click on Command Prompt and select Run as administrator.
This will open a command prompt window.
3. Type the following:
3. Type the following:
pip install picoh
If you see errors here then try using the version of pip that is specific to your version of Python. For example, for Python3.11 try:
pip3.11 install picoh
6. Go to the Windows Menu and run the IDLE application.
- Inside IDLE Select New from the File menu.
- Go to the helloWorldPicoh example on Github, copy the code and paste it into the new Python window.
- Select Run Module from the Run menu.
Picoh should speak and move.
With some versions of Python you may need to install extra Python libraries. For example, when running with Python 3.11 we saw error messages about missing lxml and comtypes and we fixed these by going back to the command window and typing:
pip3.11 install lxml
pip3.11 install comtypes
More example programs can be found here.
Setup for Raspberry Pi
If you don't have Python or pip3 (the Python package manager) installed, open terminal and execute the following, one line at a time:
sudo apt-get install python3
sudo apt-get install python3-pip
Picoh requires some libraries to be installed, execute the following commands in the terminal to install lxml, festival and finally the picoh package.
sudo apt-get install python3-lxml
sudo apt-get install festival
sudo pip3 install picoh
Picoh is tested with Python 3 running on a Raspberry Pi 3 Model B.
Hardware Required:
Setup:
- Raspberry Pi
- Picoh
- USB Y Cable
- A 5 volt 1 amp USB power supply for Picoh (may not be required for newer Pis.)
Setup:
1. Connect the large USB plug.
The plug provides Picoh with a signal and power and plugs into your Pi.
The plug provides Picoh with a signal and power and plugs into your Pi.
3.Check "USB Audio DAC" (Picoh's speaker) is selected as your Raspberry Pi's audio output.
Running Python Programs
Picoh should speak and move.
More example programs can be found here.
- Open the IDLE application.
- Inside IDLE Select New from the File menu.
- Go to the helloWorldPicoh example on Github, copy the code and paste it into the new Python window.
- Select Run Module from the Run menu.
Picoh should speak and move.
More example programs can be found here.
Setup for Mac
Install the latest version of Python from here.
Open the Terminal app, you can find the Terminal app by searching for it in spotlight.
Open the Terminal app, you can find the Terminal app by searching for it in spotlight.
To install the library run the following in the console:
sudo pip3 install picoh
To upgrade to the latest version of the library run the following in the console:
To upgrade to the latest version of the library run the following in the console:
sudo pip3 install picoh --upgrade
Hardware Required
- Mac running OSX
- Picoh
- USB Y Cable
- A 5 volt 1 amp USB power supply (may not be required for newer USB3.0 enabled devices).
Setup:
Running Python Programs
Picoh should speak and move.
More example programs can be found here.
- Open the IDLE application.
- Inside IDLE Select New from the File menu.
- Go to the helloWorldPicoh example on Github, copy the code and paste it into the new Python window.
- Select Run Module from the Run menu.
Picoh should speak and move.
More example programs can be found here.
5. Learn
Picoh scheme of work
Block glossary Ohbot resources which can be used for Picoh: 1 hour course Ohbot project ideas Ohbot code snippets Shared programs |
For some tips on getting started with Picoh in Scratch check out the Ohbot tutorial from the tutorials page on scratch.ohbot.co.uk.
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