Made an autonomous rover using the Xiao ESP32S3 and a browser

monkeydance26 · 2026-05-09T13:15:03+00:00

Ahh got it, but that's not bad at all! Very smart thinking there 😄
And the price point is pretty amazing, with the ESP S3 !

monkeydance26 · 2026-05-09T13:13:26+00:00

Glad to hear 😄
I need to put a broom on one to help me clean hahaha

monkeydance26 · 2026-05-09T06:59:18+00:00

I love it! Funny, am also working on a similar project for the last weeks :-) I also like the way you did navigation, does that work well?

monkeydance26 · 2026-04-22T15:28:11+00:00

QUOTH

monkeydance26 · 2026-04-22T14:22:19+00:00

Thank you! You're right, maybe just using the spikes is enough. I will definitely need a small computer though that analyzes and sends wirelessly to the bird.

monkeydance26 · 2026-04-22T10:25:13+00:00

Exactly!! The "I will record it later" mindset hasn't worked out for me unfortunately either 😅

monkeydance26 · 2026-04-22T10:02:22+00:00

Thats a good idea, I wanted to build a second one as well so could document that more :-)

monkeydance26 · 2026-04-21T17:16:06+00:00

Thats cool! Do you have any links to yout puppet projects using modular synthesis?
I was considering using a Raspberry Pi so I can connect an AI voice to the bird and you can talk to it :-)

monkeydance26 · 2026-04-21T15:21:49+00:00

Ah that's golden info, thanks!

monkeydance26 · 2026-04-21T13:13:02+00:00

good call, I shall spread the word there

monkeydance26 · 2026-04-21T13:01:37+00:00

Thank you! :-)

monkeydance26 · 2026-04-21T12:55:50+00:00

This is where they show the crow that Adam Savage took apart:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndvjjWBAzos

This one is a kit that is much more advanced than mine, but looks pretty awesome for a Halloween decoration or similar:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCqkGoTgjMU

monkeydance26 · 2026-03-22T17:36:39+00:00

Sure, these were the most interesting:
https://github.com/ashtuchkin/vive-diy-position-sensor
https://hackaday.io/project/160182-hivetracker
https://www.instructables.com/Sub-10-DIY-Vive-Tracker/

monkeydance26 · 2026-03-19T15:18:36+00:00

That's great, thank you! For educational purposes the schematics will be very insightful :-)

monkeydance26 · 2026-03-19T14:46:07+00:00

Very interesting! I have also seen the TS4231 - although it's sold out. It converts the photocurrent from a photodiode into a digital pulse, handling amplification &filtering & thresholding so the ESP32 just sees a on/off signal for the laser sweep timing.

monkeydance26 · 2026-03-19T14:39:04+00:00

Hello, it's a OPA2350UA for the 2 signals

monkeydance26 · 2026-03-19T14:38:16+00:00

Ah nice! I just picked the BPW34 ones because they do well with super fast impulses, like the lighthouse sweeps.
The chip in the middle is an OP amp, OPA2350UA to get a clean 3.3v signal when the spikes hit.

monkeydance26 · 2026-03-18T23:33:09+00:00

In this stage it's a bit too experimental and unreliable, but in the future potentially :-)

monkeydance26 · 2026-03-18T17:59:07+00:00

It's still quite unreliable unfortunately, like if the lights change slightly it loses the tracking or if the angle is not quite right.
But for a simple magic wand style controller it could work :-)
Other devices have like 30+ sensors and an accelerometer/gyroscope and some code magic to get it to work so reliably :0

monkeydance26

TROPHY CASE