After a busy, busy May, June has been a bit more relaxing. May was filled with events, not just with R2, and pretty much drained my (and R2's) batteries.
Got a few events coming up on the buildup to the big R2UK event in August, and a list of ideas for R2.
Until recently I was considering building another droid (as well as BB8), but with recent occurrences in my non-R2 life I've decided against it and have gone into a bit of a money saving mode. So, what does that mean? It means actually doing all the upgrades to R2 that I've been planning for ages and have all the kit for, but never got round to doing!
Currently, adding new devices (lights, servos, etc.) involves writing a library and including that in the main code. I'd like to see if I can make each device a module which can be enabled and adds the commands dynamically to the REST API. Not sure how to do this yet, but part of the reason for doing my own control system was to learn some more difficult aspects of coding.
I want to actually utilise the REST API a bit more. One thought is a wifi knock or capacitive sensor installed in the dome that connects to R2's hotspot to detect hands or whatever and play a sound via the API.
After the Legoland event, I had to totally replace (and upgrade) R2's brain. However, I only did the bare install and didn't set up the extras in him such as the wifi hotspot, etc. I want to get this working properly to make debugging a lot easier.
Another device for the dome, something to generate a load of smoke and that can be triggered via the API. This way I should be able to do a script to flap panels, play a sound, and release some smoke.
Theres loads of other general improvements to be made too, minor repairs and such like. I've also got a new set of foot shells to put on which should make swapping and maintaining the drives a lot easier than it is now.
Yes, I know I said I'm not going to build another droid. By that I meant astromech. I'll finish off BB8's dome at some point, with some electronics in the eyes which I've already got. Got ideas to extend the normal setup of electronics to make him more dynamic.
My other thought was to produce a MSE droid. Something a bit fun and a lot cheaper than a full sized astromech. I also want to add features to it that I've not seen on other droids such as smoke, opening doors, maybe even a bit of AI for automated roving? Still 100% on the drawing board, and plenty of other non-astromech/droid related projects to do around the house, but it is something I'd like to do.
Apart from all that, got other Starfury events to help out at, and that nasty thing called Real Work to do to keep the money coming in.