3/6/2026 - started modeling the project

today i started the project yay. so i started designing the rotation plate and how its going to be. i still need to figure things out but its a start so ill continue untill its done

3/7/2026 - Turret Mechanism Redesign

I redesigned the turret base today to remove the friction between the base and the gear, so i changed how its build to work with a 10cm radius bearing. I replaced the oversized brushless motors with a micro servo .

I also put the capsule slip ring in the shaft to allow for continuous rotation without any problems. i couldn't find the model online so i have to mode the slip ring myself based on manufacturer dimensions.

3/8/2026 - Turret Sensor System

Its realy starting to look like a functioning turret i continued working on the cad and how i want to see it fit. right now its just the prototiping state for the head still not sure how i want to put the tof sensor with the cameras and the leds. i might use a pcb for it. i guess we will see.

3/9/2026 11 AM - Turret PCB

Today i build my first PCB yay. i learned a lot about how its done and i'm happy with how it turned up but apparently i mistaken the diameter with the radios so ill need to change it later yay.

3/9/2026 3 PM - Final PCB Layout and 3D Verification

Today I finished the main part of the board with the real diameter and not the mistaken one in the last journal. now its realy loading into the cad correctly still haven't checked everything but i'm happy with how the design turned out. :)

3/10/2026 - Final steps in cad

i implemented a new 12v design using USB-C PD trigger for easy powering of the device and one port use
also added the driver for the motor and enclouse for the servo and many other things. also i need to fix things in the cad before its done but i think ill start working on different thing now

3/12/2026 - Final steps

so today i was working on a lot of stuff. first i decited what would be the final circits for the build.
i wanted to target the 100$ mark. not to expensive and not too cheap. because the size it was hard to get it less from it. so after a lot of searching here is the final product list
Hobbywing Skywalker 12A
Emax ECO 1407 Motor 2800KV
Ptk 7308h
slip ring 6.5mm 8ch a1
USB-C PD PD/QC Decoy Board
Mini360 buck convertor
XIAO ESP32-S3 Sense (Pre-Soldered)
Adafruit VL53L4CX
all get me near 100$.
for the pcb i still haven't decited but soon
im probebly going to start coding soon so wish me luck.

3/14/2026 - Prograss with the code

i decited that the pcb should be fabricated in elecrow because they have the cheapst shiping to my country
also i started working on all the code for the project.
in that i chose to use bluetooth for manual control radio for streaming the video feed and for seeing the detections and fastled for the led control

3/15/2026 - code all well and done. time for the finale

so after a long day of coding. trying every trick in the book to optimize the capturing of the xaio s3 server and pipeline using udp camera stream server and a local rgb565 hsv color pipeline for detection of objects. so now all done . i'm happy with how it turned up seems like i'm in the final stretch of the project

3/16/2026 11 AM - Final cad design changes

after finishing the code example i returned to check the cad one last time before submiting the project but found out that the gears were to big and hit the turret motor.
after careful thinking and a lot of trying and errors i found out that oring design for this size will be the best for moving the head and so i did and imroved the amount of parts to increase the cad performance

3/16/2026 1 PM - The final layout

this is just a post to show the final layout i finished in the assemebly nothing more. i want to hear opinions of is it looking good is there anything that might be wrong and if is everything .

3/18/2026 - Sanity checked

so yesturday i got sanity checked on my cad i needed to widthen the joints on the 3d print and fix the motor positioning in the cad also to better demonstrate the camera i added the right cad model this time .

3/25/2026 - organizing sketch

before review just do a few changes to make it the design better. so i organized the design of the sketch of the PCB a bit now it looks better hoppfuly it will pass

3/26/2026 - Optimising cost

after the project was return and was changed to tier 3 i had to compremise a little. so i worked hard to keep the quality of the build and i found 2 ways to improve the price
found a very cheap servo from plastic instead of metal that could do the same things in the size
and reduce the slip ring size to reduce the slip ring size to go into the 100$ badget with the 1$ pcb offer in aivon for new consumers

3/27/2026 - Updating servo model based on internet sizes.

so i continued working to be sure that everything is alright with the new motor being added to the build so after a long time i modefied the build a bit and it should all work

3/31/2026 - switch servo again

last time i updated the bom table to include a plastic doule bearing plastic servo. back then i also know about a very simular in size and price metal servo with a single bearing. i kinda considered both of them and because i didn't had a lot of time to decite chose the plastic one. but after checking i think the metal one will be better for the project. it cost less and will survive for longer

5/11/2026 - got package

So i started building the project. Today i spent around 2 hours trying to understand how am i supposed to soder this tiny thing. But eventually managed .
Also i printed some of the parts but some need a redesign so ill update on that later