"ROSMO" - Mentor meetings notes

Communities Open Hardware Makers
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This thread will be used to document the exchanges between mentor & mentee of the project ROSMO, @Rosmo.

After each meeting you can add your notes as a reply to this thread, so you can have all your notes in one place. Remember the forum is a public place, don’t document any personal information.

Here’s a suggested format for taking notes, feel free to copy and paste with your notes for each meeting.

Mentor meeting 1

  • Date:
  • Attendees:

Agenda

  1. Recap from previous meeting (or expectations & goals if this is your 1st meeting)
  2. This week’s assignments: questions, doubts, challenges?
  3. Timeline: are we on track?
  4. Contacting experts: do we need help?
  5. Any other questions or comments?

Actions for next meeting

2

wk 1 -
2 - Felipe devices. He turns wheels. Finished 12 week plan.
3
4 - 3d modelling stuff.
5
6 - Making device. Bearing doesn’t fall off.
7
8 - Local web server/ Arduino

1: a build that doesn’t fall apart
Barbaras says:- person 2: a line of code that gets the wheels to turn
Barbaras says:- person 3: a build that doesn’t fall apart
Barbaras says:android app: goal achievable within 12 weeks - …
Barbaras says:web server : what goal achievable between 12 weeks
Barbaras says:metric of increasing the team: +1 person for a psecific web development work
10
11
12

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I’m working with software and hardware developers to build a modular robot to control BLDC motors, so it can be used to position indoor or outdoor robots accurately.

12 week goal is to have a working prototype with the wheels spinning. (terminal) with

  • Hackaday post of status
  • Targetted Tweet to wider community

Stretch goal: Have reliable movement using tracks
Stretch goal: Have webUI working from Arduino
Stretch goal: Have uRos implimentation

Done this week

  • Components posted to the developer in S.America
  • New 3D designer recruited (probably!)

To do

  • Recruit someone to work on Arduino/web interface
  • Update Hackaday with Open-Core & ESC boards
4

Highlights from the past two weeks
– Something that went well - Have additional 3D designer and clarified the problem
– Something that didn’t go so well - Locked out of comms with Richard
– Something the mentee learned during the cohort call - Not able to attend due to work commitments.

Review goals/timeline - Break down into 12 weeks.

Weeks
1 - Onboarding

2 - Sent Felipe devices. Defined HW problem

3 - Devices arrive? Check timeline with Felipe of when he expects to work on it. If he has an interest in Arduino/WebUI. Finished 12-week plan. Order Encoders from Richard & New motor & Tracks

4 - 3d modelling stuff. Get the first draft? If Felipe not doing it: Do Tweets and Discord posts looking for someone to work on Arduino/WebUI.

5 - Felipe turns wheels? Encoders arrive.

6 -Order version 2.0 3dprint. The hardware focus week.

7 - Arduino/WebUI focus

8 - Further work webserver/ Arduino. 3D print arrives.

9 - V3.0 & Order 3D parts. Motors arrive.

10 -

11 - V3.0 3D arrives.

12 - Demo

Review assignments from the curriculum

  • Think of the files that you need to track along the life of your project.

  • Which are these files?

  • Which platform suits your needs better?

  • How do you plan to organize your repository so people can quickly find your project files?

  • Which are the main functions required for your hardware to operate?

  • Based on that, how many would modules you need to create and how would they group the components of your project? E.g., power module, microcontroller, communication, temperature sensor

  • How would you interconnect those modules? How much space will your modules take once interconnected? (Think of enclosures!)

Review your project and create small actionable steps that will incrementally build it up. To do this, go back to your project vision and review your project goal. Now think back: which minimum functions are needed to achieve that goal?

Assignment: Make a plan for your documentation

  • Decide on a writing platform/system
  • Make sure you regularly dedicate time to work on documenting things
  • Remember that documentation needs to be aimed at different audiences:
    • Users with different initial knowledge and skills
    • Developers that can bring skills and help to different project aspects

Assignment: Improve your documentation

  • Revisit your contribution guidelines and documentation plan
  • In previous modules you worked on your documentation plan. You can now work on adding content to that plan, check if it is useful or if it needs changes. Doesn’t matter if you can’t have a polished version right now, but add as much detail as possible to your documentation considering users (using and assembling) and developers (contributing).

