12 ms·

Making my first robot as a software engineer

375 points by robertleoj 2y ago

cluckindan 2y ago
Very nice project, haven’t seen many xy plotters built like that. Instead of inventing your own, you could have used Gcode as the protocol language.
- robertleoj 2y ago
  Thank you! I made it like that purely for fun, this project was not intended to be useful, or have the best mechanical design :P Using Gcode is a good idea, though it does seem a bit overkill for this simple application
- remram 2y ago
  Wouldn't you need the Arduino to do the inverse-kinematic calculations if you want to interpret gcode?
  - dekhn 2y ago
    See fluidnc http://wiki.fluidnc.com/en/config/kinematics http://wiki.fluidnc.com/en/config/kinematics as an example where you can get kinematics going without too much effort. It also has links to more pen plotter implementations to learn from.
usixk 2y ago
Congrats! cool project and great write up as well
- robertleoj 2y ago
  Thank you!
msdundarss 2y ago
I was looking for something similar to get started! Thanks for sharing
- robertleoj 2y ago
  Happy to hear :D
cgreerrun 2y ago
The SO100 arm[1] and LeRobot[2] community are great too if you're getting into robotics from the software side of things. Demonstration of the arm: https://x.com/ChrisMGreer/status/1867278261631561996 https://x.com/ChrisMGreer/status/1867278261631561996 [1]https://github.com/TheRobotStudio/SO-ARM100 https://github.com/TheRobotStudio/SO-ARM100 [2]https://github.com/huggingface/lerobot https://github.com/huggingface/lerobot
- robertleoj 2y ago
  Really cool 4dof robot - thanks for the reccomendation
NalNezumi 2y ago
Cool project! Since the arm seems to be a 2 DoF arm in a 2D application, you don't really need numerical optimization but can get the analytical solution to the inverse kinematics problem. Otherwise using previous joint states as initial guess for the optimization is good so that you don't get weird "swings" in the arm (rarely happen in 2D)
- nomel 2y ago
  To put it simply: there's only one solution for each 2d position, if you force the mid joint to always be on one side (and that preferred side can be allowed to switch, to minimize accelerations of the lower arm).
- robertleoj 2y ago
  That's true - using numerical optimization was just the simplest/fastest way to get it working :P
JKCalhoun 2y ago
Super cool. And it reminds me why to do these projects: you learn so much in pursuing the project end-goal: motor selection, 3D printing, model slicing, ESP32 programming, etc. I expect to see a second robot soon with significant changes based on the lessons learned. (I too just picked up a Bambu A1 printer after deciding to dive a little more into 3D printing. I can confirm it is amazing compared to the Ender-3 I had only dabbled with a bit before.)
- richk449 2y ago
  As an ender-3 owner, I’m curious what makes the Bambu better?
  - Teknoman117 2y ago
    It just works and it's so, so much faster. Went from an Ender 3 v2 to a Bambu P1S. No more re-leveling the bed, no more first layer adhesion problems, and your prints run 4-6 times quicker.
  - moooo99 2y ago
    First of all, all Bambu models are substantially faster while also achieving the same or better print quality. Bambu printers are much more polished in terms of hardware and software, making 3D printing more accessible. Their software is more of a closed source thing, but also a lot more polished. I think a big part of this can be attributed to the 3D printing scene maturing a bit, but a lot is also specific to Bambu Labs
    - phero_cnstrcts 2y ago
      But they require Internet connection to function optimally.
      - zrail 2y ago
        Eh, not really. You can set them up in LAN mode and pair them with the slicer. You lose access to the mobile app, of course, and you also lose automatic firmware updates. I had mine set up in local mode for awhile but the mobile app is useful for people in my life that don't care about learning how to work a slicer, so we use cloud mode.
darepublic 2y ago
I've been wanting to get into robotics and this is inspiring to me. Thank you!
- robertleoj 2y ago
  Great to hear that it's useful!
dheera 2y ago
As a software and robotics engineer I really wish we could get rid of these stupid "DuPont" connectors already. I want them gone. They're huge, fall out easily, and hard to keep track of. JST-EH is my preferred connector for most through hole type stuff. That shit really stays in place after it's plugged in.
- riskable 2y ago
  JST-EH is great but let's try to avoid JST-SM. It's worse than DuPont! There's no surface mount connector for JS-SM yet for some f'ing reason every LED strip ever uses JST-SM connectors. This makes it impossible to design something like an RGB LED strip controller board without having to solder some wires to the board (with the connector on the other end). Drives me bonkers.
