Robotics

August 2025: The ROS2 Edition

Posted on by burf2000


Hello and welcome to another Burf update! Sadly, I didn’t get a chance to publish a July post — it’s been full throttle on the robotics front. This year is really shaping up to be a robotics-heavy one, and I’m loving it.

MTC: Robotics and Automation Event
We attended the event, and the second InMoov robot did well playing Rock, Paper, Scissors. A few lessons were learned — notably, face detection struggled with different skin tones and people wearing glasses. I had (wrongly) assumed that the maturity of OpenCV would have eliminated these kinds of biases by now.

As for the Sanbot robot — it didn’t get used much, so I need to think harder about a compelling use case for it.

Gwiz Update
Back in May, the G-Wiz passed its MOT, but unfortunately, the batteries were shot. Luckily, a kind soul from the G-Wiz forum donated some replacements (seriously nice of them), and now the car is up and running. The plan — once I clear the next few tasks — is to start recording data and begin training an AI to drive it.

ROS2, the Rover Robot and the Robotic Arms
This month has been packed with ROS2 learning. I’ve completed the ROS2 Manipulator course on Udemy (and I’m nearly done with the self-driving course). I’ve successfully controlled three different robotic arms using MoveIt, Gazebo, and RViz.

Massive thanks to Compsoft for giving me time to dive deep into ROS2 — they had a cool idea involving it, which gave me the perfect excuse to learn. I still have plenty to master, but I’m feeling far more confident than I did a few months ago.

AI
ChatGPT has been incredibly helpful throughout the ROS2 journey. Sure, it’s made its share of mistakes — looping, incorrect suggestions, etc. — but it’s been a great learning tool. The bigger vision is to use AI to simplify robotic arm control, lowering the barrier to entry for others.

Burf.co
The main website has been updated to reflect my focus on robotics. The new goal is to offer consultancy and robot rentals — an exciting next step in the Burf journey!

Inmoov humanoid 3
Yes, somehow I’ve ended up with a third InMoov robot — rescued just before it was scrapped. It still needs a lot of work, but I’ve managed to piece it back together and source enough parts to upgrade the others. This one now has LCD eyes, which adds a fun new dimension.

The Plan
At the start of this year, I set myself three high-level goals:

  • MyRobotLab + The Inmoov + LLM
    (Rock paper Scissors demo)
  • ROS2 and the Rover Robot
    (ROS2-powered rover and MoveIt-controlled robotic arms)
  • Gwiz and predictive driving
    (Train an AI to drive the G-Wiz using collected data)

So far, I’ve successfully achieved the first two. The third — predictive driving with the G-Wiz — hasn’t really taken off yet, though it’s still on the roadmap.

In the meantime, I’ve also acquired a whole fleet of Sanbot Elf robots and rebranded Burf.co as a robotics-focused website.

Thanks to changes at work, I’m now spending a lot more time on robotics. That’s not only helped me hit my previous goals faster, but it’s also inspired and refined the next set of objectives I’m working towards

New Goals
These goals aren’t in priority order and will naturally evolve over time, but they represent the next phase in my robotics journey:

  • Create a Sanbot Remote Control App
    Design a controller that streams all sensor data from the Sanbot to a user interface, allowing remote movement and activation of functions.
    — Critical for the robotics rental business idea.
  • Continue to deepen my ROS2 knowledge — this remains vital for both work and personal robotics development.
    — Ongoing learning improves real-world application and problem-solving.
    • Fix bugs around MyCobot280/xArm hardware, so that API works well
    • Finish self-driving course on Udemy
    • Understand SLAM and mapping better so that a robot can travel between rooms
    • Add IMU support
  • Continue Developing the InMoov Humanoids
    —These are great for showcasing my skills and drawing crowds at events.
    • Have an active one for improving Vision and LLM use. Think about using a Neural Net to give personality. Think about gestures.
    • Create a mobile Inmoov robot, even if its remote
    • Consider merging this with the Sanbot remote control app
  • Have Fun with the G-Wiz
    —This one’s for fun, learning, and experimentation.
    • Design a remote-control system (concept-only for now)
    • Add sensors and record journey data
    • Use that data in a self-driving AI test
    • Explore ROS integration for car control

These are some pretty epic goals, and definitely enough to keep me both challenged and inspired. Each one strengthens my experience in robotics across multiple fronts — hardware, AI, mobility, UX, and control systems.