Assignment: Reach a minimal viable documentation

  • Update your documentation with with:
    • Bill of materials
    • Bill of tools
    • Bill of skills

Assignment: Improve your documentation

  • Revisit your documentation and take a look at the files formats you share, adjust if needed

Assignment: Write a minimal viable documentation for users

  • If you do not yet have a bill of materials/tools/skills, write them
  • Write building instructions/assembly guide/recipe
  • Write something about how to use your hardware, try to include common pitfalls

Assignment: Write documentation for developers (if it makes sense for your project)

  • Write up your contribution guideline. It is OK to leave some things empty for now. We will discuss a few of them again in detail in other sections.
  • Be sure to describe the current state of development of your project and point to open tasks

Where can we help? Do we need an expert?

5

Highlights from the past two weeks
– Something that went well - Have additional 3D designer and clarified the problem
– Something that didn’t go so well - Locked out of comms with Richard
– Something the mentee learned during the cohort call - Not able to attend due to work commitments.

Review goals/timeline - Break down into 12 weeks.

Weeks
1 - Onboarding

2 - Sent Felipe devices. Defined HW problem

3 - Devices arrive? Check timeline with Felipe of when he expects to work on it. If he has an interest in Arduino/WebUI. Finished 12-week plan. Order Encoders from Richard & New motor & Tracks

4 - 3d modelling stuff. Get the first draft? If Felipe not doing it: Do Tweets and Discord posts looking for someone to work on Arduino/WebUI.

5 - Felipe turns wheels? Encoders arrive.

6 -Order version 2.0 3dprint. The hardware focus week.

7 - Arduino/WebUI focus

8 - Further work webserver/ Arduino. 3D print arrives.

9 - V3.0 & Order 3D parts. Motors arrive.

10 -

11 - V3.0 3D arrives.

12 - Demo

Review assignments from the curriculum

Assignment:

  • Think of the files that you need to track along the life of your project.

  • Which are these files?

  • Which platform suits your needs better?

  • How do you plan to organize your repository so people can quickly find your project files? Rosmo · GitHub

  • Which are the main functions required for your hardware to operate?

  • Based on that, how many would modules you need to create and how would they group the components of your project? E.g., power module, microcontroller, communication, temperature sensor

  • How would you interconnect those modules? How much space will your modules take once interconnected? (Think of enclosures!)

Review your project and create small actionable steps that will incrementally build it up. To do this, go back to your project vision and review your project goal. Now think back: which minimum functions are needed to achieve that goal?

Assignment: Make a plan for your documentation

  • Decide on a writing platform/system - Gitbuilding for Dev, Hackaday for users
  • Make sure you regularly dedicate time to work on documenting things
  • Remember that documentation needs to be aimed at different audiences:
    • Users with different initial knowledge and skills
    • Developers that can bring skills and help to different project aspects

Assignment: Improve your documentation

  • Revisit your contribution guidelines and documentation plan - Review Gitbuilding
  • In previous modules you worked on your documentation plan. You can now work on adding content to that plan, check if it is useful or if it needs changes. Doesn’t matter if you can’t have a polished version right now, but add as much detail as possible to your documentation considering users (using and assembling) and developers (contributing).

Assignment: Reach a minimal viable documentation

Assignment: Improve your documentation

  • Revisit your documentation and take a look at the files formats you share, adjust if needed

Assignment: Write a minimal viable documentation for users

  • If you do not yet have a bill of materials/tools/skills, write them
  • Write building instructions/assembly guide/recipe
  • Write something about how to use your hardware, try to include common pitfalls

Assignment: Write documentation for developers (if it makes sense for your project)

  • Write up your contribution guideline. It is OK to leave some things empty for now. We will discuss a few of them again in detail in other sections.
  • Be sure to describe the current state of development of your project and point to open tasks

Assignment: Write a minimal viable documentation for users

  • If you do not yet have a bill of materials/tools/skills, write them
  • Write building instructions/assembly guide/recipe
  • Write something about how to use your hardware, try to include common pitfalls

Assignment: Write documentation for developers (if it makes sense for your project)

  • Write up your contribution guideline. It is OK to leave some things empty for now. We will discuss a few of them again in detail in other sections.
  • Be sure to describe the current state of development of your project and point to open tasks

Assignment: Define a clear goal you want to achieve with your project.

