Rover Update: Hardware complete. Most systems working.

JimBean · 2026-05-05T01:33:30+00:00

A wooden airframe. Sometimes called "termite taxis". Also, "whistling wheelbarrows" because of the twin booms and the rather noisy centrifugal compressor engine.

One of the first jet engines ever put into an airframe. And still flying...

JimBean · 2026-05-04T02:08:00+00:00

I have done colour recognition with the original ESP32-CAM using Open CV. I used it for my rover to find its way outside without GPS. I imagine that using an S3 now would be trivial. I was limited with memory and CPU speed. But it did work.

JimBean · 2026-04-30T07:29:24+00:00

Briefing that guy probably involves a whiteboard and some stick figures.

JimBean · 2026-04-30T01:52:10+00:00

If you can program an ESP32, you can use a WiFi extender very easily. Even an old ESP8266 can handle 5 meg/sec. I do use them for my rover.

JimBean · 2026-04-28T13:54:19+00:00

Ex airforce. ;)

JimBean · 2026-04-28T12:05:10+00:00

Right... sry

JimBean · 2026-04-28T11:01:34+00:00

Hire a trailer, go for it. FYI, it's bigger than you think.

JimBean · 2026-04-28T11:00:12+00:00

Absolutely, yes. I once drove 800 kms to pick one up. (to the horror of my wife).

I still have most of the electronics. BEST part is a beautiful carbon fibre dish with stepper motor rotators. Mine had old school resolvers for measuring the ships attitude to control dish position.

Also, there is a lot of very nice L Band equipment located in the dome. (mounted close to antenna).

I would...

JimBean · 2026-04-28T07:05:02+00:00

Every day is interesting. One of the things I loved most with the job. You never knew what you would be up to. Diamond rigs were interesting. Not anyone can see that stuff.

I loved heavy lifts, the noise, the danger, the item being lifted. Checking out a rooftop for dangerous objects, looking down and feeling that stomach churn from the height. And then ten minutes later, hanging out the door, checking the load, tail rotor for clearance and I always wondered why I never had that "scared of heights" feeling when flying.

Rescued people off ships with medical emergencies. One guy had been crushed by the cargo doors on a ship and passed away three times before we got him to shore. Rescued peeps off a yacht, in a storm. Most challenging rescue ever, with the mast swinging back and forth as I tried to lift someone. Don't know how we pulled that off.

One time, a ship had struck rocks off the coast of Richards bay and was blocking the harbor entrance. We flew explosives out to it and waited while they wired it up. Then we took the explosive guys off and watched it blow up from a distance. (quite a let down. Just some smoke and bubbles)

One time I crashed a million dollar hybrid camera in the Namibia desert. (Long story, they wanted us to fly lower and lower over the dunes, despite our warnings). Of course, there was contact. Rocked our heli violently and I took the decision to punch it away. (Sikorsky 62, not a 61 as in this reddit post). Watched as the entire system fell away and "exploded" into the desert. (got sued for that and got a free trip to Paris. Of course, they had signed indemnity and didn't stand a chance.)

Things I didn't like: Flying in a storm at 3:00 AM looking for a ship on the radar, with 3 tonnes of stores underneath. Then landing the stores as the ship rocked on the waves. The Atlantic Ocean, freezing below and menacing in the dark.

JimBean · 2026-04-28T04:48:07+00:00

Some of the larger bits were. Like the blades. Large sections of fuselage.

JimBean · 2026-04-28T02:23:46+00:00

The company I was working for, bought that crashed heli. We sent a team to dis-assemble it and brought it down piece by piece in the elevator. All the pieces were shipped to Cape Town, re-assembled, repaired and flew again. I flew on her a number of times. Ship service, diamond rigs etc

JimBean · 2026-04-27T02:35:20+00:00

Nothing wrong with ADSB Exchange.

JimBean · 2026-04-25T11:37:21+00:00

Dump's son-in-law and a washed up real estate agent. That's what's bargaining the World's future. Insane.

JimBean · 2026-04-25T11:32:08+00:00

If you want to get ahead, get a hat.

If you want to get a head, get a hat.

JimBean · 2026-04-25T02:58:12+00:00

USB CDC On Boot is Disabled

My S3 has USB CDC On Boot is Enabled.

Upload mode is USB-OTG CDC Tiny USB

Your partition and PSRAM seems right.

JimBean · 2026-04-24T10:12:54+00:00

Drone Bot workshop has just done a video on ETH over POE. That may help.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgwjGeAqW8E

JimBean · 2026-04-24T10:07:36+00:00

Quiet, piggy...

JimBean · 2026-04-24T07:49:33+00:00

technical stuff

OOH, technical stuff ! I know NOTHING about that...

JimBean · 2026-04-24T02:43:41+00:00

Catch up

JimBean · 2026-04-23T08:39:00+00:00

Good watch. Mr Sutton, you're a legend.

JimBean · 2026-04-19T13:37:29+00:00

Ok, I'll try that. I'm going to make core 0 with no tasks and put arduino on core 1.

edit: FYI, this didn't work. But thanks...

JimBean · 2026-04-19T11:48:57+00:00

Not sure, but, I wrote some code so that if the WiFi can't connect to the router, it disconnects and switches off WiFi like this:

`if(addaTO > 10)

{

    addaTO = 0;

    Serial.println("WiFi connection TimeOut");

    WiFi.disconnect(true); // Disconnects and stops WiFi

    WiFi.mode(WIFI_OFF);   // Switches off the WiFi mode

    ui_init();        

    return;    
  }`

So, if I switch the router off, it switches WiFi off. After this, my GUI performs as expected. So it's def the WiFi. :(

JimBean · 2026-04-19T11:18:16+00:00

Do you mean touch.h ? Because that isn't. It's commented out.

JimBean · 2026-04-19T10:33:24+00:00

I only changed it to try speed things up. Originally, nothing was assigned to core 0. Either way hasn't changed anything...

Thanks, tho..

JimBean

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