News

December 2025: Christmas Edition

Posted on by burf2000

Hello and welcome to another Burf Update, I hope everyone is enjoying the run up to Christmas and that special time off with loved ones. Around this time I start to work out what I have achieved this year.

OLO Robotics
Formally BOW, I am chuffed to announce that I am contracting for them 1 day a week (outside my day job) testing their robotics platform. This is through Burf Robotics which means it has it’s first customer. They have lent me a Leo Robot to put their platform through its paces which is a great bit of ROS2 kit. This proves that my learning with ROS2 and setting up Burf Robotics was a good idea and also keeps me doing robotics regularly .


ROS2 Rover
I have also made some improvements to the ROS2 3D Printed Rover I built. I have added an IMU (MPU 6050 instead of MPU9250 due to counterfeit parts) however this introduces me in to sensor fusion as you need to fuse the ODOM with the IMU data. I need to spend more time on this but it should improve the rover and my knowledge of ROS2.

Double Robotics 2
A bit of a random buy one night but I now have an old Double Robotics 2 robot. This is like a tele-presence robot with a an iPad on top. It is actually a nice bit of kit and I hope to add it to my Burf Platform as my first iOS Robot. Most of my other robotics run Android


Burf Platform
So I am working on a idea around having a platform that allows remote control of old / hobbiest robots for people who can’t program there own robots but still want to use them. It’s still early stages but I hope to have a prototype up soon similar to the remote control app for the Sanbot robot. I want to use this as a learning project to learn a new technology, just deciding on what that is.

Claude Code
So about a month ago I moved from Cursor (brief use) to Claude Code and am amazed on how powerful it is. I mean it can do so much more compared to Cursor and ChatGPT. I would say the limits on the it are very tight compared to Cursor, however it is still a game changer.

Reviewing the Plan

So here was the latest plan from September before I lost my job:

  • Create a Sanbot Remote Control App
  • Continue to deepen my ROS2 knowledge
  • Continue Developing the InMoov Humanoids
  • Have Fun with the G-Wiz

So the G-Wiz has been paused for the moment as it needs new batteries, isn’t taxed (No longer free to tax) or insured and so there is too much up front effort to fun ratio right now.

I have not done a great deal with the Inmoov Humanoids because (as I have just remembered) I started building my own simple arm, to later build a whole robot as I wanted something I could own myself. The Inmoov robotics are fantastic however they can not be used for commercial gain. I think I may get back to this, however also need to work on the 3rd Inmoov robot

I have continued to improve my ROS2 knowledge and the work with OLO Robotics can only help this. This also shows Burf Robotics has potential.

The Sanbot Remote app, which will extend to the Afobot robot and then later the Double robotics 2 robot, will become the Burf Platform (Name to change) which I have a lot of ideas for. After the OLO Robotics work, the Burf Platform will be my focus for a bit.

So on reflection, the last month has actually involved a lot more robotics than I expected after losing my job.

June 2025: Rock, Paper Scissors Edition

Posted on by burf2000

Hello and welcome to another Burf Update, the focus on robotics has continued throughout the last month which is always a good sign!

MTC: Robotics and Automation Event
So we are exhibiting at the Robotics and Automation event at the MTC again which is a fantastic event based in Coventry. This year we are focusing on Bespoke AI and using a couple of my robots to demo it. We are taking a Sanbot Elf robot to wander around and interact with people (face detection etc). This is running a similar app to the one we wrote for the Film and Movie event last month, but with a focus on AI.

I have also been busy getting the 2nd Inmoov humanoid robot ready for the show. This is running a Rock Paper Scissor AI demo which is all offline. The robot detects faces, asks to play you at the game, then detects your hand, works out what hand you have played via a LLM and then returns a witty message via another LLM. I should find out tomorrow how well it works however in testing it has been pretty good.

Gwiz and predictive driving
The Gwiz passed it’s MOT, yup I am totally shocked. So now I am working on getting it properly kitted out. I have 1 dead battery that I am trying to replace and once that has been done I will be wiring it up with all sorts of sensors. I am pretty excited about this!

ROS2 and the Rover Robot
Very little progress this month on ROS2 learning, due to all of the other robotics stuff going on.

