We are in holiday season and many families get together during these days to end the year together. It is also a good time to start working on Free Hardware projects that all members of the family can do. Taking advantage of this occasion we have decided to offer Three Raspberry Pi projects that everyone in the family can do: parents and children, mothers and children, grandparents and grandchildren, etc ... All that can be done as long as the steps in the construction guides are respected.
These projects sometimes they need a firmware or a very complex code we beforehand It seems that it makes its fulfillment impossible, however at the end of each project we point out the construction guide where they explain in detail how to assemble and build the project. They all work with Raspberry Pi, in this case they can work with a Raspberry Pi Model B or simply with Raspberry Pi Zero, the latest board from the Raspberry Pi Project.
Pilarm or an intruder alarm
This project is simple and quite useful. Thanks to a Raspberry Pi and some sensors we can build a simple alarm to prevent intruders, either for our home or for any other area that we want to protect. In this case, unlike a basic alarm, this project requires a camcorder, an infrared sensor, a numeric keypad, Raspberry Pi, and an internet connection. This project, PiLarm, allows us to build an alarm that allows us to send an email every time there is an irregularity, it is deactivated or a thief simply appears. This is link to the project.
Radio transmitter
Radio amateurs are something that is very abundant in our society even though radio is not so abundant. This project not only allows create a shortwave radio rather, we will be able to expand the emission as many meters as we want and the geography allows us. To build this gadget we will only need a portable battery, a Raspberry Pi, a memory card and a cable that will function as an antenna. In this case, care must be taken since in some places the broadcast may be illegal and constitute a crime, so it is advisable to consult the current legislation. This is link to the project.
An arcade game console
Arcade machine with barrel
This is the project that surely more families want to do or do. With a Raspberry Pi and the RetroPie operating system we can make any old game work as if it were in its heyday. After this, it will only be necessary to give it the case it deserves or that we want, either a cabin or a NES box. Any case will be welcome. In this case there are many guides to build an arcade game console but we have selected the most popular and the one that recreates the old video game machines. This is the link to the project.
Conclusion
The truth is that Raspberry Pi allows you to build many projects both as a family and individually, we choose who we want to do it with. But it is true that these projects, due to their theme and way of being, attract many creators of family projects. But as we say, they are not the only ones. There are many other projects that can be done as a family, it is one of the good things about Raspberry Pi: its great community.