Robo-Tank v6.0 is Ready - Now v6.5

[Rob F]

Time for an update and sorry for my absence on the app. I haven't done anything with it yet, just trying to figure out a path forward. As I mentioned I worry about the Pi availability, things still haven't gotten any better and the future doesn't sound promising. There's something about the Pi 4 making it easier to manufacture so most Pi's being released are those, sadly the Pi Zero is most difficult. Of course the Pi 4 works for this however it's not ideal as it costs quite a bit and puts out a lot of heat so a cooling fan is required which also drives up the cost. Either way, what they are able to manufacture is well below the demand so it will literally be years till they are plentiful again and that's them saying that. 

Rather than sitting on my hands, the last few weeks I've been messing around with an ESP32 to get a grip on it's capabilities and have been impressed. I have it running with an SD card for logs, images and frontend files for the webpage and the backend code is on the ESP32 flash. This is the one I'm playing with.

https://www.mouser.ca/ProductDetail/356-...DVKTC1N8R8

The good.

• Webserver and backend is up in running in 1-2 seconds after a reboot vs 30-60 seconds on a Pi.
  
• Still using a websocket to communicate with webpage and ESP32 so everything is done in real time
  
• Running over the air updates which means a sketch can be uploaded over wifi from the webpage, no Arduino IDE needed.
  
• No operating system so a lot less can go wrong
  
• Lots of existing code can be reused
  
• No inventory shortage
  
• Same price as a Pi Zero 2 W
  

The bad.

• Not compatible with current controller.
  
• Users lose option of using reef-pi or this. (I just had a good thought, the controller could have a placeholder for a Pi and ESP32 however my app would only be ESP32)
  
• Webpage doesn't load as fast as Pi but currently I'm only using SPI for SD card, ESP32 has SDMMC connection but I haven't been able to get it working, SDMMC might fix this.
  
• Less resources than a Pi
  

At this point I'm strongly considering the ESP32 however there's a slight chance things work out with the Pi. About 6 weeks ago I found an email address business@raspberrypi.com, they set it up for people like myself who are dependent on them. I didn't think I would hear back but low and behold after 4 weeks they replied asking a few more details, then they sent me a form to fill out and sure enough someone with a real email address contacted me the other day, she said they might be able to send me 20 Pi Zero 2 W's near the end of December and they are currently working on their production plan for the 2nd half of 2023 and would include 10 per month for me. It sounds like if approved I would get regular supply directly but that's still 8 months away and I'm sure no guarantee. Based on sales in the past when times were good that could still leave me short and ideally I want to increase sales. 

So yeah that's where things are at, it's looking more likely I move to the ESP32 for the app and will have the controller support both Pi and ESP32 but not certain on this yet. Would love to hear some of your thoughts.