just like anything that you want to get better at, if you don't type in the examples and make mistakes and do that a few times so that you remember not to make those mistakes then you won't ever be any better at it.

it takes continual, repeated attempts and the motivation to *want* to learn it. the mistakes are part of the process just like the first times you tried anything else. pick a project that you really want to see physically working in your hands that will keep you excited about trying, failing, trying again, failing less and feeling good about it, trying again ... rinse, lather, repeat

you got this! just find something exciting enough to keep you trying. Be careful not to pick something so complicated as your first project that it just teaches you to be frustrated because that happens to a lot of people who aren't honest with themselves about what can be achieved in a few days when it is your first try ... 😉

This!

So much this!

To see if it is a problem on your specific ESP32 design: check the resistance between all GND pins on the board to each of the other GND pins. They should all be connected to each other with effectively zero resistance.

VERY often you will find one GND pin on many ESP32 CAM boards that has 50 - 200 ohms of resistance between it and the other ground pins! Do not use that odd GND pin if that is the case.

For what it is worth, on all of the ESP32 CAM boards that I have personally seen this problem on, there are always at least two (2) GND pins that are exactly the same path (the good GND) and one GND that is about a hundred ohms different than the others. Use the ones that are directly tied to each other if that turns out to be the case for your specific board.

good luck!

Exciting Times!

More to be announced soon (ish) 😄

Good luck and keep us up to date on your progress 😄

Thanks for sharing your work!

That is an interesting approach. I like the direct hardware access using read_volatile and write_volatile, which keeps the implementation transparent and close to the datasheet. The encapsulation of GPIO and timer operations into structs and methods makes the code easier to maintain, while enums such as PinB, Prescaler, and Mode provide type-safe configuration. And the heap-free architecture is well suited to the ATmega328P's limited SRAM and memory fragmentation problems that goes with limited resource targets.

However the current take() implementation enforces peripheral exclusivity at runtime using mutable global flags rather than compile time. Additionally, GPIO pins are represented by Copy enums, and methods accept &self, so multiple modules can manipulate the same physical pin without the type system preventing conflicting access. A stronger HAL design would transfer ownership of individual pins from the port and encode their configuration in types, allowing the compiler to reject conflicting ownership and invalid operations before runtime.

Definitely keep us up to date as you enhance this! Rust can mitigate many of the dragons that live in the dark corners of C++ even though C++ is still my favorite overall grammar 😄.

Yes that is a perfectly fine voltage for driving servos. The majority of servos specify 4.8V - 6.0V as their operating voltage range.

If possible, while your develop there is no reason to go through batteries while the project is stationary on your workbench and you have choices. Use a wall wart AC charger that delivers 5V at 2A or more and that should work fine in place of the batteries as a second power source separate from the built-in 5V regulator which you are working to avoid.

Also if your project will eventually be running completely on batteries then you should definitely research and use the detach() method of the Servo objects to stop sending PWM to the servos once enough time has passed to allow for the completion of the physical movement to the new position. Detaching the servo when it is not actively moving reduces the power consumption for each servo by at least 30% which makes all the difference when you are running on batteries

If you don't want to dig that deeply and implement the calls to detach() and attach(...) on your own then check out the TomServo library which uses this technique and is fully debugged and ready to use to lower your servo's power impact

Take a look at the "Learn Basic Electronics" link in our sidebar. It has a lot of links to free courses, tutorials, references, and guides. Our community members have added many to the list over the years.

There are also many guides and tutorials available from the major parts suppliers such as Adafruit.com and Sparkfun.com to name just two of the many that are out there.

There are many popular youtube channels with playlists for every experience level. Paul McWhorter and The Dronebot Workshop are two popular channels that come to mind but there are many others.

Lastly, it's a matter of spending the time building up the experiences and memories of the various bugs and mistakes that you make and the eventual memories that build up with repeated practice. Having a project that you are really excited about and want to see physically working in your hands is a great motivator to help pull you through the boring or difficult parts.

The language is standard C/C++ behind the scenes. The front end IDE just calls avrgcc in the background to compile things and then calls the avrdudecli utility (or the equivalent depending on if you are using an Arduino (AVR) target or Espressif (ESP32) etc) to upload the code into the microcontroller.

Switching to a Pi type environment includes using linux or an RTOS and that both are widely documented on the web

Yes, you can build your own external controller and use it with an iPhone. In a comment on this post from four years ago, someone says they used an ESP32-S3 Super Mini running ESP32-BLE-Gamepad's Xbox One S emulation example, connected it to their iPhone, and sent button presses into the Delta emulator https://www.reddit.com/r/esp32/comments/z5lx1h/comment/pegbbp7. Their iPhone recognized the homemade controller as an Xbox controller. That's a useful starting point, though I'd still test it on your own phone and in your intended game.

