Book Cover
Posted inMisc Robots Systems & Sensors

Book Review: The Design and Engineering of Curiosity

As soon as I saw this book existed on Amazon, I instantly wanted to read it. It is not often that I see a book dedicated to the detailed engineering design of a complex robotic system. The Design and Engineering of Curiosity: How the Mars Rover Performs its Job by Emily Lakdawalla did not disappoint. It is a fascinating read…
Various System Lifecycles DoD ISO
Posted inSystems & Sensors

Systems Engineering & Project Planning

Systems engineering is the part of project management that deals with defining and developing a system (as opposed to contracts and resource allocation). Systems engineering provides the background and definitions so that the next step of project execution can occur. Often there is a cyclical process of looking at requirement definitions from the systems engineer and the execution lead (or…
Fix Bad Code
Posted inSoftware & Algorithms

Software Development Principles

Hi all I have often thought about what the proper software methodology should be for the various robots that I build. My thoughts have evolved over time as I have seen these tool work. I do not have any formal software engineering training, however these are things that I have seen, heard, read, etc.. that I believe in (at 2am…