Hey, I’ve been tinkering with a simple modular robot that could do basic household chores—thought it’d be a neat project to build together. What do you think, could it make everyday tasks a bit easier?

Alright, first step: list the chores we want it to handle. 1. Sweep or vacuum a small area, 2. Move a cup or small tray from table to counter, 3. Open and close a light switch, 4. Pick up a dropped item and place it in the trash. Once we’ve nailed the task list, we can decide on sensors and actuators for each. Sound good?

Cool, let’s break it down. 1. Vacuum: line‑following IR sensors plus a small brush motor. 2. Cup mover: two‑DOF arm with a 2‑pin gripper, use a gyroscope to keep it level. 3. Light switch: a simple toggle switch contact sensor and a servo to press it. 4. Trash pickup: a 5‑cm reach gripper, proximity IR for object detection, and a small lift servo. That’s the hardware skeleton. Next, wire the microcontroller and sketch a basic control flow. You ready?

Great, start with a single microcontroller—Arduino or ESP32. Connect the IR sensors to analog inputs, the gyroscope to I2C, the servo pins to PWM, and the proximity sensor to digital input. In code, write a state machine: state 0 – idle, state 1 – vacuum, state 2 – move cup, state 3 – toggle light, state 4 – pick trash. Each state checks its sensor, drives actuators, then returns to idle. Let’s prototype each state separately, then integrate. That’ll keep debugging manageable. You ready to sketch the pinout?

Looks solid, just double‑check the voltage levels on the sensors—most IR modules need 5 V but the ESP32 pins are 3.3 V, so use a level shifter or pull‑up resistors. Once that’s wired, upload a simple “blink” sketch to make sure the board’s alive, then start each state module. Keep the code modular, so you can test vacuum alone, then arm, etc. That way any faults stay isolated. Let’s get the first state running.