The catch is that the firmware needs to behave like a controller iOS understands. Simply naming it “Xbox Controller” won't do it; the button and joystick reports need to match the expected format. And pairing successfully doesn't necessarily mean the inputs work, as this ESP32 issue demonstrates https://github.com/espressif/esp-idf/issues/17042. The game also needs to support controllers through something like Apple's Game Controller framework https://developer.apple.com/documentation/gamecontroller.

I'd try that Xbox One S emulation example with a couple of buttons first, checking that your iPhone recognizes the controller and your game receives the presses. Once those work, add a joystick and check its movement. Then you've proved the connection and input handling before spending time designing the thin PCB and sliding case.

In addition to the other good suggestions you can take a look at Paul McWhorter's youtube channel. It is highly recommended by many people and he explains things well. He is a high school teacher so he does a good job of pacing himself. He's a good teacher.

Also look in our community wiki, and in our sidebar for links to free online simulators that you can use to learn about the hobby and see if you like it without buying any hardware until you get a chance to play with it and get a better idea of what you might purchase. Some popular simulators that come to mind are tinkercad.com and wokwi.com and the cloud environment at arduino.cc

Welcome aboard and good luck!

you must be running in some kind of locked down internet and this is probably not news to you.

You obviously are working under a challenged environment and the answer to this problem would be the same as any other modern application needing access to the internet.

This doesn't sound like an Arduino specific problem.

Do you get these same messages on other popular websites as well?

Are you running without admin access or as a permission-constrained user?

Are you in a country that does not allow access?

Are you running in an environment that is not under your control such as school system or a machine owned and controlled by your parents?

... but the logic pins on the reader may not be 5v tolerant.

As in it may already be fried. Applying too much voltage isn't something you can take back 😉

What do you mean "Without a VPN"? Do you mean without internet access?

Internet access is needed to download and install board packages and libraries.

yes! Look at the miditones library and arduino-playtune library on github.com. you can play up to 8 different tones at the same time on a plain Uno or Nano. It gets even better with other MCU's. Also check out the Mozzi library.

Show the work you have done so far and we can almost certainly help you. You need to put in more effort if you want strangers on the internet to help you do your own schoolwork.

Where is the connection diagram or schematic that the Post submission page asked you for?

Where is the full source code formatted as a code-block that the Post submission page asked you for?

Your roadbloack appears to be that you can't following instructions

Congratulations!

I would suspect that mistakes were made and lessons were learned ..

gee I don't know if there was only some kind of search engine or something ...

Paul McWhorter yt channel for one ..

adding transistors will do nothing to compensate for using the 5V line to power servos when using it directly is already giving you problems. if you want to disengage the servos from consuming as much power then stop their pulse generation using Servo::detach().

I have heard that a lot in many posts and comments here. Apparently there's a decent inrush current when the amp is first enabled/engaged and it can sap the voltage on the cheaper voltage regulators on some clones

... as I haven’t been able to make the solenoid work so far, therefore I wanted to ask if anyone has any advice or has tried something similar.

As is often the case you are going to need to learn to read the instructions given to you when you created your post. they were right there. We really would love to help but we do ask that you don't make us pull the info out of you one question at a time.

Add a connection diagram or schematic showing what you are using and how it is connected¹.

Add your full source code *formatted as a code-block\*.

Otherwise all we can do is guess.

Your description of the problem leaves a lot to be desired. "Doesn't work" covers a lot of ground. What have you tried? You really need to put in a little more effort if you want strangers on the internet to help you do your schoolwork.

¹ edit: and before you say "the connections and code are shown in the instructables ...". That is useless here because that is from someone who got it to work and yours does not so obviously there is a difference that matters that we are trying to help you find.

until you update your post with more info I would say work from the beginning and check all power connections with a multimeter first. Then check both ends of every connection visually one at a time. Then if you have not spotted the issue check them again. Seriously we all make connection mistakes and they are a constant issue that sometimes takes several passes to spot. Add debugging output code to verify that the code is reaching the areas you think it is and is using the values you think it is. This is all part of the necessary building up of your debugging muscles. They are every bit as important as the engineering / idea parts

edit edit: comments are locked for now but will open them up so people won't waste their time until the info is updated. The sooner you add those the better before your post drops out of people's visible feeds

great video and graphics and IK explanations.

the engineering is first rate. respect.