Progress & Tech Logs
Latest updates related to the continual development and behind the scenes making of Bowie robot kits
Tech Log #037: AR draggable power-up stable
The AR draggable power-up functionality has now reached a stable state that's good enough for a version 0.1. Updates to the code made it more modular for multiple markers, for 3 element power ups, and now the power up rectangle that is placed onto the marker knows...
Tech Log #036: AWS ec2 instance back up
Quick tech log to note that the instance is back up and running again, and the AWS credits missing was resolved! Did some high level searching on what next to tackle with that, and it will be learning more about Route 53, DNS, SSL certificate manager, and React...
Tech Log #035: Coding v0.1 sensor node
Basic blinking is done. It works! The analog value from the temperature sensor is received on serial monitor. Will need to remember in the future to go back and look at the actual formula used in the datasheet to go from this value to one in degrees Celsius. Before...
Tech Log #034: Milling v0.1 sensor node
Milled the board, it's done! Two of them actually - in case one of them failed. It was a long milling operation, taking up the entire space of the 4x6" double sided copper clad piece. A 0.005" v bit was used for engraving the traces, and a 1/32" bit for the drills and...
Tech Log #033: Circuit board v0.1 sensor node
Board routing is done! Needed to do two iterations on it. The first iteration was routed without using the right dimensions on the outline. Oops. With the proper outline imported, everything needed to be placed closer together. Lesson learned: always import the proper...
Tech Log #032: Schematic v0.1 sensor node
Schematic done for v0.1 of the sensor node! This is the most simplest design possible, with the barebones minimum. An ESP32 breakout, with headers to each side just in case, a reset switch, 6 LEDs, temperature sensor, speaker, and power boost board. All components are...
Collaboration Logs
See what our collaborators from coast to coast to coast are working on
Collab Log #014: Water, Ice, and 3D printed parts: An experiment
We've begun some experimenting with PLA 3D printed parts to determine how they're affected by exposure to water and ice, and to see if we can use a coating to make them waterproof. Erin has designed an STL of a nalgene lid, and Beck has printed it. For the first round...
Collab Log #013: 3D printing updated IR camera pieces
Today we started 3D printing the updated CAD model pieces from the uOttawa group! Just like a teleporter, from their computer to reality over here. It's great! These pieces will be used to assemble the complete IR camera pieces and mount. The Raspberry Pi goes onto...
Collab Log #012: Reviewing CAD model
We met with some of the uOttawa group and discussed the CAD model and the object detection training model. It was interesting, for the object detection model, there are some out there, like this one on kaggle for garbage detection. If we can build on this, it will...
Collab Log #011: Virtual meet
Our first virtual meeting! This week we went over button parsing for the Operator Interface, and discussed about the RPi mount for the pan-tilt and IR camera. We had a few people from the uOttawa group connect, it was good to test out the technology. We used Jitsi...
![Collab Log #010: [VIDEO] Water bottle detected! (in IR)](https://www.robotmissions.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/IMG_20200311_211935-400x250.jpg)
Collab Log #010: [VIDEO] Water bottle detected! (in IR)
There was a good amount of progress that culminated this week!The uOttawa group got Tensorflow object detection working with the IR camera attached to the RPi! We were able to see what the objects were being detected as. This was just using the standard MobileNet...
Collab Log #009: IR camera images
Tonight the uOttawa group tested the IR camera. They connected it to the Raspberry Pi, and took pictures with it using raspistill. The test images were showing some objects with the overhead lights on and off. The IR leds that are beside the camera do a good job at...
News
Upcoming events, recent announcements, and the good things that are happening
TEDxOttawa Presentation
Join our founder Erin at TEDxOttawa tonight (virtually) sharing stories of how people and robots working together can help solve environmental problems. In her talk will be video clips of the robots, such as Bowie! If you want to join in, tickets are available here....
Website under re-construction
Our website is under construction. We'll be back soon with more information on how you can build your own Bowie robot
Helping the Planet with Robots
Robot Missions’ Bowie Robot Platform puts the tools of helping our environment directly in the hands of the community, democratising robotics for tackling these challenges together.
The Robot Missions initiative is made possible thanks to the generous support of volunteers, collaborators, sponsors, and the community for continuously cheering us on. Thank you to all who make Robot Missions possible!
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