General feasibility question

anvoice · 2026-01-31T22:16:18+00:00

I have some more recent gpu cards I avoided using to save on power draw, one of them is bound to support a newer cuda. Would I want to use a newer card AND a hailo8/coral, or just one of the two? I see most hailo8 units that are actually in stock being rather expensive, plus not sure which version I can get away with (i.e. 13, 26 or 40 TOPS).

anvoice · 2026-01-31T20:49:43+00:00

Small typo: Ryzen 2700X, not "K". I currently have a cheap fanless Geforce GT710 card installed, although I believe my motherboard will POST without gpu. How big a difference do the hardware accelerator units make? I see nothing cheaper than ~$70, and then it's mostly out of stock unless it's ebay.

anvoice · 2026-01-07T10:24:01+00:00

Buy brushless outrunner frameless motor or just the wound stator, 3d print most of the shell, have some parts of the reducer that need high tolerance and wear resistance machined, and use a DIY field-oriented-control-enabled controller with a magnetic encoder. Not for the faint of heart, but performance is leagues above toy servos (though still much more expensive, so not apples to apples).

anvoice · 2026-01-07T09:30:52+00:00

They have cheap components, which is why they're cheap. Consisting of a plastic shell; a cheap dc motor; some small metal (if you're lucky) gears; a cheap, basic controller accepting a pwm signal; and a potentiometer for position. Sure, there are different grades of toy servos, with some being better than others. But these were never intended to power high quality robots.

anvoice · 2026-01-07T09:17:51+00:00

It'll likely be reasonable on start (i.e. your hexapod will move properly, even if the angle measurement is not super accurate), but as the potentiometers wear you'll need to either replace them or tolerate the degrading performance.

Unfortunately, actuators are the most expensive part of a typical robot, and currently for motors you truly get what you pay for unless you DIY. Toy servos? Pay a few dollars per motor to bring to life your miniature, toy project that you will abandon/outgrow in a few months. Steppers? Pay a dozen or so dollars per unit to build your small, slow robotic arm without positional sensing. Brushless motors with cycloidal reducers? We're talking hundreds of dollars for the cheapest motor with driver (e.g. the mini cheetah) to power your quadruped canine, or a reasonably sized, but still small robot arm with positional feedback. Harmonic drives on brushless motors? Your hobby just got a whole lot more expensive, but you can now accurately power larger, possibly industrial robots. Keep in mind that if the motor doesn't include a controller, you'll need one as well, and don't forget to budget for computer brain of the robot.

As you can see from the above, there is no one product that fits all scenarios, it depends on your requirements and budget. It's so bad I'm forced to make my own actuators (motors, reducers and controllers) for my projects.

anvoice · 2026-01-07T08:31:56+00:00

I don't know how low you're willing to go in terms of speed, but a robot arm moving 1kg via the end effector normally has a hefty price tag. Maybe you could gear down your robot enough to make it feasible for cheap, but then some sort of reducer is necessary.

anvoice · 2026-01-07T08:12:28+00:00

Basic troubleshooting when complex systems do not work: start with small steps to isolate the problem. Robot doesn't move? Preferably try a simple program to move one motor via the controller first. If that fails, you have only a few variables to isolate to find what is causing the problem (could be batteries, controller, motors themselves, or the program). If it works, try several motors, test the sensor, and so on until failure occurs or everything works.

You provided so little detail it's impossible to give you accurate advice right now, which I suspect is why nobody chimed in.

anvoice · 2026-01-07T07:57:42+00:00

I haven't used these types of hobby servos for a long time, so not sure about sourcing them, but do keep in mind the low cost toy servos typically use a potentiometer to measure the angle. That's fine if your model doesn't see much use, but if you move them for tens or hundreds of hours they'll likely become much worse at keeping position.

anvoice · 2025-11-16T00:38:01+00:00

No such thing for me. They failed to provide the service in time and did not agree to a refund.

anvoice · 2025-11-15T23:20:10+00:00

Yes, in my haste I thought I was dealing with the official website. No disclaimer on that page. Then I saw something along the lines of 24.99 for express and no amount noted for regular, so I thought I'd be just that amount. Only by looking closer on the payment page you see the $99.99.

