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PI-ROBOT-CAT

Credit: UCTRONICS

Credit: UCTRONICS

The purpose of this project is to replace the C language UCTRONICS Raspberry PI Robot Car server that controls the hardware by a Node.js implementation.

The requirements are:

  • With the exception of bluetooth remote control, all original features are functional.
  • Control over the internet using secure connection is possible.
  • Focus is on the server running on Node.js (Although a basic Vue.js UI is provided for demostration purposes).
  • Compatibility with UCTRONICS mobile app is not required.
  • Open source, of course.

The instructions below assume you already setup your Raspberry PI with Debian, and the following software is already installed. In parenthesis the versions this project has been tested the last time.

  • Debian (jester)
  • git (2.20.1)
  • npm (6.14.5)
  • node (v12.8.2)
  • vue-cli (4.4.6)

Required materials

Block Diagram

Block diagram

Block diagram

In the block diagram above the green boxes represent the implementaton of this project.

MJPEG Streamer

The MJPEG streamer project is used to stream the camera module video feed. Follow the complete instructions in the following link.

MJPEG-Streamer Install & Setup

Get a domain name

In order to access the Robot Car application from the internet get a domain name. DuckDNS will provide a duckdns subdomain resolving to your Internet Service Provider IP address.

Set up the port forwarding on your home router

Once the domain name resolves to your home router external IP address, the router needs to forward traffic on ports 80 and 443 to your Raspberry Pi ip address. The instructions depends on your router. Information, very likely, is available by searching for "port forwarding [your router brand and model]"

NGINX installation

In this project we are using NGINX as web server and reverse proxy.

Get an SSL certificate from LetsEncrypt

We need a valid certificate to establish a secure connection to the server running on the Raspberry PI.

Install certbot

The instructions below are from certbot.eff.org

    sudo apt-get install certbot python-certbot-nginx

Continue NGINX installation by removing apache if installed to avoid port conflicts

    sudo apt-get remove apache2

Install nginx

    sudo apt-get install nginx

Start nginx

    sudo systemctl start nginx

Try it

Open a browser and enter: http://raspberry-pi-address

Grab certificate for your domain

    sudo certbot certonly --nginx -w /var/www/example -d example.com -d www.example.com

Note: replace example.com by your domain

Generate certificates for the nginx reverse proxying to the backend server

    openssl req -x509 -newkey rsa:4096 -keyout key.pem -out cert.pem -days 365 --nodes

Change nginx configuration

Create a soft link from /etc/nginx/sites-availabe to nginx.conf (from the repo)

    cd /etc/nginx/sites-available
    sudo ln -s /home/pi/git/pi-robot-car/nginx.conf example.com

Make the site enabled

    cd /etc/nginx/sites-enable
    sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/example.com example.com

Try it using secure connection

    https://example.com

Every 3 months the ceritificate needs to be renewed

To obtain a new or tweaked version of this certificate in the future, simply run certbot again with the "certonly" option. To non-interactively renew all of your certificates, run "certbot renew"

Setup, and run the server and web application

Clone this repository

    git clone [email protected]:wdmartins/pi-robot-car.git

Install project dependencies

    cd pi-robot-car
    npm install

Start backend server

    npm start

Compiles and hot-reloads for development

Use this option for development purposes. Using this option Vue.js starts hot-reload server and you can access it by poiting your browser to the address shown on the screen after compilation finished. Keep in mind when running in this mode NGINX is use only as reverse proxy for the application to established as websocket connection to the back end server.

    npm run serve

Compiles and minifies for production

Use this option for production purposes. Using this option NGINX works as secure webserver and the application can be accessed from the internet by pointing your borser to https://[your duckdns address]

    npm run build
    ./setup.sh

Vue.js further tips

Lints and fixes files

    npm run lint

Customize configuration

See Configuration Reference.