AI
As mentioned last month, this is continuing to have a bigger and bigger impact in the things I do on a daily basis. After the show, I hope to sit down and brainstorm the next few months goals and how to achieve them.

Conclusion
Due to work, I am getting more and more time to do robotics which is great, however I still need to define what my goal is. Am I mainly doing this for fun, or do I want to build something that turns in to a product? When I first created Burf.com search engine, the Internet was a simpler place. Now, everything is moving at such a rate, by the time I have an idea, it already exists. I like the idea of renting robots out, or building custom robotics things for events but is there a need for that?

April 2025: Where did March go?

Posted on by burf2000

Hello and welcome to another Burf update. In this update, I try to think about what happened in March! I am sure I did something.

Burf.co Blog
I have updated some of the robotics pages attached to the blog. Nothing massive, but it helps to focus on robotics, etc.

MyRobotLab + The Inmoov + LLM = InMoov Remote
So, this little side project turned out to be useful for making a demo video for a client. It was just prototyping, but still useful. I used hand signals to turn on and off the robot’s microphone, then forward all verbal commands to a custom LLM, allowing full control of the response back. The large language model had been trained on their brochure for context. I did add my own LLM bridge, as mentioned last month.

ROS2 and the Rover Robot
I have continued to learn ROS2, there is still so much to learn. I am nearly halfway through another course.

Inmoov2 on wheels

So still a work in progress (hugely), but I have built a platform attached to an old electric wheelchair and mounted my second Inmoov robot to it. It’s a bit of a beast, but you have to start somewhere. The idea is to use a Raspberry Pi 5 to control the robot, any big compute load will be sent to another computer to process (e.g, voice and LLM). I want a truly mobile robot to take and show people.

Inmoov1
So my main Inmoov robot got fired up last week. I had fitted a new arm to it and hadn’t had time to test it. This was for another demo for someone who found me on LinkedIn. I do find it an exciting time.

Gwiz and predictive driving
Autoglass has proper messed me around, and after 6 weeks, the Gwiz is still not fixed. The batteries are now degrading, and it’s not looking good, sadly. Not sure right now what to do.

AI
Still doing exciting things with AI, if only I could remember all the cool things it teaches me. I did a cool demo using ChatGPT, taking an image and working out where a robotic arm should move to. That was pretty cool.

Brilliant
I am still using this app heavily, I am now taking notes on things I learn as it’s gotten a lot harder! I think my streak is 127 days!

Birthday
So I am now 1 year older and as always, I got some new kit. I got a ROS2 book to read, an IMU sensor to play with, and a super cool ESP32-S3 development board (comes with all sorts)

Conclusion
Again, not sure there is one, but I feel I am focusing on robotics, which is the aim. My weight, sadly, has gone through the roof and needs to be reigned in!

February 2025: Igniting the fire!

Posted on by burf2000

Hello and welcome to another Burf Update, in this update we have an exciting title! So what I have I been doing?

Burf.co Blog
So I have spent some time updating the content of the blog in hopes that it will focus me on the future which for me is robotics. I hope to re-ignite my Facebook page and spread my news a little further (when there is something useful to say). I have added an AI page and broken down my robotics projects into technology (LEGO, VEX, Inmoov, and ROS).

It does help me realise that I have still achieved some cool things, not as much as I hoped but progress is continuing. I still have some content to add, so this is a WIP.

MyRobotLab + The Inmoov + LLM = InMoov Remote
So one of my goals was to understand MyRobotLab more and be able to write my own external Python scripts to control the Inmoov Humanoid Robot and the LLM (Ollama) that it uses. It’s still a work in progress but I have made a working demo which can be found here:

Features so far:

  • Consume webcam feed and apply YOLO11 and/or Hand/Face detection
  • Stop and start the robot listening
  • Can get the robot to speak, or respond to a text input (e.g answer a question)
  • Lists all responses back from MRL
  • Can ask the LLM for a response
  • Maps all of the services to JSON so that you can get things like a list of gestures.

Next, I want to put my own LLM layer in so that I can bypass MyRobotLab chatbot. This will allow me to add a database connection so I can record responses to review plus add a memory of sorts.

