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News Raspberry Pi Hunts Shiny Pokemon While You Sleep By Ash Hill published 3 August 2023 You've got a 1 in 4,096 shot at landing a shiny. * * * * * * * Comments (1) Raspberry Pi (Image credit: Dinones, Nintendo) Have you ever wanted to catch a shiny Pokemon that wasn't just the red Gyarados from the Lake of Rage? We feel you. Catching an off-color Pokemon is hard to do and shiny hunting can be a time-consuming process. That's why this maker and developer, known online as Dinones, has automated the process using our favorite SBC, the Raspberry Pi. The idea behind his project was to totally automate the process so his Nintendo Switch (an actual Switch not just an emulator) would run all night hunting "shinies" while he sleeps. The end result is a custom program that can run on a Raspberry Pi that uses the power of artificial intelligence to identify shiny Pokemon. If it detects a shiny, it then proceeds to catch it with a Master Ball. If you're not familiar, this is a special type of Pokeball that automatically catches any Pokemon without fail. You typically get just one per game, but Dinones explains he has a few thanks to cloning items. If you don't use a Master Ball, there's a good chance your shiny Pokemon will escape capture. The Raspberry Pi is able to send input to the Switch thanks to a Python-based application called NXBT. This application acts as a fake controller that communicates with the Switch using Bluetooth. With this, you can program any custom response to whatever Pokemon pops up on screen (shiny or not). The Raspberry Pi is able to see what's on the Switch thanks to the use of a capture card. This sends images to the Pi which allows it to process the input and make a decision about how to respond. If a shiny is present, it catches it. If not, the game soft resets and the process starts over. In this case, Dinones is using OpenCV for image processing. There are a few ways you can go about training it to recognize "shinies". He delves deeper into this process in the demo video of the project over at YouTube. You can also find the source code for the project at GitHub. We highly recommend checking out this Raspberry Pi project in action in the demo video. It's too cool to ignore--especially if you're a Pokemon fan with sore thumbs from shiny hunting. If you want a team of legit "shinies" to blow your friends away, this is definitely one project you should check out. Stay on the Cutting Edge Join the experts who read Tom's Hardware for the inside track on enthusiast PC tech news -- and have for over 25 years. We'll send breaking news and in-depth reviews of CPUs, GPUs, AI, maker hardware and more straight to your inbox. [ ][ ]Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands[ ]Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors[Sign me up] By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. Ash Hill Ash Hill Social Links Navigation Freelance News and Features Writer Ash Hill is a Freelance News and Features Writer at Tom's Hardware US. She manages the Pi projects of the month and much of our daily Raspberry Pi reporting. More about raspberry pi The rollercoaster of Raspberry Pi Restock Data Shows Raspberry Pi 271% More Available Than Last Year Raspberry Pi Raspberry Pi Tells Your Fortune with ChatGPT and Game Boy Parts Latest Raspberry Pi Raspberry Pi Powers Friendly Companion Robot See more latest > See all comments (1) [ ] 1 Comment Comment from the forums * 1_rick "You typically get just one per game, but Dinones explains he has a few thanks to cloning items." Ah, a filthy duper. 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