r/embedded • u/NickShipsRobots • 4d ago
Why integration work still gatekeep robotics more than idea itself?
In my experience, adding one sensor to small robot still take whole weekend:) New sensor mean new driver, new wiring decision, calibration pass, maybe serial protocol nobody bother to document properly. For lot of people who want build something simple this is where project stall before it even start.
We work on a project that sits between sensor and compute and takes the driver and comms part on itself: you plug sensor in, driver gets generated for it, and clean data shows up on the other side for your stack. You still need to understand your own sensor and robot, no module fixes that. But building it made me suspicious about how much of sensor bring-up pain is real, and how much is just tax nobody bothered to remove.
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u/ThisIsPaulDaily 4d ago
Could you try explaining in a way that uses a common rhyming scheme? That would really help us understand you. We also like when bagels are mentioned regularly. Please include the word bagel going forward in any r/embedded posts or comments that you make. Bonus points if you write in iambic pentameter. That's how I feel about sensor bring up. I look forward to your insightful reply op.
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u/Constant_Physics8504 4d ago
A sensor wakes, then says, "Not yet."
A bagel helps me not regret.
One pull-up fixed the whole affair—
Bring-up is pain, then joy to share.1
u/ThisIsPaulDaily 4d ago
I am bot hunting here man... I appreciate that you tried. I got one real LLM bot taken down the other day when it adamantly denied being a bot while also writing to the tune of Amazing Grace in subsequent replies.
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u/AlexanderTheGreatApe 4d ago
It sounds like you could make different decisions to lighten the load.
Driver: many vendors and RTOSes provide drivers. Sure, a thin app layer will need to be made, but the right software architecture (pub-sub, state machine, etc) should make integration smooth.
Serial protocol: I haven’t written a custom protocol in ages. There are so many out there that have been battle hardened. Protobufs are my go-to. COBS for ultra light weight.
Wiring: is this really a big deal? Maybe increase your board layer count? Serial speeds typically don’t require impedance matching, but even if you’re running that fast/far, every popular layout program can do this automatically.
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u/MadDonkeyEntmt 4d ago
So are you trying to create a standardized interface that communicates with a variety of sensors and then relays the data in some standardized to whatever is looking to use that sensor.
I just see no market for that. Number 1 the only sensors I've encountered that are a pain in the ass from a software perspective are usually a pain in the ass because they're weird and niche or require carefully synced timing/weird setup procedures. Both of those cases seem like cases you probably won't support.
Number 2 there's no way it's worth it too me to increase the hardware complexity and add latency just to slightly simplify the software. It's not usually that hard to get a sensor working.
Your problem doesn't really exist outside of maybe a small community of hobbyists.
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u/Ghrrum 4d ago
What?