Month: August 2023

Mechatronics, Software Engineering, Woodworking, and "Making" in General

When to use Django vs Flask

Companies that use Flask and Django Some popular sites/companies that use Flask and Django are: : https://djangostars.com/blog/10-popular-sites-made-on-django/: https://careerkarma.com/blog/companies-that-use-flask/: https://www.mygreatlearning.com/blog/flask-vs-django/: https://github.com/rochacbruno/flask-powered

ChatGPT: Software Skills for Mechatronics Engineers

I recently asked a LLM: “What are pieces of software or programming languages one should learn to improve mechatronics skillset?” The response (unedited): Some good software or coding languages for someone to learn to get better at mechatronics are:

Less-Common Locomotion Options for Robots

What are some of the uncommon methods of motion for a robot? What are some examples, pros, and cons of each? Robots are usually designed to move in ways that are similar to humans or animals, such as walking, running, crawling, or flying. However, there are some robots that use unconventional methods of motion that…
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Common Methods of Ground Motion for Robotics

Robots are machines that can perform tasks autonomously or semi-autonomously, often in complex or hazardous environments. One of the key aspects of robot design is how the robot moves, or its locomotion. In this blog post, we will explore some of the main methods of motion for robots, and discuss some examples, pros, and cons…
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When to build a component library (and when not to)

One of the common questions that React developers face is whether they should build a component library for their applications or not. A component library is a collection of reusable UI elements that can be shared across different projects and teams. Building a component library can have many benefits, such as: However, building a component…
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Future of Application Development (as Forecasted by Bing’s Chat-GPT model)

This blog was is intended as a bit of an experiment. I gave Bing’s built-in interface a prompt: “what is the future of application development? how, if at all, will humans be involved in the loop?“ One interesting feature is that the Bing interface allows the user to “regenerate” a draft using the same prompt.…
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Chat GPT Impact, Releases, Pricing

Chat GPT is a family of natural language processing models that can generate coherent and fluent text from a given prompt or context. Chat GPT has had a significant impact on the AI/ML industry, especially for startups, in several ways. Some of the impacts are: Some new startups gaining traction that use ChatGPT or other…
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What are Large Language Models (LLMs)? What are they used for?

Large language models (LLMs) are a type of artificial intelligence system that can process and generate natural language texts. They are trained on massive amounts of text data, such as books, articles, social media posts, and web pages, and learn to capture the patterns and structures of natural language. Some of the main types of…
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GY-521 Gyro + Accelerometer with Arduino

Why use a Gyroscope or Accelerometer? In this blog post, I will explain what gyroscopes and accelerometers are and how they are used in mechatronics applications. Gyroscopes and accelerometers are types of inertial sensors that measure motion in different ways. They are often used together to provide more accurate and complete information about the orientation…
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FPV Quick Start

Simple FPV Setup

Quick Setup Camera NOTE: Be careful/mindful — the 200mW power from this particular transmitter has extremely poor thermal management, it will get hot enough to burn skin Camera specifications: As the “Frequency” specification suggests, there is a range of frequencies supported. To change frequencies, press the button according to the specification below. Camera/Transmitter “Positives” Camera/Transmitter…
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