So it's been something like 6 months since I started writing this post, adding bits and pieces as I found errors in my design, but for the most part it was actually complete after about a month. Now that I've spun a motor, albeit not very
"A blog to hold us accountable for the lack of robotic project progress" - well that's worked flawlessly hasn't it... We're not dead, nor have we been completely idle, there's just been a lot going on in the background for
Perhaps you're wondering: * What is an FPGA? * Why would you use an FPGA? * How do you use an FPGA? Or maybe not, I don't know what you're thinking. Either way, I'll try to answer these questions since FPGAs are relatively niche in
I've realised I'm going to need to split this into quite a few posts if I want to have anything resembling frequent updates, rather than one mega-post in like 6 months. So here's, what I presume will be, the first of a series of
A short story about trying to be thrifty, and probably spending more money in the end. The Problem Programmers are Expensive. A new ST-Link (ST-LINK/V2-ISOL) costs upwards of £75, and a new Lattice programmer (HW-USBN-2B) will run you some £220. On top of those I need a Tag-Connect TC2030-IDC-NL
So it's been a about 3 months since we started work on the next design iteration, and what have we got to show for it? Well I've been busy in Altium, and the first prototype of the new motor controller PCB has been delivered. There'
Of course we're a bit disappointed that there won't be a 2025 Pi-Wars. The 2024 event was great and it's a shame to not be able to go again so soon. We fully understand the reasoning behind it though, and after getting past our
I've spent some time thinking about what I liked about the previous architecture and what I didn't. I'd really like to have a proper battery management system (BMS) PCB, and to get everything on a CAN bus this time (and actually use it). This
Having now spent a few weeks recovering from the panic, chaos, and overall stress of the month or so before the Pi Wars 2024 “disaster zone” competition, I think this is a good point to go over how we did at the competition and talk a bit about what worked