Dev Log #4 – First Balance Tests

This week I made a lot of progress and got the robot fully assembled.

After going through the wiring again, I realized I didn’t actually need the buck converter. Instead, I powered the ESP32 through USB while the battery powers the motors. This made the wiring much simpler and reduced the number of components inside the robot.

With that change, I finished assembling the entire robot in about 4–5 hours. I made a few minor tweaks to the 3D-printed parts to improve the fit of some components, but overall the design worked as planned and everything came together successfully.

Once the hardware was complete, I started testing and tuning the PID controller. This was the first time the robot attempted to balance on its own. After adjusting the PID values through several rounds of testing, I got the robot to balance for around 10–20 seconds before it eventually tipped over. While it’s not stable enough yet, it’s a huge step forward because the control system is working and now only needs further tuning and refinement.