I’ll need to keep an eye on context switching to ensure I stay focused enough on one thing at a time to make meaningful progress.

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.

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.

March 2024: Robot Edition

Posted on by burf2000

Hello and welcome to another Burf Update, this one focuses on ROBOTS and the Apple Vision Pro.  I know, you’re probably thinking, hang on they all feature robots?  What’s different?  Well at work, we received 2 Apple Vision Pros to play with, these $3500 devices are not in the UK yet, but the boss managed to get 2.  These super cool devices allow you to do spatial computing (had a go, it really is a game changer).

So when they arrived, my company (Compsoft Creative) wanted to do something cool with them, so after a brief chat, we decided we would use them to control my Inmoov Robot.

So after a 3-day intense workshop trying to get the head/hand/finger data from the Apple Vision Pro (Good work Dave), to control the robot, we decided to take it to the next level!

So we are going to take the Inmoov robot to the Robotic and Automation Show at the NEC next week.

The Rush

As you can see in the videos above, my Inmoov robot is a bit rough, it’s had a very hard life. So I decided it was time to make it look better before the show (which is in about 2 weeks). Work was kind enough to give me time to do it as they needed the robot for the show and there was a lot of work to do.

So what did I manage to do:

  • New head with a new camera and built-in speaker
  • Completely rewired the robot, and all connecting blocks removed
  • New chest plates, sensors, etc
  • New back plates
  • Fingertips added
  • Ears added (not sure about them)
  • A new neck which is a lot stronger
  • Printed a case for the power supply
  • Setup a Compsoft profile in MyRobotLab (took hours to get this to work well)

 

One-off the list

So one of my goals for the year was to finish the Inmoov robot, and I can say pretty confidently that I have achieved this. If the robot stays in 1 piece for the show, I can also say it is classed as reliable.

Anycubic Kobra 2 Max 3D printer

Bloody game-changer, that’s all I can say! So my work bought a 3D printer to help out with the printing needed to update the Inmoov robot because 3D printing is slow as hell. It takes hours/days to do anything large.

Not now it doesn’t, this 3D printer is at least 5-6 times faster than my old one. So 16h print takes 3 hours (standard speed, there is a sports mode!). Honestly, it’s the most epic exciting toy I have played with for ages. This opens up a lot of crazy ideas now.

Goals for the year

It’s always good to look back at the goals, let’s see if we can cross some off

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 can perform a custom gesture
  • MRL: Be able to track or detect people using OpenCV
    Plan to do a bit more on this
  • MRL: Be able to call a custom API
    Plan to do a bit more on this
  • 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

So over half the list has been done, 1 is no longer possible (Kinect) so I may replace that with something else. That is a great start for the year.

ROS2 mentorship

So I saw an offer on LinkedIn offering free mentorship on robotics and ROS. Of course, me being me, I applied for it and got accepted into the group. It has weekly sessions and lots of useful resources etc, however, due to me being super busy with the Inmoov robot, I am massively behind. I see this as a great way to kickstart me into ROS2, even if I can’t keep up.

Vehicles Update

So Jeff the Narava has been sold as I barely used it and it seemed a waste of money. Also, the Harley is up for sale for the same reasons. My dad gave me his 250cc scooter (well swapped for some LEGO) and my Gwiz is on the road and I am LOVING IT. The Gwiz AC version is so much fun. It’s now my main vehicle

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.

The December Update

Posted on by burf2000

Welcome to another Burf update, and Merry Christmas to you. I did try to do a November update but boy have I been busy. Time has flown by which means it’s a busy time for kids and social events on the run-up to Christmas.

So what have I been up to, well I think a lot for once however I will chuck them out in order they come to mind.

DevCon

So Compsoft hosted another DevCon at work and we had a good turnout. I took a range of robotic stuff I had and managed to build the Arduino IOT house kit while I was there which was great.