Before you start a roadmap for your project, you should be sure about it’s goal and vision. Before you go to the next session review of the project’s goal and think of possible intermediate steps which are necessary to reach it.

Assignment: “Reverse-plan” and list the milestones and responsibilities for achieving your goal

  • Pick 1-3 milestones for your project.
  • List tasks to complete for each milestone
    • Short description of each task required to successfully complete project work on a milestone.
    • Explanation why you are doing this task (one sentence). This will reinforce your vision for the project and help others see why each step is meaningful in the larger timeline.

Assignment: Revisit you project and roadmap in light of time management

  • Take a look at your milestones and check if you are really comfortable with the deadlines/time frames.
  • Think of contributors’ pathways for your project and create issues that others can help you with. Remember to frame things in a way people can easily start working on the tasks (considering what skill is needed, how much time, etc).

Assignment: Determine critical points and pitfalls in your roadmap

6

Agenda for the call:

Highlights from the past two weeks
Review goals/timeline
Review assignments from the curriculum

7

Weeks
1 - Onboarding

2 - Sent Felipe devices. Defined HW problem

3 - Devices arrive? Check timeline with Felipe of when he expects to work on it. If he has an interest in Arduino/WebUI. Finished 12-week plan. Order Encoders from Richard & New motor & Tracks

4 - 3d modelling stuff. Get the first draft? If Felipe will also look at Arduino/WebUI.

5 - Items still in transit to Felipe.

6 -Order version 2.0 (ugly version) 3dprint. The hardware focus week. Check-in with Richard on encoder progress. Ask for older version of encoders. Shipped to me

7 - Arduino/WebUI focus. Felipe turns wheels? Encoders arrive. 3D print arrives.

8 - Further work webserver/ Arduino. Order a pretty 3D version.

9 - V3.0 & Order 3D parts. Motors arrive.

10 -

11 - V3.0 3D arrives.

12 - Demo

8

Assignment:

  • Think of the files that you need to track along the life of your project.
  • Which are these files?

PCB files, BOM, 3Dprint

  • Which platform suits your needs better?
    Hackaday for assemblers

Github/ Gitbuilding for developers

  • How do you plan to organize your repository so people can quickly find your project files?

Like this: Rosmo · GitHub

  • Which are the main functions required for your hardware to operate?

Power
Correct assembly
Correct software

  • Based on that, how many would modules you need to create and how would they group the components of your project? E.g., power module, microcontroller, communication, temperature sensor

We have separated the ‘brain’ ESP32 and the ESC motor controller

  • How would you interconnect those modules? How much space will your modules take once interconnected? (Think of enclosures!)

These clips together using the M5mbus as designed by M5stack

Review your project and create small actionable steps that will incrementally build it up. To do this, go back to your project vision and review your project goal. Now think back: which minimum functions are needed to achieve that goal?

3D print the ‘ugly’ version, obtain and assemble parts

Assignment: Make a plan for your documentation

  • Decide on a writing platform/system -

Gitbuilding for Dev, Hackaday for users

  • Make sure you regularly dedicate time to work on documenting things

Ha!

  • Remember that documentation needs to be aimed at different audiences:
    • Users with different initial knowledge and skills
    • Developers that can bring skills and help to different project aspects

Assignment: Improve your documentation

  • Revisit your contribution guidelines and documentation plan - Review Gitbuilding

  • In previous modules you worked on your documentation plan. You can now work on adding content to that plan, check if it is useful or if it needs changes. Doesn’t matter if you can’t have a polished version right now, but add as much detail as possible to your documentation considering users (using and assembling) and developers (contributing).

Assignment: Reach a minimal viable documentation

Assignment: Improve your documentation

  • Revisit your documentation and take a look at the files formats you share, adjust if needed.

