PXL News

TRANSCRIPT

Everything the anchors say on this tape, story by story.

BeagleConnect QuadESC 4-channel BLDC motor controller uses TI’s AM13E23019-based Torque module (CNX Software)

DOZER BITWELL: A new open-source board from BeagleBoard.org can run four brushless motors at once. Ada has the details.

DOZER BITWELL: Still up? Good. Tonight's open question: a new open-source board runs four motors at once. Does that make it a drone brain or a robot brain? Ada. ▶

ADA: It's the BeagleConnect QuadESC from BeagleBoard.org. Open-source, four-channel, built for brushless motors, with a Torque module doing the thinking. ▶

ADA: The module has a 200 megahertz Cortex-M33 chip from TI, a trig math unit and a neural-network accelerator. The board is 60 by 48 millimetres. Tiny and clever. ▶

DOZER BITWELL: Four three-phase motor outputs. Let's ease into this. Gary, how does it score? ▶

PRUDENCE NUANCE: Four motors, one board. Does that make it four times better or four times more to go wrong? ▶

GARY: Four temperature sensors means it warns you before things overheat. That's a health bar for your motors. Best feature in the build. ▶

PRUDENCE NUANCE: A health bar that tells you after the lava's already arrived. Still useful, I suppose. ▶

DOZER BITWELL: Ada, the fine print. Does it just plug into a battery and go? ▶

ADA: Not quite. The motor power comes from outside, and the module needs regulated carrier power, never raw battery voltage. It supports 3S to 6S batteries. ▶

GARY: A separate analog reference and a 5V supply for CAN? That's a crafting recipe with hidden ingredients. I respect it, but I'd still check the wiki. ▶

PRUDENCE NUANCE: Is it fussy, or just honest about what it needs? The article lists both rails. ▶

GARY: Open-source and custom carriers allowed? That's a mod-friendly game. Five stars for the sandbox, minus one for the price I can't find. ▶

PRUDENCE NUANCE: Nobody's quoted a price. Cheap for a robot, maybe, but expensive for a bird feeder. ▶

DOZER BITWELL: So. Known: four motors, a Torque module, a small board. Open: price, availability, and who builds the first robot with it. Back to the thermos. ▶

[AD · fictional product] Driftaway

DR. VERA VECTOR: Do you suffer from arrival anxiety, packing dread or the feeling that your holiday begins and ends at the departure board?

DR. VERA VECTOR: Ask your doctor about Driftaway, the daily tablet that helps you want to be somewhere else, slightly, from the comfort of your sofa.

DIRECTOR MARGE: Side effects include lost luggage, window-seat envy, sudden fluent Portuguese, hotel pillow attachment, and waving at trains. Ask your pilot. We are out of time.

Weather

STORMY BYTES: Overnight, a low-pressure system of tiny circuit boards is moving over the workshops, with a light drizzle of firmware.

STORMY BYTES: Hype is holding steady around four motors, with isolated gusts of neural accelerators.

STORMY BYTES: Expect clear skies by morning, unless somebody connects raw battery voltage.

AI-written satire. The text of the news items comes from the linked articles. Plain text