ROS2 and the Rover Robot
Good news on that front also, I have continued my ROS2 course and I have fixed the major issues with the Rover Robot when trying to get it to use NAV2 and SLAM. It was all to do with the CostMap and inflation_radius. Basically, the obstacles it detected, it inflated their area too much so that it could not plot a route around them.

The aim is to complete the ROS2 course (another course) I am doing on Udemy, refine the Rover Robot so it works a lot better using SLAM and NAV2, and then build a much better version that’s at least half-human-size.

Gwiz and predictive driving
Progress with the Gwiz has sadly stalled at the moment. First, it was the cold weather killing the batteries and now someone has smashed the windowscreen. Autoglass has tried to replace it however it has turned into a bit of a custom job as there are not many Gwizs left on the road.

AI
All of the above heavily realises on AI in some form or another. I now use ChatGTP and other LLMs on a daily basis to help me achieve tasks, at work, I am now training models across data sets to detect trends, anomalies, and insights. It is quite extraordinary how fast it has entered a large part of my life. There is no goal attached to this heading, just a reflection.

Conclusion
Not sure if conclusion is the right word, but focusing on the 3 areas above is at least a good start for me on becoming more focused. Each one could take me into an exciting area, it’s just coming up with the use case and sharing the knowledge.

December 2024: Christmas Edition

Posted on by burf2000

Hello and welcome to another Burf Update, I hope everyone is enjoying the festive season. I have always been a big kid and especially love Christmas. It’s also a time to reflect and set new goals for next year.

Burf.co
As of the 10th of December, Burf.co has had 3,645,694 searches. The current breakdown shows that I need to focus on file searches. I think Burf.co will change next year to something more useful.


Inmoov Robot
Not a lot has happened in the last month; however, work has started on repairing the main InMoov robot, and parts have been ordered for the second one. I am trying to get back into it.

Camper Van
Camping with the new partner was awesome, and we plan to do a lot more next year. There is not a lot to say on the technical front.

Electric Motorbike
Parked

Rover Robot / ROS2
So I have completed the online ROS2 course to make a rover that uses SLAM Toolbox, Nav2, etc. I need to finish building the actual robot but that’s only a few hours of work. This has been my main focus over the last few weeks. ROS2 isn’t easy to learn but I am slowly getting there. I plan to do a self-driving and a robotic arm ROS2 project

Gwiz
Yup, I have a new Gwiz! I have never owned the same car more than once let alone 3 times. I got a brilliant deal and hope to do some very cool stuff with it. This all kinda links in with ROS2 / Burf.co future plans

Electric Wheelchair
So I wrote some better software for this ready to be used as a robotics platform.

ChatGPT / AI
I have started using ChatGPT a bit through work. This has led me to learn Azure AI services and all sorts, which is really interesting. As said this is mainly for work however it gets me thinking about how I may use it for my robotics projects.

Governor
There is so much I want to do in life that I took the hard decision of resigning as a Governor. I did manage for nearly 2 years which isn’t too bad however things were ramping up and I didn’t have the bandwidth sadly.

Brilliant Math App
I finally bought a membership to this app and have been doing a bit of maths every day for a couple of weeks. I am still really enjoying it. I hope this will help me with my robotics.

Goals for the end of the year
With only a few weeks of the year left, how am I doing against my goals?

  • Stay around 80-82KG (DONE, currently 81)
  • Camp at least 1 more time this year in the VW (DONE in October and planned one in December)
  • Finish the YouTube robotics series of videos (DONE, finished this week)
  • Get the remote wheelchair working (DONE)
  • Stay on top of being a governor (Decided to resign)
  • Re-start the maths learning (DONE)

Based on the above, I would say I am doing really well. I feel like I am in a good headspace, I am actively learning and focusing on Robotics. Work and home life are good, all I need to do now is keep it that way.

I will try and do another post before the end of the year listing all the things I have achieved this year and then start figuring out plans for next year.

September 2024: The Reboot Edition

Posted on by burf2000

Hello and welcome to another Burf Update, I feel this is the re-start of some fun times ahead :). With most people, August was mainly written off due to family holidays (and canceled ones), etc however, now that is over, it’s time to get my head down and focus!

The Elephant has left the room
If you read my last blog post, I wasn’t in the best place however, I honestly feel like I am turning a corner and feel pretty positive about the future 🙂

Burf.co
Since I put Burf.co back to its old state (11th July), it has had 1,186,315 searches which is quite bonkers! Now a lot of this will be bots etc, but it’s still quite an interesting result.

