Hi I'm Sam - Rosmo robot

@sam_uk I followed your github link and see you are selling parts. These parts range from custom PCB's, to industry standard stand offs. The part of great concern is the 'powerbank'. I assume that is a Lithium battery, and if it is, my country at least either forbids or exercises great control over the shipping and importation of those devices.

So that is two problems as I see it, the Lithium issue, and re-selling trivial parts like standoffs.

Although the forum has no written rule re selling items here (it has been done, but rarely) it is somewhat out of context for a group of hobbyists.

What caught my eye quickly was your admission to selling the finished product on Tindie and then I think you are asking for someone to write some code for you, or at least providing ongoing support.

I think you need to at least be more specific and also understand what is in good taste and what is not here.

I hope you understand my concerns, but I am only one member and not an Admin.

I went to your link re some ideas. I did a screen grab of a small part of it. I encourage others to check it out. In my humble opinion, this is a job, not a hobby.

Hi Ron, I'm not exactly selling parts, I've got a BOM list with links off to where you can buy the parts.

I won't be selling a finished product on Tindie, but I do hope to sell the assembled PCBs that users can use to assemble their own robot. using the BOM The reason for this is accessibility, I see lot's of open hardware projects that are not accessible to the 'average user' they often assume at least one of;

- You're comfortable ordering PCB's

- You need at least five PCBs

- You own a soldering iron

- You know how to solder

- You own a 3Dprinter.

I think most of those statements are not true for the 'average' user. Not that there's anything wrong with learning to solder of course, but probably only a small subset of people are interested in that. This means the open hardware projects are not accessible and people end up assembling something out of proprietary bits.

In terms of Lithium different countries have different rules, it may be more appropriate for you to buy a powerbank locally in a physical store if that's a concern for you. I'll add a bit of text about that.

I am seeking collaborators for the code (and hardware) side as I'd like to build this into a sustainable project (not product) and as you'll know there's a huge amount of duplication of effort in this field. You'd be writing software for yourself, because you found it interesting, not for 'me'.

If a few of us can work on the same (or similar) platform then we all get a better thing, at least that's the hope. I'm already working with volunteers from Linorobot & Microblocks, someone is interested in doing some Micropython stuff, collaboration will suit some and not others.

Rest assured this is very much a hobby (I often send £free parts/PCB's to people who offer to do some valuable work) if the Tindie stuff can start to pay for the next iteration & allow me to send parts to collaborators then I'll consider that a success.

Thanks

Sam

@sam_uk Ok but I think some of your assumptions might be off. For instance, of the 5,000 members here, how many do you think have used a custom PCB ever? I bet it's less than 6.

Hello sam_uk,  Welcome to the forum. That is a cool project. I am new here too.