Burf.co & HiddenWeb.co.uk

So I am having a bit of a move around, Burf.co is going to become my robotics area focusing on the crazy stuff I build. HiddenWeb.co.uk is now the search engine part of Burf.co which will have a new design soon and maybe even a purpose soon. Burf.co is now hosted by my friend Adrian 🙂

The Electric Motorbike Project

So the previous update to this freaked me out a bit because I knew I had made some videos of my progress however they were not on the last blog post. Turned out I did them a few days after the post. The main update is my 3D printer has been a right pain in the arse and I have had so many failed prints. It turns out the 3D Pinter head was nearly falling off, plastic was coming out of all sorts of places and I hate PETG. I did manage to do a couple of tests.

Once I have the motor strapped down, I am going to test it out outside.

Autonomous Car: Deep Learning & Computer Vision for Beginners

Completed the initial course 🙂 Whoop Whoop! I really enjoyed doing this course and even made some improvements to the final project. Now I plan to expand it to work in a real car

CTO / Digital MBA course.

I am 78% through this which is pretty epic. I am taking a pause this week because of all the saved links I need to read. Each video you do has around 3-5 useful links/articles etc to read however I have built up quite a backlog.

Getting Fit

Hmm, it’s Christmas, I am up 2kg and so I need to burn that off in Jan

Maths

I have started to do a little bit in the last 2 weeks and got an online course to help kick-start the brain. I tried to help my sons with their maths homework and realised I really need to get better.

InMoov Humanoid Robot

I have fired this up again in the last few weeks and I am upgrading the laptop that it runs on. I have plans for this (before I nearly blow up the laptop)

Gwiz

I am trying not to play with this until after Christmas however, I did put the bumper back on.

Playing with Hoverboard motors

So, as I have a few spare hoverboards that I got cheap, I read that you can re-program the controller so that you can control the board in lots of different ways, including via an Arduino. Brilliant I thought, perfect, the hoverboard motors are super powerful! I did manage to reprogram the board, and I did manage to nearly blow up my laptop and I did manage to cook an Arduino! It turns out that the place you plug it in runs very high voltage (instead of 3-5, it’s 15!) which can blow up my Arduino and cook the USB port in my old Mac. I was lucky it wasn’t a lot worse!

A cheaper and easier option is to buy a motor controller for about £12 that will do the job for you without burning your house down e.g https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BBSYD3X5?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

Playing with LIDAR

So ages ago, I bought a super cheap Lidar system of Aliexpress thinking it had to be fake as it was so cheap. It was about 1/5th the price it should be. Turns out it works

Reviewing the Plan AGAIN

I feel I have achieved quite a bit over the last month however, I still want to achieve more and I only have 20 days to see what else I can do.

Education

  • Goal 1: Progress with my MBA (61% to 78%, original target to finish by May 24, likely Jan)
  • Goal 2: Continue with self-driving courses (Complete!)
  • Stretched Goal 3: Spend some time at Khan Academy on Algebra and Geometry (Started)

Projects

  • Goal 1: Work on the electric motorbike project (Tested motor twice, more coming)
  • Goal 2: Finish the Inmoov robot and fix the issues listed above so that the robot can be demonstrated to people. (Making slight progress)
  • 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? (Moved and have some ideas, the main thing is to focus on robotics)

Life

  • Goal 1: Get Fit and less fat! 85-90KG (at 92.5KG ongoing)
    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)
  • Stretched Goal 4: Get a shed and put lighting in the loft (Lights done, shed still debating)

So I plan to do a end of year update and set out next year. I think the 2 things I would like to achieve in the next 20 days are

  • Test the electric motorbike outside to see if it can move me
  • Try out a Matrix motors via an Arduino (needed for my self-driving ideas)
  • Do a little bit more maths

The August Update

Posted on by burf2000

Welcome to another Burf update, I am not actually sure if there is much of an update. I am using this blog post as a trigger to kickstart my brain back into focus! This edition may contain some random things.

School Holidays

Obviously, the school holidays happened and so the focus was to keep the kids happy and amused. Because it was the holiday, they stayed up later which generally meant I had even less time to think about robots. We did some camping and we had a lovely holiday.

