Get ready to meet ReXP1 Release 1, the Incredible Astro Droid that’s out of this world! We are introducing release 1 and how you can get your hands on the droid. To reproduce or remix.
I’ve put a lot of work into ReXP1 over the last 9 months. It continues to be a fun, though sometimes challenging, project. It contains many components from the subsystems; Wheel drive, Dome rotation, etc to the mechanical body design. The version I took to the Evolve25 conference I’m going to free as Release 1. This is functional as a remotely controlled droid that can move around, responding to ROS2 Twist messages. I will make the transition to working on the next set of features.
The projects I share here are normally open source under MIT or GPLv3 licence, depending on the libraries I’ve used. ReXP1 will be different. Most of the subsystems, so far, are open source and have now moved to my DrJonEA GitHub organisation. The master project that links everything, and includes the full documentation, I’ve made into a sponsored project. That will only be available to those sponsoring the project. You can find more details on my GitHub sponsor page.
ReXP1 sponsorship is cheap at a monthly subscription of 3USD, about the price of a coffee. What do you get for that? Well firstly, my thanks for heping me continue working on the project. Without your support, this can’t continue. Then you get access to:
- PCB Designs – KiCAD and Fabrication files for all of the control boards the RexP1 Rel1 uses
- Firmware – The Firmware source code
- Script – The control scripts to run on the master RaspberryPi 5
- 3D Models – Blender model and STL files for the case and mechanical builds
- BOM – List of all the components, hopefully complete
- Forum – to ask questions
Using the project, you could reproduce ReXP1 or remix it into your own exciting project. Ask me questions and share ideas for the future version of the projects. Subscribe for as long as you wish, one month or more. I look forward to meeting you in this new channel to my work.
Find out more in these Video Playlists:
- “RexP1: Star Wars Inspired Astro Droid” – Deep dives into the design and concepts
- “Astro Droid: Inside Builder’s Story” – Shorter #insider updates, more like casual dev diaries capturing in-the-moment progress
