EE2 Group Project
Low power computers for schools
in developing rural communities
HardwareAs concluded from the research page, our prototype includes a Raspberry Pi, with a 8" TFT LCD supplied by BBOXX, with a USB mouse and keyboard.SoftwareDownloaded ProgramsWe installed Raspbian on the device as the operating system, as well as LibreOffice (for office suite), Google Chrome (web browsing), VLC media player (video playback) and two demonstration games which the group developed using Python and PyGame. |
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English GameThe user interface consists of spaces for question and answers, a button and a counter for the score. The questions and answers can be input in the fields indicated in the code. This is then put into a dictionary. By clicking the button, it checks whether the answer is the same as the input and indicate the result, the score is also updated. Although this program is primarily developed as an English game, it can be easily adapted as a general quiz game. The user only needs to change the questions and answers for use in other subjects. Click here to download the source code. |
Maths Game
| This is a simple drag and drop game designed to help improve a child’s basic arithmetic abilities. It involves basic addition, subtraction, multiplication and division with numbers no greater than 16. The interface is simple: there are two boxes called the “Drag” box and “Answer” box, and two buttons named “Check” and “Next”. The “Drag” box contains 16 giraffe icons. A question appears at the top of the screen e.g. “what’s 3+2?”. To answer the question, 5 giraffes are dragged into the “Answer” box. The user can then check the answer by clicking the “Check” button and a text message will appear informing the user whether the answer was correct. If the user chooses to skip the question, he/she can click on “Next” and another question is randomly generated, with all the giraffe icons reset to their initial positions. Click here to download the source code. |
Power Testing
In order to obtain a figure for the battery life while running the system, we carried out measurements under different operational conditions. Connecting a multimeter in series with the battery allowed us to measure the current drawn by the different components of our system. We recorded values during setup, an idle state and running applications.| Components connected / System State | Voltage (V) | Current (mA) | Power (W) |
| Battery Box circuit only | 14.38 | 24.54 | 0.353 |
| Battery Box circuit connected to Raspberry Pi / Booting up | 14.35 | 210 | 3.014 |
| Battery Box circuit connected to Raspberry Pi / Idle | 14.31 | 180 | 2.576 |
| Battery Box circuit connect to Bboxx screen | 14.21 | 422 | 5.997 |
| Battery Circuit, Raspberry Pi, screen / Booting up | 14.18 | 600 | 8.508 |
| Battery Circuit, Raspberry Pi, screen / Idle | 14.35 | 575 | 8.154 |
| Full system with mouse and keyboard / Plugged in | 14.2 | 600 | 8.520 |
| Full system, with mouse still | 14.2 | 595 | 8.449 |
| Full system, moving the mouse | 14.2 | 616 | 8.747 |
| Full system, opening Python | 14.2 | 635 (max) | 9.230 |
| Full system, maths game opened / Booting up | 14.2 | 650 | 9.230 |
| Full system, maths game open/ idle | 14.2 | 645 | 9.159 |
Cost
With the proposed solution, the estimated cost is shown in the table below. Since all software used is open source and therefore free, our cost only includes hardware. As of the time of this report, the cost of our solution is below £100 as aimed.| Item | Cost |
| Raspberry Pi | £26.78 |
| Bboxx Display | £38.86 |
| Composite Video Cable | £2.99 |
| Keyboard | £5.00 |
| Mouse | £2.21 |
| Memory Card ?GB | £6.99 |
| Micro USB to USB Charging cable | £4.00 |
| Case for Raspberry Pi | £4.79 |
| Total | £91.62 |