  - Rediscover 2y ago
    Much great info about JST connectors, heck the whole website is great: https://www.mattmillman.com/info/crimpconnectors/common-jst-connector-types/ https://www.mattmillman.com/info/crimpconnectors/common-jst-...
- Eduard 2y ago
  https://jst.de/product-family/show/164/eh https://jst.de/product-family/show/164/eh JST-EH has a 2.5 mm pitch, plus housing, plus orientation. I cannot see where that shall be any smaller than the omnipresent, universal Dupont connectors. Maybe you mean something different with "DuPont".
  - numpad0 2y ago
    Fake DuPont/QI/2550 has zero latching whatsoever. Contact lengths vary and housings come with massive plays. Great if you want a free safe breakaway feature, sucks otherwise. Nearly anything else has a latching feature that require a lot more force or deliberation to undo, like ZIF with a latch or a lock flap. By the way, strictly for home breadboard uses only, when I need a bit more resistance than bare DuPont I wrap it in double sided tape and let the header poke through it. Kind of works.
riskable 2y ago
Up next: Learn how to make your own circuit boards instead of relying on individual microcontroller and motor controller boards :)
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- 05 2y ago
  Reinventing the wheel is fun, but 3d printer boards already exist, and are literally mcu+stepper drivers, could be bought for pennies from people who upgraded their 3d printers to aftermarket ones.
BWStearns 2y ago
Awesome writeup! As someone who is roughly in this same stage of hardware learning, this had me laughing. > I went into "screw with it until it works" mode. I took it apart, re-applied the magnet, swapped wires around, did all kinds of stuff. After a while of this, the error finally went away! No idea why though.
- semitones 2y ago
  This gave me a chuckle too - such a familiar experience
- robertleoj 2y ago
  Thank you, great to hear!
ElectRabbit 2y ago
You mastered the holy trinity of engineering: hw, sw and mechanics.
- robertleoj 2y ago
  "Mastered" is a strong word, but thanks!
maceakacer 2y ago
nice, i chcked the github and its a very nice robot, also i guessed you used a program that tracks objects or dots you put on a camera recording (sry if im wrong i know nothing about robotics) and the robots follows some pattern in it.
- robertleoj 2y ago
  Yeah - I'm using mediapipe for hand tracking, which is straight out of the box. Then I can just make the robot draw the exact sequence of dots my index finger drew :)
dtgriscom 2y ago
I've been a software engineer for 40+ years now. I still remember the one time I wrote firmware for a cable-driven robot hand. It's such a rush to type a command on a keyboard, and something on the bench next to you goes "wrrrrp!".
- xcf_seetan 2y ago
  This. I remember in the 90's working on a software to control a plastic molding machine that made plastic cups, and hit enter and feel the power of a pneumatic system pushing up the platform where i was standing.
- FpUser 2y ago
  Same here. I wrote my first robot in the 80s. Well it was actually scientific device for my main job. Among various sensors it had moving parts controlled by solenoids and stepper motors. Same sense of excitement when the thing worked.
- robertleoj 2y ago
  Right? I'm thoroughly enjoying that rush :D
rezz 2y ago
This might be the best thing I’ve read on HN all year. Thank you for the inspiration.
- robertleoj 2y ago
  That's very inspiring for me to hear, thank you! Glad it's useful.
a_t48 2y ago
This is neat. I've touched ESP32 programming a bit, but need to go deeper.
neumann 2y ago
Reminds me of the https://www.brachiograph.art/ https://www.brachiograph.art/ . I tried to replicate this, but found the position drifted and jittery.... Probably due to poor glueing technique...
- robertleoj 2y ago
  Hahaha wow that is scrappy as hell - it does look difficult to get right :P
penjelly 2y ago
this is my dream. How'd you break into the industry?
- robertleoj 2y ago
  Previously, I worked at a startup where we were making a vision system for golf simulators to analyze the player's swing. It's this company: https://www.elvagolf.com/ https://www.elvagolf.com/ I learned a lot of computer vision skills from that job, and it turns out this kind of computer vision is directly applicable to robotics as well. So, I applied for a role as a vision engineer at my current job, and got the role :) This is where I work now: https://www.monumental.co/ https://www.monumental.co/ Apart from my vision skills though, I was also just generally a good fit - I had a lot of startup/small company experience, I'm a pretty good software engineer apart from the computer vision, and the culture fit was there as well. I feel very lucky that the stars all aligned for me to be here.