Inmoov Robot
So, I have not done much in fixing my Inmoov robot, but I randomly found another in Wales and have started fixing that, this one will mounted to a mobile platform :). I feel super lucky to find one. I have also dug out the electric wheelchair to pair with the new robot, or at least get the platform working. If you look at the picture you can see the fresh white printed parts which are the bits I have fixed so far.

Camper Van
The camper van had a charging issue which I have managed to fix. The main goal here is to use it regularly :). I also fitted a split charger to the van, I feel like this has some good possibilities.

Sinclair C5
My Sinclair C5 had a meltdown at the same time the Harley blew up (expensive) however, I have also managed to re-wire that and it now works and should be a lot more reliable 🙂

Electric Motorbike
Randomly, I dug out the electric motorbike this weekend, did some welding, and printed a new 3D mount for it. I hope to test it this week

Maths / Brilliant App
I am planning to come back to this soon. I have just started doing a Math diploma I bought last year. I am hoping to get more focus.

Rover Robot / ROS2
I have failed on this because of the personal life issues that have had gone on with the ex (a long story), and the sadly canceled holiday to Vegas (dream holiday) however there have been some silver linings that have put me in a good headspace. I am thankful for this and hopeful for the future.

A5 Laser Engraver
When I went to get the Inmoov Robot from Wales, the epic guy also sold me an A5 ATOMSTACK Laser engraver with software that has been super easy to use. I have managed to cut shapes from this in wood.

Let’s revisit the goals

Life Goals
I originally wanted to get to 85-90KG and I am at 80KG and in good shape. I am proud of my progress here. I would say my health goals are pretty much achieved. I would like to continue running which was going well and doing the gym with Alfie. At some point, I am going to focus on doing a muscle-up. I also carried on being a school governor (barely) and I now have a camper van which relaxes the truck. The loft has lights and I have a large shed.

Education Goals
I finished my MBA and still try to keep on track of new content and the Slack channel. I still try and join a few sessions a month and have been asked to do a session on robotics. I would like to make sure I do this video. I did complete the self-driving course and I have done more Maths this year than most. I would like to do some more Maths this year, however again a pretty good result.

Projects
So the main one was to fix the Inmoov robot which I did do, I also learned the software (MRL) and feel quite happy with the progress I have made. I would like to be more active on the Discord channel and Facebook ground but again, I have achieved a lot. I had parked the electric motorbike project when I hit a big issue however, I am going to give the a quick punt again. I haven’t done a lot with Burf.co however I am not that worried. I did get the mobility scooter and electric wheelchair working via remote control.

Goals for the end of the year
I feel like I have done pretty well so far, I have gained a few more skills (welding, 3D modeling, etc) however I would like to bullet point some top-level items.

  • Stay around 80-82KG (Life)
  • Camp at least 2 more times this year in the VW (Life)
  • Finish the YouTube robotics series of videos (Robotics / Education)
  • Stay on top of being a governor (Life)
  • Do robotic video for MBA course (Robotics)
  • Complete my course on mental health (Education)
  • Re-start the maths learning (Education)

I think that’s pretty easy to achieve, I could keep adding but I feel that does not help me focus on what I want to do.

April 2024: The Brief Edition.

Posted on by burf2000

Hello and welcome to another Burf update, I haven’t actually thought of a title for this as until I stop and think, I am not really sure what I have done in April.

The Elephant in the room

So the last time I wrote a post, I was super excited about a show (which went super well), I had done tons of work on the Inmoov robot, and Compsoft had received some Apple Vision Pro’s. Exciting times!!!

Sadly a few personnel things were also going on, and still are. I have sadly split up with my partner which has made the last month a real struggle. I know, everyone has been there, life is about ups and downs, and at the time I thought I was doing the right thing for myself, however, I am not quite sure now. Life has been pretty tough recently, however, I am lucky that I have amazing friends and family looking out for me.

