Paul Hetherington

dog breeder

[Paul Hetherington @paulcjh]

I've been hard at work the past few months in SF working on some buy buttons. Today I'm launching my plug-and-play product line that lets you build a robot real fast.

Right now to make a robot you have to stitch together a bunch of different PCBs with jumper cables and wait weeks for blackbox actuators to arrive from China. You spend lots of time debugging why your CAN bus isn’t working, why every actuator performs differently, and meanwhile your wires keep coming loose.

So, I'm making the following:
- RB1: A robot main board powered by an Nvidia Jetson. This handles power distribution, compute, and a bunch more.
- WM1: 2-channel wireless radio for sending video/data making the RB1 remotely controllable over USB-C.
- M1: A pancake BLDC motor machined in-house.
- ACB3: An FOC control board with matching connectors to the RB1. (big brother to ACB v2.0)
- A1/A1m: A planetary/cycloidal actuator powered by the ACB3. (this is on the site in a couple weeks)

Everything is on sale for this week, and shipping begins this spring! As a big thank you to the supporters of ACB v2.0 (and thanks for patience in shipping delays) you can buy the ACB3 for 50% off.

If you like this kind of thing and want to join please DM me, I'm working solo right now and need good folks to join!

[Y Combinator @ycombinator]

HLabs (@hlabs_) is making plug-and-play electronics and actuators for robots domestically in the USA. These products abstract away all of the complexity in designing and controlling a robot's electronics.

Congrats on the launch, @paulcjh!

https://t.co/8p6LYROywW

[Paul Hetherington @paulcjh]

@thelighthouse couple of weeks, and yeah. It's fun

[Paul Hetherington @paulcjh]

ez

[Paul Hetherington @paulcjh]

Needed some helping hands

[Paul Hetherington @paulcjh]

Lots more chips

[Paul Hetherington @paulcjh]

They are fast indeed. Ty @noxmetals

[Paul Hetherington @paulcjh]

@zanehengsperger very good, looking forward to ripping chips out of it all

[Paul Hetherington @paulcjh]

The new space is... Bigger

[Paul Hetherington @paulcjh]

@PatrickETash Thanks!
This wasn't actually cast although I think wax is good for doing that, but it's one wax piece per ring as it's lost in the process

[Paul Hetherington @paulcjh]

I've made a lot of things in my day but this might take 1st place.

When my wife and I got married we'd just had our son and money was tight so I couldn't get her a ring. Over the past few months I learned how to make one.

It's not perfect but boy does it sparkle

[Paul Hetherington @paulcjh]

Originally I wanted a halo with small 1.5mm diamonds (melee diamonds) but after 5 attempts I couldn't set them properly as I couldn't get a small vibrating chisel that you normally need. Dremel was way to inaccurate.

I got some 18kt gold solder paste which melts at a lower temp than regular gold. Bit more bending and cutting and you can start to put pieces together. Just a blow torch and some patience.

I opted for a smaller inner/under halo that I then set the main stone on.

Everything looks trash until you start to file + polish then gaps and rough edges start to go.

[Paul Hetherington @paulcjh]

@observie @timbot Thanks! It's a lot of fun working on this

[Paul Hetherington @paulcjh]

@observie @timbot Oh yes! Will have it out soon, working on a bigger drive ATM but that's next

[Paul Hetherington @paulcjh]

@timbot Thanks a bunch for the support, looking forward to seeing what you do with everything!

[Paul Hetherington @paulcjh]

This is very cool

[Psych0h3ad - JRRF2027 @YuTR0N]

若干線は入るけど許容範囲かな？

稼働はこんな感じ。

[Fondo.com @Fondocom]

🚀 @hlabs_ launched! US-Made Robot Actuators and Electronics

"An ecosystem of US-made plug and play parts to build robots"

🌐 https://t.co/da9ftggHyF

Congrats @paulcjh!!

[Aaron Slodov @aphysicist]

robotics parts supply chain is the next chips war. if we accept "american brain, chinese body", we are giving away the farm. if we were serious we'd be plowing billions of dollars into building massive suppliers right now. there is no alternative.

[Paul Hetherington @paulcjh]

Must... Get... More... Vevor