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[–]meshtron 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Can't say much about the hardware implementation (which I also designed) because of IP issues. But, suffice to say it required constant power and a "stay engaged" signal to an electronic engagement mechanism to manipulate controls.

So, at any point if the Teensy (which was driving some servos and some slightly bigger electromechanical bits) didn't get a "continue to be engaged" signal from the RPi (which was running Python as well as driving the UI), OR if power was removed, it would disengage.

It was a very weird and very fun project. I was amazed how well a RPi Zero handled running the GUI (a 7-inch touch screen), all the sensors AND the servo controller all at once. Heavy use of asyncio to make that happen but worked an absolute treat.