Robotic and Automation Show

We smashed it, we could not have asked for a better show. Our stand was super popular and everyone loved our tech. We were told many times we had the most engaging stand. We got to chat with some outstanding people and make some new contacts. We are not set to do another show in May 🙂

Inmoov Robot

Since the show, I haven’t done a great deal on the robot. I have replaced its neck as it was not working very well. I have printed a new arm/hand but have not had time to build it and I have sped it up for the Apple Vision Pro demo. Oh and fixed the other arm. Once I get my mojo back I hope to continue improving it.

Rover Robot / ROS2

I have started designing and building my own robot, and I have only made the briefest progress however this is something I want to achieve this year, ideally before July. I am following some rough guides on it so that I have some sort of direction. It is very similar to:
https://articulatedrobotics.xyz/tutorials/mobile-robot/project-overview/

It will run ROS2, SLAM and will have Lidar and a vision system. I hope to drive it outside remotely. This will help me learn more about robotics and ROS2.

ROS2 mentorship

As I mentioned last month I got invited into a ROS2/Robotics mentorship program however I have just not been in the right place mentally to keep up with it. Sad really but I have to be honest with myself. The classes happen at very odd times so it’s quite easy to miss them.

Brilliant App

A long-running theme of mine is to improve my Maths as I need it for Robotics, I have tried a few things out there however the one that seems to keep my brain moving (so far) is the Brilliant App, it’s really good but a little expensive. I am sure I will cave and buy it as it seems to keep me engaged.

Shed

Due to my partner and I splitting up, I had to get stuff out of her garage. This was a lot of LEGO, which is now in my new 6×9 Shed. Thanks to my dad for buying it for me for my birthday 🙂

Unity

At work, I have been looking into Unity, Spatial computing with the Apple Vision Pro, and digital twins. The plan is to try and use Unity to move a 3D model of the blue robotic arm in Mixed reality while it mimics it in real life. I have made some progress but I haven’t used Unity for years. Unity seems to have made the decision to create a new framework for the Apple Vision Pro (PolySpatial), instead of adding the device to the Mixed Reality template which supports Quest, Hololens, and Magic Leap. You also need a pro license to use it (£1800py).

Goals

I know I have a list of goals defined and I am on track to smash them however my focus at the moment is to get my brain firing up, and get the MOJO back to how I used to be at the peak of the O2 Labs / LEGO times. Those were fun times and I really was doing some epic things.

Feb 2024: Fog Edition

Posted on by burf2000

Hello and welcome to another Burf Update. Warning this one could be total nonsense!

So, in the last update, I defined a plan which is below. The aim of this plan was to stay focused and achieve a level of depth in a subject (e.g. MyRobotLab). A deep dive as they say!Now the issue is that the software side of the Inmoov Robot is really good, and comes with a lot of epic features out of the box.  So my aim to deep dive into it isn’t required.

This year’s Targets

  • Finish printing the 3D parts, make improvements to the body
    I am currently rebuilding the chest with sensors etc
  • Rebuild / Fix the head as the eyes do not function very well
    I have printed out the parts for this, just not put them together 
  • Learn MyRobotLab (MRL)
    I have spent a few hours going over the software
  • MRL: Be able to say some words, and it to do a custom gesture
    See below
  • MRL: Be able to track or detect people using OpenCV
    MRL has many OpenCV libraries already implemented including face detection, face tracking and object detection (YOLO). I do need to spend some time playing with this.
  • MRL: Be able to call a custom API
    See below
  • MRL: Learn more about AIML (there is a Udemy course)
    Started watching the AIML course
  • Fire up the KinectV2 sensor that’s in the robot
    Not done yet, however, Inmoov does not support this
  • Improve the wiring in the Inmoov robot as it is a mess
    Making progress already

Customs command to call do a custom action / call a custom API

In theory, I believe I know how to do this.  There is an AIML file called oob.aiml, which is in the  ProgramAB/en-us/aiml/ directory.  This stands for Out of Band, and I believe is the place where you would put your custom command in.  When you define this custom command, you can also define a Python command for it to call.

Example:





 

 

 

 

 

So, if I say “Battery Level” to the robot, it will call this Python Function

 

 

 

 

Once we are in Python, we can kind of do whatever we want.  Call APIs, move servos, etc.  There are quite a few examples included in the software.

Now there are a lot of clever things you can do in AIML,  store values (name for example), match on wildcard commands, give out random responses from a list, etc.   Human.predicates.txt seems to be where information is stored about that session (name, age, etc).  

