Squad can tackle anything you throw at it

[mlinnen]

First a bit of background, I have always been a maker at heart for as long as I can remember. I started programming at an early age, and I found it to be just another way to quickly make things. I also made a career out of building solutions and solving problems by writing code. I have since retired and I no longer code on a daily basis, however I still love to make things.

I love Halloween as a holiday and making props for my Halloween display is a big joy for me. One of my long-time dreams was to create an interactive display using projection mapping. A simple object like a foam pumpkin that has no facial features cut out at all and projecting a face onto the pumpkin and animating the facial expressions. Sounds simple, right? Well, I could not even get started on the idea even with all my experience as a software engineer. It seemed like my idea was never going to get off the ground. I didn't want to spin my wheels on learning a new platform or coding language just to see if my idea would work.

Then I discovered Squad and decided to jump start the project with it. I only had an idea, and I didn't care what technology, or platform would solve the problem, but I knew I wanted a way to project an animated character and be able to remotely send commands to it from a client on another machine. The Squad on the first iteration created a team, suggested python with pygame for animations and built the first prototype with multiple emotional states and a TCP/IP communication between the animation and a client application. Wow, a squad team completely boot strapped my prototype that I had been stuck on for years in less than 1 hour. I have since iterated on the project fast and introduced new enhancements without writing a line of code or needing to learn the details about the technologies that made it happen. I have much more to do on the project, but I no longer feel I am held back at all achieving what I want to be successful with it.

I realize my specific project might be an edge case that most Squad users might not even consider, but heck if it can get me this far then what can't Squad do for any other project?

Checkout my project at: mr-pumpkin

[bradygaster]

It can't do anything with robots. Yet. But I know you'll solve that soon.

[mlinnen]

I am pretty confident a squad team can help with building software solutions for robotics. Even if it's just building smart sensors or actuators using ESP32 microcontrollers that communicate over MQTT.

I will probably start off with giving mr-pumpkin eyes using an ESP32 microcontroller connected to a camera and track people in it's field of view. Mr-pumpkin's eyes would be able to focus or follow the tracked person.

I could easily see a new squad team member that specializes in ESP32 development would be helpful here.

[bradygaster]

This is AMAZING, @mlinnen! 🎃✨

Your mr-pumpkin project is exactly the kind of creative boundary-pushing we love to see. The fact that Squad took your dream from "stuck for years" to "prototype in under an hour" is incredible. Thanks for sharing this — it inspires the whole community!

Keep building and keep us posted! 🚀