Based on an ESP32cam design I could on the course website I designed my own board. Look to http://academy.cba.mit.edu/classes/networking_communications/ESP32/hello.ESP32-CAM.jpg

I designed it in Rhino and then adjusted the colors in illustrator.

I set out to mill the board

I took the board off early as it was intersecting with an open spot and not cutting in certain areas

Try 2 this time lowered the trace depth from 0.04 to 0.06mm

In this attempt things seemed to be going fine but then the board disattached from the bed towards the end of the print.

Note to self: more tape next time.

Try 3 (this time with 0.05mm trace depth)

Yikes... The bit must have been broken. The edges are so chewed up.

Okay... Lets try again. Try 4 screenshot of mods

Moment of truth incoming...

YAY. results of milling attempt 4

I consulted with the TA suvin to gather parts.

I soldered them together easily! (Well thats a bit of a lie bc I tore out one trace and needed Claire's help for pin connections, but it went pretty well).

Frankie is doing his part of the team work, waiting in his stroller for me to finish, at a safe distance so he doesn't try to eat my board.

Nathan gave me a prefabricated component so I didn't waste time making my own. Claire helped me chose which wires to connect. I really learned to ask for help this week.

I followed the ESP32 steps on Rehana's website to get started

But no port recognition?

On to asking for help… Leo confirmed something bizarre was going on. Turning on the network was turning off the camera and vice versa. A total of 3 people helped me check for shorts. No success. Quinton pointed out my extra set of pins wouldn’t work without power/ground. Noted. Still the ESp32 should have worked….

Leo’s skin was weirdly conductive. The light turned on when he touched it.

This is the point where I get covid. Not very fun. Anyways, I take my board home with me and 2 esp32’s in the lab. I was truly at my wits end with no energy to spare. I reached out to 2 electrical engineers. One works at Apple and the other is currently studying her Phd. If this should truly be as easy as Neil says, they should be able to solve it. We ditched the board I produced for the breadboard.

Was it the Arduino code? No. I actually got it of random nerd tutorials…forgot to mention.

https://randomnerdtutorials.com/esp32-cam-video-streaming-web-server-camera-home-assistant/

Perhaps it was a kink in the camera? No.

Maybe the power source or SAMD11 wasn’t working? Checked without the ESP32 connected. Works...so no.

Was it the wiring position? Perhaps we weren’t sending the right signals or getting the right amount of energy. No.

Was it the need to connect all the grounds? No.

After several hours on this zoom call it was getting to be late at night. We had swapped all the pieces I had, tried every combination. There was no hope in sight. The engineers just told me that the ESP32cams themselves must be broken. I should buy my own as who knows if people just put broken ones back in the bins.

Cut to several weeks later following the holidays and frustrated messages with amazon about packages not being delivered: I finally got my esp32cam in the mail. I actually got 4 of them. All my missing parts that Amazon swore they delivered, refunded, and then asked me to repurchase showed up at once. No package thief, just a sad delivery system. I return to the lab

Because it was after break I noticed the computer was changed to Linux, but following the instructions on screen, it was easy to figure out how to connect to mods.

I milled the board

Frankie waited patiently

Things went perfectly

I finally made it! A new board! It looked cute. I had to run to a meeting so before testing I packed it in my backpack and went home. I was so proud.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

I was in the middle of a zoom call when I look down. Frankie, my puppy, was nose deep in my backpack. I pull him out and he’s chewing on something. I pry open his mouth…

MY BOARD…EATEN.

MY HEART...BROKEN.

I want to thank the people of Harvard HTMAA for their condolences via dm to the post on Frankie's Instagram story (@frankie_ocean_)

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