In Python, you can control each server from code

   i01.moveArm(“left”,43,88,22,10)

   i01.moveArm(“right”,20,90,30,10)

   i01.moveHand(“left”,0,0,0,0,0,119)

   i01.moveHand(“right”,0,0,0,0,0,119)

Details on the above can be found here

However, you can also build custom gestures using the built-in ServoMixer.

So using the above, I could easily write a voice command to pick up the word “Burf” which then calls a Python Function waveAtBurf, which controls the arm servos and says “Hello”

It has an API

MRL also has an easy-to-use API system where you can find out the methods of a service using the following GET command

http://localhost:8888/api/service/{name}/

For example, making the robot talk is as simple as http://localhost:8888/api/service/i01.chatBot/getResponse/”what time is it”

Then you can use any of the methods using POST / GET.  More info here http://myrobotlab.org/content/myrobotlab-api

So, what this potentially allows me to do is remote control the robot from any other system, so technically you could write a framework/layer/app on top of this with your own functionality that you require, but still be able to control the robot.

The Fog

So I am now scratching my head thinking, what should I do next?  The year plan involved:

  • Finishing the Inmoov robot/wiring (in progress)
  • Learning MRL (feeling pretty good about that already)
  • Fire up the KinectV2 sensor that’s in the robot (not supported it turns out)
  • ADDED: Have confidence that the robot is reliable (e.g. can run cycle gestures without breaking)

I did mention learning Ros2 and making my own robot, however these were planned for later in the year. 

Current thoughts

So by adding the target above in red, and by bringing forward the Ros2/DIY robot, I think I can get that deep dive that I am looking for.

Jan 2024: The Plan

Posted on by burf2000

Welcome to another Burf update, 2 in January, it must be a special time 🙂 In the last post, I reviewed the last year and realised I didn’t really achieve any big things. I did not make a project I was super happy with. I then listed the current projects/items floating around in my head and defined some rough project paths I could take to help this year be a year of FOCUS.

Loose Ends

So to get me to the point where I can focus, I wanted to tidy up some loose ends, so that these things can be parked until I have achieved the main focus.

Electric motorbike project

I had a play, did 3mph, and need to change the gearing which is a great place to park it.

Self-driving mobility scooter / Robotic project using a wheelchair

Something I should have done long ago, instead of trying to hack the controllers, replace it. For £24 for the wheelchair (Dual Channel) and £9 for the mobility scooter (Single Channel) the problems just go away and my time at the moment is far more valuable than £30. So both of these can now be controlled via an RC controller I found in the Loft. The wheelchair will be used for a robotics project this year hopefully.

The Plan

So the focus of this year is to finish the Inmoov robot and learn MyRobotLab. I am still baffled as to why I have not focused on this amazing creation by Gaël Langevin. I have already made a great start to this however I want to detail what I want to achieve so I do not get sidetracked.

The current state of play

I moved the robot downstairs so it had more room, wired it up, fired up the software, and expected something to snap. However, bloody hell was I surprised when it just worked the first time!

I had a play with it, and after a few gestures decided that was enough greatness for the day and that stopping now, meant the day would end on a high! What I learned from this was, that I didn’t know how to use MyRobotLab as well as I hoped and that it was a super powerful system.

This year’s Targets

  • Finish printing the 3D parts, make improvements to the body
  • Rebuild / Fix the head as the eyes do not function very well
  • Learn MyRobotLab (MRL)
  • MRL: Be able to say some words, and it do a custom gesture
  • MRL: Be able to track or detect people using OpenCV
  • MRL: Be able to call a custom API
  • MRL: Learn more about AIML (there is a Udemy course)
  • Fire up the KinectV2 sensor that’s in the robot
  • Improve the wiring in the Inmoov robot as it is a mess

I think this is a great starting point and is very achievable within a few months. That is fine because once it is complete I can then move on knowing I have done a deep dive into the Inmoov Robot. I could list what I want to do after this, however, that muddies the water and that’s what I am trying to avoid.

Minor Jobs

Like any normal person, I will still have minor jobs to do (already fixed the Harley) like fixing the Gwiz, fixing the conservatory, and installing reversing sensors on Nissan. These will be fun to do, but won’t be in my robotics time. I think that’s a good way to break out stuff, robotics mainly on Wednesday afternoons which I no longer work, jobs any other time.

