whatuptkhere's comments

On: Ask HN: How to Think Clearly?

[whatuptkhere]

If you're looking specifically at something like troubleshooting, look up Root Cause Analysis. It's a great engineering tool.

On: I Built a 4G Solar Rover to Explore the Australian Outback – Tonight

[whatuptkhere]

I built a robot that uses solar power to go on extended exploration missions, that I drive using a camera feed over the 4G mobile network.

We're aiming to travel 13km in three weeks to reach a distant public phone box in a far off country town.

We stream live tonight, 10PM ACDT on twitch.tv/whatuptkhere

[sigmaprimus → whatuptkhere]

Looks like a fun project.

How far do you expect it to go tonite if it doesn't get stuck? What sort of control hardware are you using? Is it autonomous or are you using some sort of GSM, Arduino, Motor Driver combo? I would join the live stream but I'm in PST time zone so thats 3AM here :(

Good luck though!!

[whatuptkhere → sigmaprimus]

Longest we've gone in a single night is 2.2km; hoping to go a touch further tonight if conditions are good and batteries are fresh. Our longest mission went 4 days and travelled 3.6km with plenty of charging from the sun.

I'm using 4G cellular data to send commands to an onboard Raspberry Pi, with an Arduino running the solar power system. I drive it manually from mission control using the camera to see where we're going, though next year's rover should hopefully introduce limited autonomy too.

Thanks! I'll be crossposting the missions to Youtube too, for those that can't hit the timezone. :)