Caddy Van / Nissan Narava

The Caddy Van project didn’t really get off the ground as it turns out it’s cheaper to buy a vehicle that is already suitable for camping rather than convert one. So I sold the van and now own a Nissan Narava which though has had a hard life, has really opened things up on the possibility front. It’s massive and can do the same job as the van, it has 5 seats so it can carry the kids, and it fits all the camping stuff in easily, it also has a tow hook if I wanted to get a trailer and it has some massive offroad tires. Hopefully, it’s not a dog and has no major issues.

Mobility Scooter

So I got given another mobility scooter randomly, I am still not sure what to do with the first one but now I have 2 of them!

Power Generator

I also got given a petrol power generator which needed a bit of TLC. I spent £6 on a new carb and now it works perfectly. Could be useful for something.

The Electric Motorbike Project

So I have started to work out how to mount the 2000w electric motor to the frame. Once I have machined something up and made a new sprocket, I am in a very good place.

Autonomous Car: Deep Learning & Computer Vision for Beginners

Absolutely nothing was done, must do better!

CTO / Digital MBA course.

Progressing well, I am 34% through the course I believe.

Maths

Nothing was done, again I need to work harder to get this done (again, again)

Getting Fit

So I have been staying active and I am now at 90kg which is a pretty good achievement (came back from holiday at 99kg). I want to try and get to 85kg. Annoying I lost my Apple Watch on holiday which helped me stay focused.

InMoov Humanoid Robot

Nothing has progressed on this however I have been thinking about it a lot and how to move forward. I will be making some changes to make sure this moves forward.

Reviewing the Plan

As mentioned, Summer is over and I now need to get back to doing techie stuff. By listing the plan below helps me focus on what I need to do over the next 4 months.

Education

  • Goal 1: Progress with my MBA (34%)
  • Goal 2: Continue with self-driving courses
  • Stretched Goal 3: Spend some time at Khan Academy on Algebra and Geometry

Projects

  • Goal 1: Work on the electric motorbike project
  • Goal 2: Finish the Inmoov robot and fix the issues listed above so that the robot can be demonstrated to people. “Revisit this and get it reliable and demo 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?

Life

  • Goal 1: Get Fit and less fat! 85-90KG (at 90.2KG)
  • Goal 2: Setup the Van for camping but load it with some tech etc (for the kids)
    Goal 2: Load the Truck with tech and have it ready for camping
  • Goal 3: Carry on being a Governor
  • Stretched Goal 4: Get a shed and put lighting in the loft

I feel the list above is more achievable. There should be no reason why most of these goals are not achievable with the right focus and mindset.

The March (late) Update

Posted on by burf2000

Welcome to another monthly update, this one is a bit late because it is my birthday at the start of April. Again, March does not feel like a productive month for similar reasons.

Governor Duties

So this has continued (my fault) to eat into my robotics time. I had an all-day training session on one of the Wednesdays and quite a few meetings. I hope I am past the worse of it else I will be evaluating doing it. There are 3 training courses I need to nail and then things should calm down.

Nissan Micra

So a slight change of direction on this. Due to buying the Jeep and wanting to keep my dad’s van in the family, the Micra has been sold. The van will become the project vehicle.

3018 CNC Router

So I had some fun with this, it has become so much more useful since I discovered https://easel.inventables.com/ This program allows me to easily design stuff for the CNC machine

Tank Driving
Not a project, but my dad and I drove a tank :). Was a brilliant experience!

TGB Trigger Mk1

So one of the Wednesdays I finally got to drive this thing some distance, and it is now housed at my house so I can take it out more often. It worked well and managed a top speed of 33mph. It is quite good fun but rather scary as so low to the ground. Not sure what my plans are for this except to make it go a little faster (40mph). The kids seem to enjoy it.