whatever1 2y ago
I find it so rewarding to work on such hardware projects. Unfortunately the market has decided that unless it serves ads in billions of eyeballs it does not matter.
- robertleoj 2y ago
  Well in what context does it matter? If it's useful for you to learn, then it matters, right? There are also endless applications for hardware, but I guess to make a viable product you probably need a sizeable team of people.
- badpun 2y ago
  It matters, you're just not going to be pulling $300k-$500k making it. Across all industries, best paying jobs are rarely the most fun ones.
xcf_seetan 2y ago
For a more refined machine, there is the XScara[0], a DIY SCARA 3D Printer that can be used for more than 3d print. I made one and change the 3d print head with a laser system, and also had a pen that can be used as a plotter. [0] https://github.com/madl3x/x-scara https://github.com/madl3x/x-scara
- robertleoj 2y ago
  Oh wow that is refined indeed - I'll check it out, thanks!
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
ipv6ipv4 2y ago
Analytical solution of the inverse kinematics: o1 = atan(y/x) - acos((x^2 + y^2 + L1^2 - L2^2) / (2 * L1 * sqrt(x^2 + y^2))) o2 = acos((x^2+y^2-L1^2-L2^2)/(2L1L2))
- robertleoj 2y ago
  Nice - did you just chuck it into wolfram alpha or sympy? How'd you get it?
  - ipv6ipv4 2y ago
    It was a long long time ago. I don’t remember how I found it. I do remember being frustrated by the endless papers on SCARA and the importance of the inverse kinematics but no mention of what they actually were. So here they are. (I just checked now, and there seem to be at least a few papers online with the derivation. Times have changed) I also have this: def do(self, (x, y), (dx, dy)): """ Calculate o derivative (do1, do2) given position (x, y) and desired movement derivative (dx, dy) """ xy2 = x**2 + y**2 ll2 = self.L1**2 + self.L2**2 lld2 = self.L1**2 - self.L2**2 # do1 N = x*dy - y*dx M = xy2 P1 = x**4 + 2 * x**2 * (y**2 - ll2) + y**4 P2 = -2 * ll2 * y**2 + lld2**2 P = P1 + P2 Q = xy2 PQ = math.sqrt(-P/Q) R = (xy2 - lld2) * (x*dx + y*dy) S1 = math.sqrt(xy2) S2 = P S = S1*S2 # do2 T = 2 * (x * dx + y * dy) U1 = (2*self.L1*self.L2)**2 - (x**2 + y**2 - ll2)**2 U = math.sqrt(U1) return -(PQ*R)/S + N/M, -T/U For this I used a symbolic solver but I don’t remember what it was. I also don’t remember if it was a meaningful improvement over a simple interpolation between angles. BTW if memory serves, parsing basic SVG is pretty easy. Though, these days it may be more useful to implement a gcode parser as there are so many freely available gcode generation tools.
    - imp0cat 2y ago
      I am currently doing something similar for an off-the-shelf drawing robot with two arms, each with a shoulder and an elbow joint - load svg, convert layers to numpy arrays, then get the angle configuration for each point and save them to a format the robot can read and draw. However, I am finding that the time required to compute the points is quite long. The fastest way I have right now is a large look-up table (ie. precompute angles for each point of a canvas with a sufficient precision, then use the table to do fast searches for the nearest point).
TechDebtDevin 2y ago
So random to stumble upon this on HN a day after I happened upon this on Github while looking for maker/robotics inspiration.
kentt 2y ago
I can't help but feeling very envious (in a nice way) of your situation with coworkers. It seems like when you had an issue, you had someone 10 steps ahead of you willing to help out, give advice, lend a part etc. This project seemed to go as well as my side projects, but when I run into a hiccup, I wait a month for a part on AliExpress, or wander around at Home Depot looking for something that I don't know what it is yet. Kudos to you for surrounding yourself with great people. Thanks for the write up.
- PhilRobots 2y ago
  The author is my colleague. He’s so enthusiastic and fun to help (also very driven to solve issues). We are lucky to have him around too.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
anymouse123456 2y ago
I'm another software head that made the move to electronics and then robotics. If you feel pulled at all, just dig in right now. Even if you never make the leap professionally, and it's just a few hobby projects, it'll 10x your regular SWE work while also broadening and deepening your understanding of the increasingly digitally controlled world around you.

