Documentation

System architecture, build guides, and reference documentation for the Tick Slayer 3000 rover.

Contents

System Architecture

How the rover system is designed and how components interact

System Overview

Full concept overview of the autonomous tick rover platform

Full Project Spec

Complete technical specification — components, layers, operations, and design decisions

Build Guides

Step-by-step instructions for assembling the rover

Build Roadmap & Philosophy

Master build order, tools needed, and why we test before we integrate

Guide 1: Bench Testing Electronics

Passive bench checks — visual inspection, multimeter basics, voltage divider, GPS NMEA stream, USB battery pack

Guide 2: Raspberry Pi Setup

Pi OS bootstrap — apt packages, Python venv with Adafruit libraries, hardware interfaces (I2C/SPI/UART/Camera), project directory structure

Guide 3: Pi ↔ Hardware Integration

Pi-driven bench validation — I2C handshakes, servo sweep from Python, ADS1115 voltage read, GPS parsed via pynmea2, picamera2 capture. Bridge between bench tests and vehicle wiring.

Guide 4: Vehicle Prep & Mounting

Prepare the TRX-4 chassis, mount enclosure, camera, GPS antenna, and battery

Guide 5: Wiring & Control Integration

Replace the RC receiver with Pi control — ESC arming, steering, battery monitoring, complete wiring diagram

Guide 6: First Drive & Calibration

Calibrate steering and throttle, keyboard-controlled driving, speed and turn radius measurement

Guide 7: Drag Cloth & Sampling Rig

Build the drag bar, attach flannel cloth with weights, permethrin treatment, drag testing

Guide 8: Capture & Navigation Software

Camera pipeline, GPS route recording/replay, heading estimation, steering controller, watchdog

Guide 9: Data Pipeline & First Run

Mission controller, data upload, preflight checks, first autonomous run, and what comes next

Research

Scientific basis and references behind the rover design

Drag Cloth: Science & Construction

Fabric specs, comparative studies, environmental conditions, CO2 enhancement, and all scientific references

Prior Art: Autonomous Tick Drag Vehicles

Survey of every known autonomous tick drag project — academic, government, and private sector

Software

Navigation, capture, and detection software documentation

Reference: Pi ↔ Dashboard API

Every Convex mutation and query the Pi needs to call — heartbeat, missions, captures, diagnostics, commands — with Python examples

Progress Log

Session-by-session build logs and decisions.

View all →
DateEntry
May 919:04Drag Rig — First Field Test
Apr 1310:29Pre-Flight Check System
Apr 1218:50Rover Console + Real Sensor Reads
Apr 1218:16Pi Rover Agent Stub + Rover Console
Apr 1217:41Pi Rover Agent — First Comms Established
Apr 1210:38Control Center V2: Weather Integration, Mission UX, Post-Mission Logging
Apr 1210:17Breadcrumb Navigation Replaces Back Links
Apr 1209:55Weather Widget with Open-Meteo API
Apr 1209:34Control Center: Telemetry, Missions, Rover Live, and Pi API
Apr 1121:20Pi Software Bootstrap (Build Guide 2 Steps 1-3)