Raspberry Pi Roundup - 29th July 2015

Megastructures

Here’s a quick piece of code for you. James Abela has been experimenting with the Minecraft API through Python and has developed a way to create a series of skyscrapers very quickly. He even gives them windows! This is a great example of a simple ‘place to start’. You can very quickly, for instance, introduce randomisation to the height and size of the skyscrapers, or change the blocks they’re made out of, or any of a hundred other different ideas. Perhaps you want them all to be linked together on the penultimate floor by a bridge? The possibilities are endless! Take a look at James’ code here.

Astro Pi Winners

The Raspberry Pi Foundation have posted some news about the Astro Pi competition. All the winners have now been selected and it is now clear whose code will be run on the International Space Station. There is a mix of private and state schools and a wide assortment of different experiments to be run on the Pis that will make it into orbit. You can read about all the winning entries for Astro Pi by going to the Raspberry Pi Foundation’s blog.

Aurora

James Singleton from BlinkinLabs has written a nice script that accesses data from Lancaster University’s Aurora Watch and then, if an Aurora Borealis is happening, displays an Aurora-like light show on a BlinkyTape, which is a strip of NeoPixels with a USB controller built in. Take a look at the script and the associated libraries here.