The RW-1 Robot Project

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The RW-1 project is an evolving, weekly build series. As our Patron, you get instant access to the complete archive of past guides, all the digital files, plus a brand-new episode delivered every week. 

New to engineering? No worries! We start from the very basics and gradually raise the bar with each new episode, taking you all the way to ROS 2 engineering and beyond.

2WD mobile robot assembly from scratch

  1. RW-1 robot overview, Bill of Materials
  2. STL files overview, 3d printing setup, heat-set threaded insert installation
  3. Robot Chassis Assembly
  4. Electronics Installation. Cytron Controller
  5. Electronics Installation. Building custom Controller
  6. Software installation (coming soon)
  7. Mobile robot tuning (coming soon)

Deep dive into the robot's firmware

  1. 2WD robot firmware architecture (coming soon)
  2. Controlling motors (coming soon)
  3. Using encoder feedback (coming soon)
  4. PID regulator (coming soon)
  5. Communication protocol (coming soon)
  6. Robot web UI server (coming soon)

Companion computer installation

  1. Using Raspberry Pi 4 or 5 as robot's brains (coming soon)
  2. Ubuntu installation and tuning (coming soon)
  3. Set up communication between microcontroller and companion computer (coming soon)
  4. Install ROS 2 (coming soon)
  5. Install ROS 2 on Linux PC (coming soon)
  6. Install ROS 2 on Windows PC (coming soon)

Robot Sensors: switch bumpers

  1. How Switch bumpers work (coming soon)
  2. Designing switch bumpers (coming soon)
  3. Adding bumper support in the firmware (coming soon)

Robot Sensors: range sensors

  1. HC-SR4 Ultrasound sensor (coming soon)
  2. VL53L0X ToF optical sensor (coming soon)
  3. Designing the robot's extension (coming soon)
  4. Add ultrasound sensor support in the firmware (coming soon)
  5. Add ToF sensor support in the firmware (coming soon)

Robot Sensors: 360 degree LIDAR sensors

  1. RPLIDAR A1M8 360 degree LDS sensor (coming soon)
  2. LDROBOT LD06 360 degree LDS sensor (coming soon)
  3. Designing extension for the robot (coming soon)
  4. LIDAR installation (coming soon)
  5. ROS2 LIDAR setup (coming soon)
  6. Replace distance sensors with the LIDAR (coming soon)

Robot Simulators: building a digital twin

  1. Install Gazebo robot simulation software (coming soon)
  2. Describing the robot in URDF format (coming soon)
  3. Add the robot to the simulation (coming soon)

Robot Sensors: vision sensors

  1. Install Raspicam camera (coming soon)
  2. Install Logitech c920 USB camera (coming soon)
  3. Basic Computer Vision algorithms (coming soon)

Robot Sensors: 3D depth sensors

  1. Realsense d435 RGBD sensor (coming soon)
  2. Designing extension for the robot (coming soon)
  3. Sensor setup (coming soon)
  4. Basic RGBD processing algorithms (coming soon)

Robot Sensors: GPS

  1. Connect GPS Sensor to the microcontroller (coming soon)
  2. Add GPS support to the firmware (coming soon)
  3. Use GPS sensors in ROS 2 (coming soon)