Electric motorbike (Yam EC-03)

So as part of my electric bike project that I want to do, I managed to buy an Electric scooter for only £175! What a bargain! They are £2200 new but the battery is a little ill. It does 30mph with a range of 30 miles. I have already stripped this down and am looking to repair the battery. Bargain of the month

The Electric Motorbike Project

So for my birthday, I asked my dad to get me a donor bike for the electric bike project as there are a lot of cheap bikes on Facebook. We managed to get a 125cc Huoniao motorbike. It’s a 14-plate and has been in someone’s front garden for a few years! The engine does work (fired up after 2 tries) but only by kickstart (a bonus as I wanted a kickstart bike), I plan to strip the engine out and put an electric motor in. It’s not in great shape but for £150 it’s worth it

Inmoov Robot update

Hmm, this has been a pain in the arse too. So I finished it, then turned it on and it snapped a bicep. I have repaired that and now it’s broken a shoulder joint. I am getting nearer to a fully functional reliable robot but printing replacement parts does take time.

Garage Update

So, I am making good progress with making the garage more of a workshop where I can actually make parts, etc. I now had a pillar drill 🙂

Autonomous Car: Deep Learning & Computer Vision for Beginners

Nothing was done, again I need to work harder to get this done

Maths

Nothing was done, again I need to work harder to get this done

Defining some goals and staying to them

Reviewing last month’s progress, I think I have failed on this. I have removed goals completed in Feb to make the list less confusing.

  • Goal 1: Finish the Inmoov robot and fix the issues listed above so that the robot can be demonstrated to people. This is so near!!!
  • Goal 5: Create a demo of controlling the mobility scooter with a PS2 controller (reducing to low priority)
  • Goal 6: Spend some time at Khan Academy on Algebra and Geometry. (increasing the priority to medium)
  • Goal 7: Do something around self-driving with the Micra van else sell it. (high)
  • Goal 8: Continue with self-driving courses (medium)
  • Goal 9: Improve Burf.co Chat API (low)
  • Goal 10: Work on the electric motorbike project (new, medium)

The February Update

Posted on by burf2000

Welcome to another monthly update, I hope the start of your year is going well. So off the top of my head, February does not feel like a productive month. I can’t pull out much that makes headlines. I lost at least 1 week to car (Jeep) issues, another morning to Governor duties, and so on.

The Jeep

So my father and I bought a Jeep (secondhand) to take the kids out more, my current car only has 4 seats and as I have 3 kids we always needed to take 2 cars. This has turned into a nightmare and has already wasted 2 of my Wednesdays (viewing it, picking it up) however I am sure something good will happen. This is not a project just a pain in the arse!

Governor Duties

So I am proud to say I am now a Governor for my kid’s local schools (notice schools, not school). I wanted to give back and try and be useful somehow however this got a be mixed up and I am now a Governor of 3 schools. The workload so far has been more than expected however it’s around learning what goes on and training. I am honestly hoping I can be helpful but balance this out with the robotics stuff.

Nissan Micra

So my epic neighbour gave me his old Micra which was lovely. It’s not moved for years so the idea was to get it back on the road and see how I can go with making it drive itself. Well at least detect the road etc. This had its MOT today and failed on 1 tire, however by the end of the day, that should be done.

FOCUS 🙁

So if you read last month’s update and have read the above, you would be correct in thinking I am massively failing in being focused. The first 3 items seem to be nothing to do with the focused plan from last month! Let’s review last month’s main points

InMoov Humanoid Robot

So I hope to do some work on this today however progress has been made on this.

  • The front neck piston is fixed
  • The head roll now works
  • A new more powerful power supply has been fitted (6v 60 amps)
  • I have fixed the shoulder joint that broke
  • The lower torso is now working
  • Made custom cables for it
  • I also created and 3D printed an object to raise the Inmoov up as the arms were hitting the base.
  • The right arm now has an issue that needs investigating

So left to do is fix the XY eye moment (or replace it), finish a little wiring, and configure the software.

Red Inmoov Head

This was probably my favorite project last year however it always bugged me that the sound feedback was terrible and the jaw didn’t work properly. I decided to try and fix this and it’s now a lot better. It’s stopped using the Burf.co chat API which I need to fix.

Mobility Scooter / Electric Wheelchair

So my PS2 controller sensor turned up from China which meant I was able to use it with my little Arduino project. It works pretty well now and can control the wheelchair

Maths

Very little progress was made here and I need to work on fixing that.

Autonomous Car: Deep Learning & Computer Vision for Beginners

Nothing was done, again I need to work harder to get this done

Burf.co

Now that it is easy to deploy, I have been doing some vital bug fixes for it.

