@fish-in-a-puddle

Devlog 2 - Hooray, I finished making the CSS classes. It was very boring as I had to copy paste basically the same thing fifty times and check and change the dimensions of the image each time but it’s finally done. Now that all the images exist for the website to choose from, I have to venture into Javascript to make the images change. Time to look up a random number generator tutorial and distort it beyond recognition

Devlog 1 - Today I started a project I’ve been thinking about for a while - a website to show the viewer pictures of my dog. When it’s done, it will show an image of my dog picked randomly with a corresponding caption. So far I have resized 56 photos to fit the page (which took about an hour) and created 14 of the 56 classes in CSS. Each class includes the image and dimensions to the image doesn’t get stretched. The idea is that the script will pick a random number and using a switch/case function will set the class of the image div as well as the appropriate caption depending on the number. I have basically no experience coding in Javascript except for the couple of hours I spent working on it for the WebOS challenge, so this project will be a good way to get some practice.

Personal Website is done!! I finished adding some GIFs, a “cool stuff” section and fixed a few final issues with the formatting. I’m very happy with how this project has turned out, and I hope that others find it interesting or at least okay to scroll through. I learned a lot about how a website is built and how insanely difficult it is to get anything to go where you want it to, but it got a lot easier over time. Once I finish writing the README (not much to say, just open the link) it’ll be ready to ship.

After taking a break from this project to focus on finishing my hackpad, I embedded a Spotify playlist next to the “About Me” section. I also decided to add a “Book reviews” section instead of recommendations or inspiration. For some unknown reason, the book reviews refuse to be formatted like my projects, so I changed it so each individual review takes up the width of the page. The website is getting close to done. I just need to decide what to do with the header, expand the “About Me” section and finish reformatting the book reviews.

Today I uploaded the files for the PCB, case and firmware to Github. I organized them into folders and wrote a README detailing the design process and final product. This project has been a lot of fun, and I’m very happy to say that it’s ready to submit! Hopefully it’ll be reviewed soon and I can start building the real thing :)

I spent several hours researching and slowly building the firmware over the past week, and it’s done! It took a really long time to figure out how to make the OLED display different images depending on your WPM, but it should work. Since I don’t have the physical macropad yet, I don’t know, but there are no blatant errors. Now I’m going to upload everything to GitHub and write the README so I can submit it for funding.

Today I finally got back to work on the 3d model and made a tester to print and make sure everything fits. Tomorrow I’ll actually print it (my 3D printer isn’t big enough for the whole thing to fit on the plate, so I’ll cut the model in half and put it together post printing). I only got a couple hours of sleep last night so this devlog is brought to you by boygenius which I listened to so I wouldn’t fall asleep. thank you boygenius save me boygenius PLEASE BOYGENIUS PLEASE SAVE ME

Today I finished the designing the PCB, complete with silkscreen designs! It took a while to find the right resistor footprint and to size the designs properly but it turned out very well, I think. I’m going to start working on the case design this afternoon after I print out the design to make sure it’s the right size.

So far, I’ve made the schematic and routed the pcb. It looks pretty good, but I’m a little concerned about the size of the resistor footprints. They seem a bit too small, but they’re the ones the tutorial said to use. I think I’ll try to find a slightly bigger footprint instead. The pcb is nearly done except for the mounting holes and the silkscreen design. I’ve never made a pcb before, but it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be!

We decided to focus on another component of R2 tonight- ultrasonic navigation, but got sidetracked by the motor failing :(. After working on my lunar rover, I had a good idea of how to work with the ultrasonic sensor, but I don’t know if it worked because the motor started randomly failing to move the axis. Annoying. We did some looking and found some other DC motors that should work for the robot, so we’ll order them in the next day or two. In the meantime, we’ll work on the servo for the head and the LED lights. Plus, my sister got some time on her account! She now has a project for this guy too. It’s the exact same name, but on @Winter314 ’s account.

I played around with some different ideas, themes and layouts. It took me a while to decide on one, but eventually the look of the site started to come together. I decided to cut out the media recommendations for now, since I want to website to be focused on projects. I’m thinking about replacing that section with an “Inspiration”section with links to projects I think are cool. I also removed the non-electronic projects. There wasn’t really anything I could show for them. So far I have four projects: three have pictures, two have links and they are all formatted the way I wanted. I also have a small “About me” section written. It doesn’t have a picture of the logo I’m working on yet, though. I am also thinking of embedding a Spotify playlist on the site. The next step for this project is to improve the header (not exactly sure how yet - pictures? One big image as the header?) and to change the color of the hyperlinks so they don’t get lost with the background color.

So, I’m a couple days late but I’m about to ship! Finished adding images and videos, added instructions for using a Bluetooth app (the custom one did not work out because mit app inventor is not super good at finding Bluetooth devices) and updated my bill of materials.

Wrote the README and organized some of my files. Still need to take and upload images/demo video and test the control app but otherwise it is done. If all goes well, I will ship the project tomorrow!

Unfortunately, my Lapse is not recognizing that I have a Hackatime project to sync with so imagine I have about two more hours of logged time here :( but ANYWAYS the code is DONE! The app just needs to be TESTED! I am WRITING the DOCS and once I’m done of that, the Apollo 15 Lunar Rover Model v0 will be SHIPPED! Are you happy? I’m happy. But seriously, I just need to make a wiring schematic, a tutorial for building the cardboard frame, a demo video and write the README.

I LOST MY TIMELAPSE TO THE CRUELTY OF HACKATIME ;-; so it says half an hour but it was actually more like an hour and forty-five minutes that it took to get the bluetooth and auto drive to work in one sketch, finish the first draft of the app and start writing the bill of materials. Integrating the auto drive into the bluetooth sketch was actually way easier than expected and working the commands into the app wasn’t too tricky either. The bill of materials, though, may actually kill me. Stay tuned to find out if I survive long enough to ship this guy.

The rover model can now be controlled using bluetooth! After a couple hours of troubleshooting, I was able to use an arduino bluetooth serial app I downloaded from the app store (the custom app isn’t ready) to send commands to the rover. The next step is to make it possible to turn the self-driving mode on and off through bluetooth.

Over the past few days, I have tested several different configurations of sensors to give the rover the ability to navigate on its own. The most effective setup ended up being two ultrasonic sensors on the front of the rover and an IR sensor on each side. I’ve tested it several times and these sensors seem to be picking up about 80-90% of the objects in the robot’s path, which I am satisfied with for now. The next step is to add bluetooth controls to the rover so it can be driven using an app. I will start by using a bluetooth serial app that I already have, but I will eventually build a custom app as well.

Finally, the Lunar Rover model can be built! After waiting a while for the motors to arrive, I built a cardboard frame as a prototype and 3d printed some wheels to get the rover rolling. So far it only runs a test sketch to go forwards, backwards and turn a bit (which really freaked out my dog), but next I’m going to have it navigate on its own using an ultrasonic sensor. Then I’ll add some of the extra features, like Bluetooth control, headlights that turn on when it’s dark and a servo to make the receiver dish sweep from side to side. I do realize that at the moment this guy looks absolutely nothing like the actual lunar rover, but I will be modeling a 3d printed chassis and painting it to look like the real thing. Plus, I’m going to add two little astronauts in the seats, because this was not an autonmous vehicle. It was similar to a space golf cart and by god I will do it justice.