smartknob VS CygnusX1

...it's a spring and a servo. Or a brushless motor.

https://github.com/scottbez1/smartknob

...or any not-bottom-end-of-market steering wheel for driving video games.

I made a rotary input device that provides software-defined "virtual" detents and end-stops, implemented using a BLDC gimbal motor. It can dynamically switch from completely smooth unbounded rotation, to having detents with configurable spacing and strength and "end-stops" that spring back if you try to rotate past them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ip641WmY4pA

It's got a round LCD on the front of the knob (wired and supported via the hollow shaft of the motor) and uses the flex of the PCB and strain gauge sensors (in the latest revision, simply SMD resistors whose resistance changes when stretched) to detect when the knob is pressed down.

It's open source hardware and software - https://github.com/scottbez1/smartknob

HN folks might appreciate that it communicates with host software on the computer via protobuf-encoded USB serial messages -- nanopb is awesome for embedded C protobuf support, and having the defined schema, autogenerated serialization code, and compile-time type safety is so much nicer than ArduinoJson or hand-written binary protocols!

I'd love to get it hooked up to some real software eventually (video editors or home-assistant control are my 2 main ideas), but it's really just been a fun project to tinker with and try out some new ideas and parts I've never used before.

GitHub

I'm trying to design a smartknob based off Scottbez1's design (https://github.com/scottbez1/smartknob), but with a stripped down feature set. However I can't seem to get the magnetic sensor to work properly - it's an MT6701 connected to an ESP32 via SSI.

Thank you so, so much for finding it. Unfortunately on eBay its not cheaper and ali doesn't have it cheaper either. It looks like an out of production item, like when I wanted to make this https://github.com/scottbez1/smartknob and it was gone except when sparkfun got a few.

A thrust vectoring rocket! It was my sanity project during the pandemic. Flew many times and even flew two stages with slight software mods:

https://github.com/AdamMarciniak/CygnusX1

BPS Space is what got me into building my own thrust vectoring rocket during COVID lockdowns.

https://github.com/AdamMarciniak/CygnusX1

It was super fun to bring together lots of different disciplines and skills. 3D printing, software, soldering, circuit design, simulation etc.

Ultimately, I got so obsessed with it I got burned out and had to take a break for a bit but came back fresh and finished it. Did a few flights over the year with more and more interesting things culminating in a dual stage flight. I've still got the rocket ready to go anytime. Just gotta wait for the weather to clear up.

On the topic of rocket flight computers, here's a link to an FC I built last year for my model rocket. It does thrust vectoring and some rudimentary navigation. The control loops on this thing run at 200hz though. It's got a state machine for knowing what to do at each stage of flight as well.

https://github.com/polishdude20/CygnusX1

https://github.com/polishdude20/CygnusX1

This uses a simple PID controller to bring the rocket to any angle you want from an initial angle. There's a lot of settings that can be changed and variables to play around with. Right now, It's configured to do sort of what starlink does during it's flip maneuver.

Anyways just thought I'd share!