Assignment: Write a minimal viable documentation for users

  • If you do not yet have a bill of materials/tools/skills, write them
  • Write building instructions/assembly guide/recipe
  • Write something about how to use your hardware, try to include common pitfalls

Assignment: Write documentation for developers (if it makes sense for your project)

  • Write up your contribution guideline. It is OK to leave some things empty for now. We will discuss a few of them again in detail in other sections.
  • Be sure to describe the current state of development of your project and point to open tasks

Assignment: Write a minimal viable documentation for users

  • If you do not yet have a bill of materials/tools/skills, write them
  • Write building instructions/assembly guide/recipe
  • Write something about how to use your hardware, try to include common pitfalls

Assignment: Write documentation for developers (if it makes sense for your project)

  • Write up your contribution guideline. It is OK to leave some things empty for now. We will discuss a few of them again in detail in other sections.
  • Be sure to describe the current state of development of your project and point to open tasks

Assignment: Define a clear goal you want to achieve with your project.

3D printable diffdrive robot with BLDC motor that can be ordered online, assembled with a screwdriver and driven by a mobile phone or ROS2.

Before you start a roadmap for your project, you should be sure about it’s goal and vision. Before you go to the next session review of the project’s goal and think of possible intermediate steps which are necessary to reach it.

Assignment: “Reverse-plan” and list the milestones and responsibilities for achieving your goal

  • milestones for your project.
  • ‘Brain’ PCB manufactured and tested
  • Wheels turned with the code
  • 3D model assembled
  • List tasks to complete for each milestone
    • Short description of each task required to successfully complete project work on a milestone.

  • Brain - test - flash with firmware, blink LED’s. To validate the design and manafacturing process.

  • Get Richard to upload Alpha software, - Wheels won’t turn without the custom I2C code written for the project

  • Order parts - Assemble & test. To ensure documentation is clear and parts are correct and complete

    • Explanation why you are doing this task (one sentence). This will reinforce your vision for the project and help others see why each step is meaningful in the larger timeline.

Assignment: Revisit you project and roadmap in light of time management

  • Take a look at your milestones and check if you are really comfortable with the deadlines/time frames.

They are tight, but helpfully so.

  • Think of contributors’ pathways for your project and create issues that others can help you with. Remember to frame things in a way people can easily start working on the tasks (considering what skill is needed, how much time, etc).

Good first issue tags on Github

Assignment: Determine critical points and pitfalls in your roadmap

[/quote]

9

Some stuff happened

ROSMO Canvas
ROSMO Canvas2446×1720 312 KB

Redesigned body using FreeCAD
Working with another volunteer on case design
Sent Dev kits to Austria, Japan, Brazil, Italy
Parts shortage is a problem - cannot make any more for at least a year
Feels like time to set up open collective

10

Chip shortage is a proper issue. What’s the point of a robot no one can make? A possible solution is using a new (untested) RPI2040 board. Would require some significant re-work to the chassis, and changes the concept somewhat from being a stackable system.

It seems like it might be worth it to remain relevant. If moving away from stacking do we also move to a feather format instead of M5stack?

How do you define open hardware?
Hardware which can be produced and edited using FOSS software tools, which is sufficiently documented to enable others to build and adapt it. With a license that enables this

How have you changed as a team member and person over the course of your project? By following this curriculum?
More attention to detail when dealing with prototyping, minor errors can be costly in hardware.

What have you learned?
People are the biggest asset in a volunteer project. Be clear, especially when things change due to outside factors.

What do you struggle with in leading and working in the open? What do you struggle with in the curriculum?
In order to get people excited enough to work on something, you have to make claims/have hope. When circumstances change you need to articulate the changed circumstances clearly.

What surprised you the most?
The implosion of semiconductor supply chains.

What seemed easiest?
Tweeting pretty pictures of PCB’s

What seemed most difficult?
Sorting out the detail of getting those PCB’s manufactured

What are your most important takeaways or lessons learned?

Choices of the platform. Choice of Free software tooling.

It’s important to have a vision, in our case: ‘capable robot made of stackable modular parts’ but don’t hold on to that when it’s no longer possible. Adapt to the new circumstances.

What would you do differently if you could begin again? What will you do differently in your next project?
Adapt earlier to use the best available components, rather than hold too tight to the original vision.

Next 12 weeks
Hands-on with the new driver board.
Celebration of V1 - Post on Hackaday.
Post on component shortage.
Announce V2.

Linorobot

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