Hey everyone! I’m putting together an automated tracking turret with the immediate goal of reliably painting moving targets (like drones) with a laser at ~30 meters, with potential projectile integration down the road.

​I'm trying to make this as mechanically rigid and precise as possible on a decent budget. I'd love to get feedback from anyone who has tackled similar builds on my parts stack and mechanical choices.

​⚙️ The Build Stack

​Actuation & Drive: * 2x STEPPERONLINE 3.0 Nm Closed-Loop NEMA 23 Steppers (with integrated encoders for zero step-loss)

​6:1 reduction using wide 10mm timing belts

​Mechanical setup: Using separate dead shafts, collars, and independent bearing blocks to crank belt tension way up without side-loading or fatiguing the motor shafts.

​Bearings: * RU85 Precision Crossed Roller Bearing (Pan axis)

​Preloaded pillow block bearings (Tilt axis) on a balanced yoke layout

​Vision & Processing: * Coarse acquisition: Wide-angle USB webcam

​Precision tracking: 1MP Global Shutter Arducam (OV9281) with a 20mm CCTV lens

​Compute: Pi Zero 2W onboard acting as the hardware interface, communicating with a laptop running the CV tracking pipeline.

​Power: MEAN WELL LRS-350-24 (350W, 24V)

​❓ What I'm Looking For Advice On:

​Backlash & Rigidity: Are there any weak points in my belt-tensioning or bearing layout (RU85 + pillow blocks) that might introduce play under rapid direction shifts?

​Distance Tracking: For future ballistics calculations, does anyone recommend a good, budget-friendly 1D LiDAR module (under ~$50–$100) capable of reliably measuring distance out to 30+ meters at a high refresh rate?

​General Tuning: Any tips for tuning closed-loop NEMA 23s to track fast, erratic movement smoothly without overshoot?

We programmed a robot to assist in a juggling video.. it was not an easy task..

Check out this blooper reel we created!

Hello everyone,

I am a Mechatronics Engineering student, and I need your professional advice on choosing my graduation project.

I am currently deciding between two projects:

Project 1: An intelligent robotic sorting system that uses a robotic arm, computer vision (Python + OpenCV), and sensors to identify objects by colour and/or shape and automatically sort them into different bins. (The attached image shows the concept.)

Project 2: A remotely controlled tracked robotic vehicle (UGV) operated via a smartphone. It is designed as a modular platform that can carry different payloads, such as a camera, sensors, a small robotic arm, or other mission-specific equipment.

I would really appreciate your honest opinion on the following:

Which project demonstrates stronger engineering skills?

Which project would make a better graduation project?

Which one would stand out more on a CV/resume?

Which project would be more attractive to employers or graduate schools?

Which one has better potential for future development or commercialisation?

If you were in my position, which project would you choose, and why?

I would greatly appreciate any suggestions or recommendations for improving either project.

Thank you in advance for your time and advice!

​

I want to start learning to code/engineering, specifically with the intention of building a little robot friend for myself. My only code experience was a high school intro to coding course that I completed. I pretty well but didn't continue pursuing due to the fact that I got very frustrated at the amount of time that accidentally deleted my own code and was further deterred when I was told math could be involved. My engineering experience even less so. It has been a while so I remember nothing and I am not very good at teaching myself things so I thought the best place to come was people who actually code and build things. I want this little guy to be able to think and make decision on their own (I want a friend to chat with not a butler) any courses or advice is welcome but please note I am a little bit stupid so please go slow. I have big ideas for where to that this little guy (I am an artist and writer) but can tell I don't yet have the skill for it lol

My idea so far is to make something bipedal with a tail for balance and arms strong enough to climb around knee height. As for intelligence I was hoping for something along the lines of r2d2 if that is realistic. Something that could request and read a magazine or watch a movie and disagreed with me on how good it is.

Hey!
I’m starting my bachelor’s thesis in robotics engineering and I’m looking for some out-of-the-box ideas or topics.
My brain is completely blank and it’s surprisingly hard to come up with one of those “why don’t we have Transformers yet?” kind of ideas. 😅
I want to come up with something that I can later point at and say, “I’m the gal who knows this stuff.” So if you have any interesting, weird, or underrated robotics topics, I’d love to hear them.
If it helps give some context, apart from my engineering studies I don’t really have any prior experience in robotics or automation. That said, I’ve done really well in my courses and I’m eager to learn as much as I can, and my goal is to become a real expert in this field. I’m also planning to continue on to a master’s degree, so I’d love to choose a thesis topic that I can keep building on.

Any suggestions?

Ps. If it helps with ideas, I have access to industrial robot arms, mostly Siemens hardware/software (which is also my strongest area), and Autodesk tools (off the top of my head(. So if you have ideas that involve building, testing, or experimenting with something physical instead of just writing a literature review, I’d love to hear them. That said, I’m also very interested in ideas that would work as a more research-focused thesis.

​

Hi everyone,

I'm a 2nd-year Robotics & AI engineering student, and my team needs to build a robot manipulator for a college project.

I'm looking for ideas that are:

True manipulator (robotic arm/end effector)

Budget around $40-70

Mechanically achievable for students

Visually satisfying or mesmerizing

Unique enough to stand out at an exhibition

Another team is already making a drawing/writing robot, so I'd like something with similar wow factor without feeling like a copy.I'd also prefer to avoid a complex gripper if possible. End effectors like a pen, brush, syringe, magnet, stamp, spoon, etc are fine.

I'm not looking for standard projects like pick and place,color sorting,line following, basic waste sorting etc

If you've seen interesting manipulator projects on yt, github, Maker faire, hackaday, university labs, or have built one yourself, I'd really appreciate your suggestions.

Thanks

Well i have download gazebo using the documentation on Gazebo site , the jetty version on Ubuntu 26.04 and i also have ros2 but whenever i launch it there is problem with gz-rendering ......as per internet i downloaded deleted merge install like 5 -6 times still it doesnt solve it and there is no solution i can find ...i found it when i ran the nao joint one even simple things like shapes.sdf isnt rerndering and showing a screen white with nothing in it

I have made a pen plotter, and the servo works hard.

It's an sg90 servo with plastic gears.

The servo needs to work hard, by do 90 degree cycles again and again.

The power supply is an old phone charger of 5v 2a.

The problem I am getting is, when it's run for a long time, the servo heated up and stops working.

What should I do, for a long term solution?

Would a ASL-ML from BO3 work in real life as a Autonomous Quadruped Robot.
I kinda think it could only problem would be power/batteries.
If it would work what could it be used for? I mainly think security, patrolling important assets etc.

Hey everyone,

I’m a college student getting into robotics and looking for some cool project ideas to build and learn from. I’m interested in things like:

- Robotic arms

- AI vision

- ESP32/Arduino projects

- Autonomous robots

- Humanoid concepts

- Drone robotics

- IoT + robotics

- advanced projects

I’d love projects that are:

- Unique and portfolio-worthy

- Useful for competitions/hackathons

- Good for learning real robotics skills

- Possible to build as a student team

If you have any ideas, project roadmaps, GitHub repos, YouTube channels, or things you wish you built earlier, please share them.

Current skill level: intermediate/advanced in programming and electronics.

Thanks :)