Running

I have started running again which can only be a good thing 🙂

Defining some goals and staying to them

So it’s the 1st of March and I think I have made some good progress over the last 2 months however there has been a lack of focus and life has thrown in some issues. Life will always get in the way but I can try and reduce the noise and lack of focus.

  • Goal 1: Finish the Inmoov robot and fix the issues listed above so that the robot can be demonstrated to people. This is not far away and has been my main focus!
  • Goal 2: Remove the grounding issue from the Red Inmoov robot.
  • Goal 3: Add paging to Burf.co and update the database. Done
  • Goal 4: Create a demo of controlling the Electric wheelchair with a PS2 controller. Done
  • Goal 5: Create a demo of controlling the mobility scooter with a PS2 controller (reducing to low priority)
  • Goal 6: Spend some time at Khan Academy on Algebra and Geometry. (increasing the priority to medium)
  • Goal 7: Do something around self-driving with the Micra else sell it. (high)
  • Goal 8: Continue with self-driving courses (medium)
  • Goal 9: Improve Burf.co Chat API (low)

Reviewing the list from last month (above), things are looking pretty good. One goal has been added around the Micra however if I do not set one, it’s a waste of money and needs to be sold.

Thursday Update: The RETURN

Posted on by burf2000

Hello and welcome to the first official Thursday update. Yes, there have been many updates that have come out on Thursday but they were always called Wednesday Updates. Go Figure.

Summer

Summer was rammed with kids’ stuff, work, family, and all things not very robotic or techie. The nights are now getting darker and so the geeky epic stuff will return.

Burf.co

So today I was going to shut down Burf.co because I have done very little with it and I am still annoyed with the terrible hosting company (HostPapa) who seem to be proper ropy. However, when I went to see the site stats, which I assumed were maybe 1-2k a month (who would use a search engine other than Google) I was pleasantly surprised.

Seeing as I have done very little with the site that’s quite bonkers. So instead of turning it off (due to the price of energy), I have decided I should do something useful with it.

Electronics course
Completed and I have bought the next module which is more around Robotics and Arduino’s

Review of this year’s goals

So I set out a lot of goals this year based on me working part-time, which sadly ended and I was already a bit behind. However, I have to say I am still proud that I have achieved quite a bit and I am confident I will achieve more! Maybe not everything but a lot more than last year

  • Math: Learn Algebra and kinematic (Stalled)
  • Finish Introducing Robotics  (Done)
  • Start and Finish Robotic Vision: Principles of Vision (Scrapped as very old)
  • Finish Artificial Intelligence for Robotics : This is the self-driving course I really want to do but needs maths. (Not started yet)
  • Give a good shot to Machine Learning by Andrew NG : A very famous ML course (Not started yet)
  • Get Robotic head talking and listening (Done, will go further)
  • Do something useful with Gwiz (Done and sold)
  • Finish Electronics course (Done)
  • Start and finish Self driving course using deep learning (Not started yet)
  • Build/use already built little robot to do maze-solving work (Little progress made)
  • Finish Robotic Diploma (Missed off list but was important) (Done)
  • Finish Inmoov Robot (Missed off list but is very important) (Progressing, the body is built need to do electronics)

Weirdly Burf.co which has been rewritten this year, and has extra stuff isn’t on this list.

The new focused list of things to do by the end of the year

So as there 3 months to go, let’s focus on a few easy tasks, medium tasks, and maybe 1 hard task

  • Finish Artificial Intelligence for Robotics : This is the self-driving course I really want to do but needs maths. (HARD task and requires me to know Maths better, stretched goal)
  • Do something with Mobility Scooter or Electric Wheelchair (EASY task)
  • Make progress with Inmoov Robots Electronics (MEDIUM task)
  • Do some sort of ML with Burf.co (MEDIUM task)
  • Complete Introduction to Application of Robotic Tools (2-week course, EASY task I hope)
  • Start and make good progress Self-driving course using deep learning (EASY task)
  • Get ROS robots back and running, remind myself of syntax, etc (EASY task)

Hopefully, I can do most of these, having a list definitely helps me focus.

Wish me luck 🙂