375 points by robertleoj 2y ago

Very nice project, haven’t seen many xy plotters built like that. Instead of inventing your own, you could have used Gcode as the protocol language.

robertleoj 2y ago
Thank you! I made it like that purely for fun, this project was not intended to be useful, or have the best mechanical design :P Using Gcode is a good idea, though it does seem a bit overkill for this simple application
remram 2y ago
Wouldn't you need the Arduino to do the inverse-kinematic calculations if you want to interpret gcode?
- dekhn 2y ago
  See fluidnc http://wiki.fluidnc.com/en/config/kinematics http://wiki.fluidnc.com/en/config/kinematics as an example where you can get kinematics going without too much effort. It also has links to more pen plotter implementations to learn from.

usixk 2y ago

Congrats! cool project and great write up as well

robertleoj 2y ago
Thank you!

msdundarss 2y ago

I was looking for something similar to get started! Thanks for sharing

robertleoj 2y ago
Happy to hear :D

cgreerrun 2y ago

The SO100 arm[1] and LeRobot[2] community are great too if you're getting into robotics from the software side of things. Demonstration of the arm: https://x.com/ChrisMGreer/status/1867278261631561996 https://x.com/ChrisMGreer/status/1867278261631561996 [1]https://github.com/TheRobotStudio/SO-ARM100 https://github.com/TheRobotStudio/SO-ARM100 [2]https://github.com/huggingface/lerobot https://github.com/huggingface/lerobot

robertleoj 2y ago
Really cool 4dof robot - thanks for the reccomendation

NalNezumi 2y ago

Cool project! Since the arm seems to be a 2 DoF arm in a 2D application, you don't really need numerical optimization but can get the analytical solution to the inverse kinematics problem. Otherwise using previous joint states as initial guess for the optimization is good so that you don't get weird "swings" in the arm (rarely happen in 2D)

nomel 2y ago
To put it simply: there's only one solution for each 2d position, if you force the mid joint to always be on one side (and that preferred side can be allowed to switch, to minimize accelerations of the lower arm).
robertleoj 2y ago
That's true - using numerical optimization was just the simplest/fastest way to get it working :P

JKCalhoun 2y ago

Super cool. And it reminds me why to do these projects: you learn so much in pursuing the project end-goal: motor selection, 3D printing, model slicing, ESP32 programming, etc. I expect to see a second robot soon with significant changes based on the lessons learned. (I too just picked up a Bambu A1 printer after deciding to dive a little more into 3D printing. I can confirm it is amazing compared to the Ender-3 I had only dabbled with a bit before.)

richk449 2y ago
As an ender-3 owner, I’m curious what makes the Bambu better?
- Teknoman117 2y ago
  It just works and it's so, so much faster. Went from an Ender 3 v2 to a Bambu P1S. No more re-leveling the bed, no more first layer adhesion problems, and your prints run 4-6 times quicker.
- moooo99 2y ago
  First of all, all Bambu models are substantially faster while also achieving the same or better print quality. Bambu printers are much more polished in terms of hardware and software, making 3D printing more accessible. Their software is more of a closed source thing, but also a lot more polished. I think a big part of this can be attributed to the 3D printing scene maturing a bit, but a lot is also specific to Bambu Labs
  - phero_cnstrcts 2y ago
    But they require Internet connection to function optimally.
    - zrail 2y ago
      Eh, not really. You can set them up in LAN mode and pair them with the slicer. You lose access to the mobile app, of course, and you also lose automatic firmware updates. I had mine set up in local mode for awhile but the mobile app is useful for people in my life that don't care about learning how to work a slicer, so we use cloud mode.

darepublic 2y ago

I've been wanting to get into robotics and this is inspiring to me. Thank you!

robertleoj 2y ago
Great to hear that it's useful!

dheera 2y ago

As a software and robotics engineer I really wish we could get rid of these stupid "DuPont" connectors already. I want them gone. They're huge, fall out easily, and hard to keep track of. JST-EH is my preferred connector for most through hole type stuff. That shit really stays in place after it's plugged in.

