Vector Robotics

I've now added quite a few functions to the debug command-line interface of my modular motor driver. There's a variety of categories of functions, but the two main categories that have exploded in number are the settings & motor related functions.

Vector Robotics — 6 min read Intro It's been too long since Pi-Wars (with nothing to change on that front in 2026), so we decided we needed a big event for the vector robotics team to improve morale. We also both had a few days of holiday to burn, so why not. We were hoping for centerparcs but when it came to book it was a little expensive, especially since we wouldn't exactly be making the most of the pool, so an airbnb with hot tub would have to do instead.

Vector Robotics — 9 min read So the weekend begins to a pretty rocky start - none of the new hardware is working, none of the new embedded software is tested, we're both slightly sleep deprived after a long night trying to get the hardware assembled and working, and to top it all off, I was starting to feel pretty ill.

Intro It's been too long since Pi-Wars (with nothing to change on that front in 2026), so we decided we needed a big event for the vector robotics team to improve morale. We also both had a few days of holiday to burn, so why not. We were hoping for centerparcs but when it came to book it was a little expensive, especially since we wouldn't exactly be making the most of the pool, so an airbnb with hot tub would have to do instead.

Electronics Development — 10 min read Intro So, we're going back in time a bit for this one, but it's finally time to talk about the Raspberry Pi Helmet that I've re-designed for this iteration of the robot. It's been a long time coming - so long in fact that my first commit on the project was nearly a year ago now (7th of Jan), although a lot of the work around then was largely a copy and paste job from the previous Pi expansion board from our Pi-Wars 2024 entry.

PiWars — 2 min read I'm a little late to this - it's not exactly breaking news - but I think it warrants a post. We could pretty much to a find/replace to update the references to the year from our last post on the status of the competition and leave it at that... 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.

Justification Far too long have I suffered manually assembling all of my boards, one component at a time, with a pair of tweezers and a soldering iron. Don't get me wrong, it's incredibly economical (as long as time is considered free), but it simply isn't a sustainable solution.

Intro So here goes another post about a tangential electronics topic so that I don't feel so bad about not making progress any actual projects. I can only hope that maybe one person gets a slither of enjoyment from this. So, what topics am I going to cover?

Mechanical Development — 8 min read I guess this will be my first post. I'm not quite sure it will read as well as Max's posts do, but I figured at some point one of you readers might like to read about some real engineering (Mechanical of course...), so here we go! No Brushes, More Power, More Pain? If you haven't already realised, we really like brushless motors.

Electronics Development — 3 min read So I've just changed job to one that's a little more time consuming, so these posts are going to become a little more infrequent than they already were for at least until the end of the year. I'll give a small update on a few pieces of progress that I've made since last time though. Nothing incredible, but it's all you're gonna get (unless Henry can finally get round to posting something).