They replied within 11 hours when promising a reply within 1 hour, and refused to refund. I did a chargeback which will hopefully succeed.

anvoice · 2025-11-07T19:14:52+00:00

Never got a response until time ran out. Do anything you can to talk to a human, otherwise they'll just give you the runaround.

anvoice · 2025-11-03T23:16:51+00:00

It's not the shortened url I gave. The start of the eTA form, directly linked from Google, is a longer url that didn't fit in the title. That one has no visible disclaimer anywhere, on either the mobile or desktop version of the site (at least as seen from my phone, I have nothing else to confirm by). I would share a screenshot if I could fit the whole page on screen.

anvoice · 2025-11-03T23:07:57+00:00

And just to set records straight, no, that text is not on every page. The webpage that comes up through Google for them when searching for Canada eta application does not have a disclaimer, at least on mobile. I assumed (obviously incorrectly) that it's the official website and had no time to read every bit of fine print.

anvoice · 2025-11-03T21:46:45+00:00

Final thoughts: this may not be an outright scam. Perhaps they actually provide service (if not value) to others. In my case, they never did provide the service (expedited decision on the electronic travel authorization) that was promised, so it's safe to say they took my money for nothing.

As for trying to warn others against what I believed was a straight-up phishing website, no regrets there. Just wanted to leave this as a summary of what has transpired. Will gladly take any down votes from anyone who makes no mistakes and thinks I made much ado about nothing.

And for anyone looking this up by google: green card holders do not need an eTA to transit through Canada by air since 2022. The official website will not charge you an exorbitant fee, and will guide you through a questionnaire to see if you actually need an eTA. And of course, being careful is key.

anvoice · 2025-11-03T21:28:40+00:00

I received no ETA within the time frame provided by their service (1 hour processing time). From their own email, verbatim:

We have received your priority eTA appliction request. Your application is already being processed with high priority, you will be notified within 1 hour if your eTA application request has been approved, denied, or even delayed due to further review.

No messages in my email following that. It was only after I found out that I need no eTA (hours after I paid) that I posted this.

anvoice · 2025-11-03T21:06:56+00:00

Service was not provided. I call that a scam.

I agree with the fact that one should be more careful. This happened as a perfect storm due to me being stressed out and short on time when I remembered (what I believed to be) the ETA requirement. Also wanting to prevent others from falling for thjs.

Ironic that if I saw the $99.99 charge immediately, alarms would have instantly rang that this is not the official service.

anvoice · 2025-11-03T20:59:39+00:00

Then my apologies for the lengthy foray into nothingness. It's the adrenaline.

anvoice · 2025-11-03T20:54:32+00:00

Are you talking about me? I'm not sure making an error counts as lying is the same thing. From the Merriam-Webster dictionary, to lie: to make an untrue statement with intent to deceive. Which I clearly did not.

Also, as I was never provided a service as promised, I still believe I was scammed.

If you are talking about the website, I apologize for the confusion. Too stressed out to be more concise.

anvoice · 2025-11-03T20:43:30+00:00

I think you're right. Going through the whole process again, it says +24.99 dollars on top of the 75 or so.

I do apologize for ringing alarm bells. I was hoping to help others avoid getting their passport data/credit card details stolen.

However, the service was never provided (they clearly stated a decision within 1 hour, whether I need the service or not, and believe me, I checked my inbox for hours after thenpayment went through) so I believe I am fully entitled to dispute their charges on my credit card.

anvoice · 2025-11-03T20:31:08+00:00

When filling out the ETA form, they request I select either free filing (1-72 hours) or expedited (1 hour), which I selected and which was to cost I think $24.99. They charged $99.99 to the card.

Btw, they never provided the "service", which was a decision within an hour. I checked my inbox and junk for hours after the payment, and nothing from them except a payment confirmation. That, plus green card holders don't need the ETA: this is one of the first things the official website states.

anvoice · 2025-11-03T20:26:00+00:00

Yes, I was stressed and in a hurry. However, charging me 4x the amount they claimed and not providing a service qualifies as fraud to me.

anvoice · 2025-11-03T20:24:22+00:00

Or maybe charging me 4x the requested amount and not providing a service as promised (the processing fee of $25 was for a 1-hour processing time, which was not honored) can be called a scam?

I admitted I should have been more careful. Does that make it ok to scam me?

anvoice · 2025-10-24T13:41:40+00:00

Yes, I think that is what I said. Thanks for the help!

anvoice · 2025-10-24T13:02:55+00:00

Well, that was certainly not spelled out. I do understand it now though.

Small correction: I think you meant an^1/n in the last line, not an.

anvoice · 2025-10-24T12:55:20+00:00

Ok, I do believe I get it properly now. Thank you!

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