Jan 2024: Update

Posted on by burf2000

Welcome to another Burf update, I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and New Year. I had hoped to do an end-of-December update but it just didn’t happen. I am trying to spend more time thinking and less time jumping around.

2023 Goals Review

Let’s review the last year as it’s hard to remember what I achieved. I am going to be harsh and mark anything that didn’t achieve much as a failure. I will also add in stuff that had been removed from the list as completed

Education

  • Goal 1: Progress with my MBA (80%, original target to finish by May 24, likely Jan, achieved)
  • Goal 2: Continue with self-driving courses (Completed! achieved)
  • Stretch Goal 3: Spend some time at Khan Academy on Algebra and Geometry (Failed)

Projects

  • Goal 1: Work on the electric motorbike project (Tested motor twice, battery issues, but achieved)
  • Goal 2: Finish the Inmoov robot and fix the issues listed above so that the robot can be demonstrated to people. (I fixed a lot of things on the Inmoov robot, however stopped for some unknown reason, the original goal was to fix it)
  • Stretched Goal 3: Decide what to do with Burf.co Search Engine, it’s getting a chunk of traffic but what’s the point/plan? (Updates were done however failed as did not find a reason to have keep the site)
  • Mobility Scooter / Electric Wheelchair, both of these made remote controlled. (achieved)

Life

  • Goal 1: Get Fit and less fat! 85-90KG (passed as did get to 90kg before Xmas)
    Goal 2: Load the Truck with tech and have it ready for camping (Paused till summer)
  • Goal 3: Carry on being a Governor (Ongoing, however, relaxing a little on this, achieved)
  • Stretched Goal 4: Get a shed and put lighting in the loft (Lights done, shed still debating)

Sub Projects

So, I did a lot of ‘playing’ last year and I did more with Arduinos and sensors than any other year however this did take up a lot of time.

  • Arduino with Potentiometer
  • Arduino with Hoverboard motors (2 different ideas, one blown up)
  • Arduino with Vex motors and sensors
  • Arduino with Matrix robotics
  • Improved grounding issue with Red Robotics Head
  • Updated Burf.co with Paging, image search, and file search
  • Controlled both Mobility scooter and Wheelchair with Arduino and PS2 controller
  • Lots of fixes to the Inmoov robot
  • Finally used the CNC machine
  • Played about with a Trigger 125cc trike
  • Tried fixing an Electric Scooter (Yamaha EC-03)
  • Finished reading https://medium.com/@maxdeutsch/how-to-build-a-self-driving-car-in-one-month-d52df48f5b07
  • Fixed a petrol generator
  • Did some welding
  • Designed some 3D parts
  • Built a robotic car for my course
  • Built an IOT house
  • Got another Gwiz
  • Got a Navara
  • Fired up a Chinese Lidar system
  • Finished The X-Files
  • Did a few random short Udemy Courses

I think there were a few other things to add to the list but as you can see, it is quite a big list of stuff that’s useful (welding, designing 3D parts, and learning Arduino), etc but it lacked direction and purpose.

if I look at 2023, I did do a lot of things, but none of them are as impressive as the 2022 robotic head, or fixing the Gwiz electric car. I think I will declare to myself that 2023 was the year of learning (self-driving course, MBA, and governor training for example). I also noticed that I did call out and try to focus last year, which clearly didn’t work as well as I wanted. I did start 2023 part-time (not working Wednesdays) however due to signing up for the MBA and governor stuff, this became pointless.

2024, is the year to focus

Terrible title but I need to do it. The issue I have is, what do I focus on as I have a backlog of items that I want to do? I think the best thing to do is list them below and put the pros and cons:


MBA
I am nearly done, and this has to be completed!

