BlinkThorLabsA Week Teaching MentorPi to Follow a Line (And Actually Understanding Why It Works)
Monday to Friday, one road mat, one stubborn ceiling light, and the moment lane_detect.py finally made sense.
Projects & Demos
Prototype builds, weekend hacks, and the first time a demo actually drives itself.
Building MentorPi-A1: From a Box of 3D-Printed Parts to a Robot That Drives Itself
Ackermann chassis, ROS2 on a Raspberry Pi 5, and the specific joy of hearing a buzzer confirm your first boot actually worked.
The Model Was Right and I Wasn't: A Steering Story About Trusting Simulink Over Instinct
I was ready to blame the servo. The model had been telling me it was something else for two days.
Building a HIL Rig for MentorPi-A1's Battery Pack, and What It Caught Before We Ever Charged It
The real cell arrived three weeks late. By the time it showed up, the simulated one had already failed on us four times — for free.
Demo Day: Our ADAS Prototype's First Real Road Test
Live, present tense, as it happens. Months of bench and simulation come down to the next ninety seconds.
What We Actually Look For When Hiring an Embedded Automotive Engineer
A candid Q&A with one of our senior engineering leads, who's sat on the other side of this table more times than he can count.
Traffic Sign Recognition From Scratch: Dataset to Deployed Model in One Weekend
Saturday morning optimism, Saturday night driver hell, and a Sunday afternoon demo that actually worked.
Building MeKongBot: A Full-Stack ADAS Robot on a Hobbyist Budget
Perception, planning, vehicle control, safety logic, and HMI — at 1/10 scale, on a desk, without touching a real car.