riskable 2y ago
JST-EH is great but let's try to avoid JST-SM. It's worse than DuPont! There's no surface mount connector for JS-SM yet for some f'ing reason every LED strip ever uses JST-SM connectors. This makes it impossible to design something like an RGB LED strip controller board without having to solder some wires to the board (with the connector on the other end). Drives me bonkers.
- Rediscover 2y ago
  Much great info about JST connectors, heck the whole website is great: https://www.mattmillman.com/info/crimpconnectors/common-jst-connector-types/ https://www.mattmillman.com/info/crimpconnectors/common-jst-...
Eduard 2y ago
https://jst.de/product-family/show/164/eh https://jst.de/product-family/show/164/eh JST-EH has a 2.5 mm pitch, plus housing, plus orientation. I cannot see where that shall be any smaller than the omnipresent, universal Dupont connectors. Maybe you mean something different with "DuPont".
- numpad0 2y ago
  Fake DuPont/QI/2550 has zero latching whatsoever. Contact lengths vary and housings come with massive plays. Great if you want a free safe breakaway feature, sucks otherwise. Nearly anything else has a latching feature that require a lot more force or deliberation to undo, like ZIF with a latch or a lock flap. By the way, strictly for home breadboard uses only, when I need a bit more resistance than bare DuPont I wrap it in double sided tape and let the header poke through it. Kind of works.

riskable 2y ago

Up next: Learn how to make your own circuit boards instead of relying on individual microcontroller and motor controller boards :)

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
05 2y ago
Reinventing the wheel is fun, but 3d printer boards already exist, and are literally mcu+stepper drivers, could be bought for pennies from people who upgraded their 3d printers to aftermarket ones.

BWStearns 2y ago

Awesome writeup! As someone who is roughly in this same stage of hardware learning, this had me laughing. > I went into "screw with it until it works" mode. I took it apart, re-applied the magnet, swapped wires around, did all kinds of stuff. After a while of this, the error finally went away! No idea why though.

semitones 2y ago
This gave me a chuckle too - such a familiar experience
robertleoj 2y ago
Thank you, great to hear!

ElectRabbit 2y ago

You mastered the holy trinity of engineering: hw, sw and mechanics.

robertleoj 2y ago
"Mastered" is a strong word, but thanks!

maceakacer 2y ago

nice, i chcked the github and its a very nice robot, also i guessed you used a program that tracks objects or dots you put on a camera recording (sry if im wrong i know nothing about robotics) and the robots follows some pattern in it.

robertleoj 2y ago
Yeah - I'm using mediapipe for hand tracking, which is straight out of the box. Then I can just make the robot draw the exact sequence of dots my index finger drew :)

dtgriscom 2y ago

I've been a software engineer for 40+ years now. I still remember the one time I wrote firmware for a cable-driven robot hand. It's such a rush to type a command on a keyboard, and something on the bench next to you goes "wrrrrp!".

xcf_seetan 2y ago
This. I remember in the 90's working on a software to control a plastic molding machine that made plastic cups, and hit enter and feel the power of a pneumatic system pushing up the platform where i was standing.
FpUser 2y ago
Same here. I wrote my first robot in the 80s. Well it was actually scientific device for my main job. Among various sensors it had moving parts controlled by solenoids and stepper motors. Same sense of excitement when the thing worked.
robertleoj 2y ago
Right? I'm thoroughly enjoying that rush :D

rezz 2y ago

This might be the best thing I’ve read on HN all year. Thank you for the inspiration.

robertleoj 2y ago
That's very inspiring for me to hear, thank you! Glad it's useful.

a_t48 2y ago

This is neat. I've touched ESP32 programming a bit, but need to go deeper.

neumann 2y ago

Reminds me of the https://www.brachiograph.art/ https://www.brachiograph.art/ . I tried to replicate this, but found the position drifted and jittery.... Probably due to poor glueing technique...

robertleoj 2y ago
Hahaha wow that is scrappy as hell - it does look difficult to get right :P

penjelly 2y ago

this is my dream. How'd you break into the industry?

robertleoj 2y ago
Previously, I worked at a startup where we were making a vision system for golf simulators to analyze the player's swing. It's this company: https://www.elvagolf.com/ https://www.elvagolf.com/ I learned a lot of computer vision skills from that job, and it turns out this kind of computer vision is directly applicable to robotics as well. So, I applied for a role as a vision engineer at my current job, and got the role :) This is where I work now: https://www.monumental.co/ https://www.monumental.co/ Apart from my vision skills though, I was also just generally a good fit - I had a lot of startup/small company experience, I'm a pretty good software engineer apart from the computer vision, and the culture fit was there as well. I feel very lucky that the stars all aligned for me to be here.

