I am an experienced firmware engineer helping companies developing autonomous systems building production-grade firmware, low-level-device drivers and robotic control software. I am a systems thinker, for me any given feature does not exist in isolation but needs to be tied to a tangible goal and business impact.
I regularly participate in robotic competitions gaining invaluable real-word experience and keeping tabs on the state of the art.
I believe in the value of using advanced C++ standards (C++11 and forward) for writing software for bare-metal, RTOS and OS based applications.
Currently contracting as a Senior Firmware Engineer for a well-known company within the embedded industry. Previous engagement was team lead of the embedded systems group of a large European AGV company. Recently assembled and led a volunteer team to design and build a six-legged electric/hydraulic hexapod robot and participated in a major European competition. Details can be found under https://107-systems.org/l3xz-hexapod-robot-elrob2022/ .
Creator of Pika Spark, an Arduino Portenta X8 based micro robot control system combining an unprecedented amount of computing power and interfaces within an extremely small form factor ( https://pika-spark.io/ ).
It's quite astonishing that they thought that throwing 6000 people at the problem would work, then subsequently deciding to cut 2000 ...
Throughout my career I came to believe that the best achieving teams grow organically from the inside-out. A top-down "forced" innovation approach rarely seems to work.
Your guess is pretty much on point: Total BOM was around 16k€.
A not insubstantial amount (for me) and entirely financed out of my own pocket -
107-systems is a private team staffed with volunteers financed by donations.
I'd preferred to stay below 10k but at the end it was do or die ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ . Since you write of having participated at such events I suppose you understand ;)
The most expensive parts were the miniature hydraulics as well as the custom CNC milled parts, which were created using a service for the manufacturing of custom front panels (a plate is a plate). But also all the small parts start to add up: cables, connectors, batteries, power distributors, ...
> The most expensive parts were the miniature hydraulics as well as the custom CNC milled parts
Had you considered using laser cut parts from a place like SendCutSend? Conservatively guessing approximately $300 in cut parts if using 6061 aluminum.
Including the coating, deburring, secondary machining, and German cost of living and materials, I imagine the price of the plate set must have been more.
Doesn't seem to make a lot of sense to mill these, they should really water jet or laser. Does SendCutSend have a water jet? Do they ship overseas? What would the air freight cost on that large package?
Those machined shafts would have been expensive. Nice to get them for free.
> But also all the small parts start to add up: cables, connectors, batteries, power distributors, ...
This sure is the truth... I am painfully familiar with realizing I've spent another grand at McMaster-Carr by the end of the month with a series of small purchases, each under 50 bucks individually.
The big ticket items tend to be expensive, but expensive once. It's all the nickel and dime purchases in between that can really hurt.
I help companies building production grade firmware and software for (preferably) robotic systems.
I have been professionally developing firmware and software for over a decade, working on AGV control software, wireless sensor networks, guidance systems for self-driving tractors, optoelectronic volume measurement systems for agricultural applications, consumer robotics systems, securely connecting resource-constrained embedded devices with the Internet including OTA, custom embedded systems for AGV battery management, magnetic guidance, ultrasonic distance measurement, robot-human interaction and many other projects.
I help companies building production grade firmware and software for (preferably) robotic systems.
I have been professionally developing firmware and software for over a decade, working on AGV control software, wireless sensor networks, guidance systems for self-driving tractors, optoelectronic volume measurement systems for agricultural applications, consumer robotics systems, securely connecting resource-constrained embedded devices with the Internet including OTA, custom embedded systems for AGV battery management, magnetic guidance, ultrasonic distance measurement, robot-human interaction and many other projects.
I help companies building production grade firmware and software for (preferably) robotic systems.
I have been professionally developing firmware and software for over a decade, working on AGV control software, wireless sensor networks, guidance systems for self-driving tractors, optoelectronic volume measurement systems for agricultural applications, consumer robotics systems, securely connecting resource-constrained embedded devices with the Internet including OTA,
custom embedded systems for AGV battery management, magnetic guidance, ultrasonic distance measurement, robot-human interaction and many other projects.
I am an experienced firmware engineer helping companies developing autonomous systems building production-grade firmware, low-level-device drivers and robotic control software. I am a systems thinker, for me any given feature does not exist in isolation but needs to be tied to a tangible goal and business impact.
I regularly participate in robotic competitions gaining invaluable real-word experience and keeping tabs on the state of the art.
I believe in the value of using advanced C++ standards (C++11 and forward) for writing software for bare-metal, RTOS and OS based applications.
Currently contracting as a Senior Firmware Engineer for a well-known company within the embedded industry. Previous engagement was team lead of the embedded systems group of a large European AGV company. Recently assembled and led a volunteer team to design and build a six-legged electric/hydraulic hexapod robot and participated in a major European competition. Details can be found under https://forum.opencyphal.org/t/l3x-z-a-opencyphal-enabled-he... .
Mostly about my ham radio related activities ;)