Maths + Math Diploma (COE)
I loved maths as a kid, but now I am terrible at it. Most of the robotics courses I want to take require maths far beyond my ability.
Complexity: High
Time: High
Value: I could do well and feel better about my abilities. I could really struggle
Dependencies: None

Self-driving course with robotic car (Udemy)
A fun project that will help me drive a small robotic car around a track (not virtual) and read road signs.
Complexity: Medium
Time: Medium
Value: It would help me with the self-driving mobility / Gwiz project
Dependencies: None

Udacity robotics course
A short course that I have tried a few times before, I really did want to do this
Complexity: High
Time: Low
Value: I would feel proud that I did this
Dependencies: Maths

Self-driving mobility scooter
This is about taking the theory of the other self-driving course and applying it to something bigger. I would need to set a definition of done before I started (e.g. what is the goal).
Complexity: Medium
Time: Medium
Value: I guess this depends on the goal, where would I use this?
Dependencies: could benefit from self-driving course with a robotic car

Robotic project using a wheelchair
I have always wanted to build my own robot! Now I know I have the Inmoov but it doesn’t leave my room. I want a create a robot that works in the outside world. The wheelchair base could be the starting point of this.
Complexity: Medium
Time: Medium – High
Value: Depending on the scope, this could be the main project for the year. I could take it places, make videos of it, etc. Use the same software as Inmoov or ROS 2
Dependencies: Maybe ROS 2

Gwiz
So this could be the next step on from the mobility scooter or a complete waste of time? It depends on what I want to do with it. Self-drive? Make a battery pack for it? Upgrade it.
Complexity: Unknown
Time: Unknown
Value: Unknown, but I did have fun last time. Would involve me insuring it, self-driving could be dangerous
Dependencies: could benefit from Self-driving course with robotic car + Self-driving mobility scooter

Electric motorbike project
So partly done, but I need to try and bigger battery, I guess I would put this to bed if it needed lots of work.
Complexity: Low
Time: Low
Value: Could be fun if it worked
Dependencies: None

Learn ROS 2
I have a ROS 2 (Robotics Operating System) course I want to do, I have used ROS in the past and it’s the industry standard for robotics. If I built a robot, it may use ROS. Previous ones I have built have. ROS comes with lots of libraries that would be super useful. A course that used ROS 2 + Arduino + SLAM would be super useful for mapping
Complexity: Medium
Time: Low
Value: This is something a Roboticist should be interested
Dependencies: None

Inmoov Robot
So the Inmoov robot mainly works, god knows why I have not finished this off, updated it, used MyRobotLab more etc. I have been watching the YouTube videos on it.
Complexity: Medium
Time: Medium
Value: This is something that would be great to show off and generate content.
Dependencies: Could link to Robotic project using a wheelchair

Burf.co / Hidden Web
Hmm, I seem to not be able to let this die, I mean the search engine part of the site. The blog needs updating to be themed more around robotics and R&D. I would have to put in a lot of effort to make it into a business to make money.
Complexity: Low
Time: Unknown
Value: It’s been plodding along for years, and it’s dated however I have lots of ideas for it, but all would require a lot of time and effort
Dependencies: None

Coursera AI course
Like the Udacity course, I have wanted to do this course for years however my Maths has let me down
Complexity: High
Time: Medium
Value: I would feel proud that I did this
Dependencies: Maths

Identifying a Path

Boy, that was a lot to digest (my head is spinning) and I think this is the longest post I have ever made! However, it is useful to see the dependencies and work out the right path to take:

  • Burf.co / HiddenWeb = Independent Project, no real goal, could be re-purposed for my robotics project as a backend
  • Electric Motorbike = Independent Project, short time impact, fail fast.
  • Maths Diploma / Math Khan -> Udacity course -> Coursera course = Learn a lot, build nothing but be proud that I completed 2 courses that I have wanted to do for years (or fail them).
  • Self-Driving Course -> Mobility Scooter -> Gwiz = Focus on self-driving vehicles which I did last year and make something that works in the real world.
  • Inmoov Robot <-> Robotic Wheelchair <-> ROS 2? -> Learn and have a lot to show for it. This could be a lot of fun and be something I could show off that I have designed and built.

    Key: -> Leads on to. <-> Could be linked and/or linked either way

Taking a moment to process

So I started writing this blog post on the 3rd of January and got to this point and thought, wow, I need to sit down and think about what I want to achieve, what can I achieve, and what I will enjoy the most as these can easily not be the same thing. Whichever path I decide to take, I need to set out goals and a definition of done for them. I think this is a good place to end this post, with the aim of in the next blog post declaring what I have chosen and what are the goals of it.