In an earlier post I talked about The Plan, that post has become a living document as I’m updating it as bits get done. I’m trying to think a bit more about the order in which I’m doing things as some tasks have prerequisites and thought I’d share my thoughts on how to manage it.… Read More »
I’ve decided to use ROS (Robot Operating System) for my PiWars project as it’s industry standard and this is an excellent excuse to learn it. For some reason I thought that ROS was a realtime operating system, turns out it is a bunch of libraries and services that run on top of existing operating systems,… Read More »
With a heavy heart, PiWars has been postponed and a Virtual PiWars has been announced for April 25th prior to a full competition being run. This is very much the right thing to do and I totally support it. One thing this does mean is more time to overcomplicate expand functionality! Here are a few… Read More »
MacFeegle Prime, Minimal Viable Product, To Be Decided… Time’s pressing and though I started with lofty goals I need to set a minimum that I’ll be happy with that are acheivable, in software engineering (and probably other fields) we refer to this as the minimum viable product. The Challenges There are seven challenges in PiWars,… Read More »
I’ve gained a lot of experience over the last few months with regards to Fusion 360, 3d printing, electronics and more besides. I thought I’d share some of those lessons. As Complex As You Make It The most important lesson, as with any project, is to have an idea of what you’re building from the… Read More »
A long while since the last post, more on that in an upcoming post titled “How Not To Build A Robot”, but thought I’d give an update on the general architecture that is manifesting for MacFeegle Prime. The Robot The robot will have at it’s core a Raspberry Pi, in its case it’ll be a… Read More »
As I’m about to start development of MacFeegle Prime in earnest I’ve started looking at how best to do this. I’ve long been a fan of Visual Studio Code and figured it would probably have a solution to my problem. Turns out it did! I’ve used JetBrains WebStorm in the distant past and one of… Read More »
This is definitely going to change with time but this is the current vague, but slowly solidifying, plan for MacFeegle Prime, my competitor for PiWars 2020! Concept This robot is heavily inspired by Johnny Five from Short Circuit. To that end, it’ll be tracked, have a pair of arms, a head, and shoulder mounted nerf… Read More »
It’s been a while since I’ve posted here, I’ve fallen in to the trap of just posting to my Facebook page, but I have big news. I’m going to PiWars 2020! I put together a design and application for the event and I was accepted in to the intermediate category with my robot MacFeegle Prime!… Read More »
This is mostly a note to my future self for next time I give blood but if you don’t already and are able to do so, please also give blood! You know, to hospitals rather than in a jar as a gift… It’s the day after and you are pretty damn anxious, also your legs… Read More »