Robotics

Guest Post by Luca Herlein

The artificial divide between robotics and drone ecosystems made sense once. Today, it’s holding back the entire industry.

If software changes something in the real world, it’s a robot.

After two years of false starts with the Bristlemouth platform and permit headaches, I’m revisiting my whale song project with a completely different approach: semi-autonomous floating drones. The regulatory landscape has forced a rethink, and honestly, it might lead to something better.

Looking back at 2025, one theme dominates: AI agentic programming went from novelty to necessity. This year transformed how I think about software development, career advice, and even my personal hardware projects. Here’s what I wrote about, what I learned, and what I expect in 2026.

Python dominates robotics today. C++ is the serious choice. But I’m starting to think we’ve been sleeping on Go. Here’s why I’m actively exploring it.

Think self-driving technology requires deep pockets to play with? Think again. AWS DeepRacer and Autoware are the leading edges of self-driving automation for the maker.

I’m building a board for robotics, but it’s also useful for IoT and home automation. What’s it do? What problem does it solve? It’s basically a WiFi interface to a variety of I2C-driven devices (motors or sensors). The I2C side is Engineered to be highly robust and reliable.