whatever1 2y ago

I find it so rewarding to work on such hardware projects. Unfortunately the market has decided that unless it serves ads in billions of eyeballs it does not matter.

robertleoj 2y ago
Well in what context does it matter? If it's useful for you to learn, then it matters, right? There are also endless applications for hardware, but I guess to make a viable product you probably need a sizeable team of people.
badpun 2y ago
It matters, you're just not going to be pulling $300k-$500k making it. Across all industries, best paying jobs are rarely the most fun ones.

xcf_seetan 2y ago

For a more refined machine, there is the XScara[0], a DIY SCARA 3D Printer that can be used for more than 3d print. I made one and change the 3d print head with a laser system, and also had a pen that can be used as a plotter. [0] https://github.com/madl3x/x-scara https://github.com/madl3x/x-scara

robertleoj 2y ago
Oh wow that is refined indeed - I'll check it out, thanks!

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

ipv6ipv4 2y ago

Analytical solution of the inverse kinematics: o1 = atan(y/x) - acos((x^2 + y^2 + L1^2 - L2^2) / (2 * L1 * sqrt(x^2 + y^2))) o2 = acos((x^2+y^2-L1^2-L2^2)/(2L1L2))

robertleoj 2y ago
Nice - did you just chuck it into wolfram alpha or sympy? How'd you get it?
- ipv6ipv4 2y ago
  It was a long long time ago. I don’t remember how I found it. I do remember being frustrated by the endless papers on SCARA and the importance of the inverse kinematics but no mention of what they actually were. So here they are. (I just checked now, and there seem to be at least a few papers online with the derivation. Times have changed) I also have this: def do(self, (x, y), (dx, dy)): """ Calculate o derivative (do1, do2) given position (x, y) and desired movement derivative (dx, dy) """ xy2 = x**2 + y**2 ll2 = self.L1**2 + self.L2**2 lld2 = self.L1**2 - self.L2**2 # do1 N = x*dy - y*dx M = xy2 P1 = x**4 + 2 * x**2 * (y**2 - ll2) + y**4 P2 = -2 * ll2 * y**2 + lld2**2 P = P1 + P2 Q = xy2 PQ = math.sqrt(-P/Q) R = (xy2 - lld2) * (x*dx + y*dy) S1 = math.sqrt(xy2) S2 = P S = S1*S2 # do2 T = 2 * (x * dx + y * dy) U1 = (2*self.L1*self.L2)**2 - (x**2 + y**2 - ll2)**2 U = math.sqrt(U1) return -(PQ*R)/S + N/M, -T/U For this I used a symbolic solver but I don’t remember what it was. I also don’t remember if it was a meaningful improvement over a simple interpolation between angles. BTW if memory serves, parsing basic SVG is pretty easy. Though, these days it may be more useful to implement a gcode parser as there are so many freely available gcode generation tools.
  - imp0cat 2y ago
    I am currently doing something similar for an off-the-shelf drawing robot with two arms, each with a shoulder and an elbow joint - load svg, convert layers to numpy arrays, then get the angle configuration for each point and save them to a format the robot can read and draw. However, I am finding that the time required to compute the points is quite long. The fastest way I have right now is a large look-up table (ie. precompute angles for each point of a canvas with a sufficient precision, then use the table to do fast searches for the nearest point).

TechDebtDevin 2y ago

So random to stumble upon this on HN a day after I happened upon this on Github while looking for maker/robotics inspiration.

kentt 2y ago

I can't help but feeling very envious (in a nice way) of your situation with coworkers. It seems like when you had an issue, you had someone 10 steps ahead of you willing to help out, give advice, lend a part etc. This project seemed to go as well as my side projects, but when I run into a hiccup, I wait a month for a part on AliExpress, or wander around at Home Depot looking for something that I don't know what it is yet. Kudos to you for surrounding yourself with great people. Thanks for the write up.

PhilRobots 2y ago
The author is my colleague. He’s so enthusiastic and fun to help (also very driven to solve issues). We are lucky to have him around too.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]

anymouse123456 2y ago

I'm another software head that made the move to electronics and then robotics. If you feel pulled at all, just dig in right now. Even if you never make the leap professionally, and it's just a few hobby projects, it'll 10x your regular SWE work while also broadening and deepening your understanding of the increasingly digitally controlled world around you.