Technical requirements

The hardware and software requirements for this chapter are as follows:

• Python 2.7 or 3.5, with NumPy, SciPy, Matplotlib, and scikit-learn installed.
• ROS Kinetic Kame.
• A computer running Linux for development or a virtual machine running Linux under Windows. Ubuntu 16.04 is used for the examples and illustrations.
• A Raspberry Pi 3 or similar single board computer (BeagleBone Black, Odroid, or similar). We are not using the GPIO or special interfaces on the Pi 3, so there is not a lot of RasPi-specific code. 
• An Arduino Mega 2560 microcontroller.
• A Pololu Micro Maestro Servo Controller x6.
• An Arduino development environment. This can be installed either on the control station (a laptop running Windows or a Linux laptop), or on the Raspberry Pi. 
• The TinMan robot hardware was purchased from AliExpress and was called Track Cars Creeper Truck Crawler Kits with 6DOF Robot Arm and 6PCS MG1501 Servos Robo-Soul TK-6A. It came with no instructions and a lot of extra hardware.