Post 4 of my #ReinforcementLearning math series introduces expected return, v(s), and q(s,a). These are the mathematical tools that let an agent reason about an uncertain future. shawnhymel.com/3350/reinfor... #AI #MachineLearning #robotics #engineering #education

How does a #ReinforcementLearning agent decide what to do? Part 3 of my RL series tackles this by defining policies, MDPs and trajectories. We'll keep building up to fully grasping PPO! shawnhymel.com/3328/reinfor... #AI #MachineLearning #robotics #engineering #education

Progress! Domain randomization is a powerful technique for training robust #ReinforcementLearning agents. The bot now handles pushes like a champ 🦾 I was also able to get rid of a lot of post-processing (e.g. filters) in my #Arduino code. #robotics #engineering #education #AI #ML

Reward functions are the "art" of #ReinforcementLearning, and getting them wrong means your agent finds creative loopholes. Part 2 of my RL series covers dense vs. sparse rewards, episodic return, and discounted return with a worked example. 👇 shawnhymel.com/3322/reinfor... #AI #ML #robotics

First iteration of my #AI powered balance bot! It took some tweaking (sim-to-real is not trivial), but it shows that #ReinforcementLearning can work for controls. Next, I plan to use some domain randomization to make it steadier and more robust. #robotics #Arduino

Reinforcement learning math is intimidating. I'm writing a series to make it less so, starting from the basics and building up to PPO. First post is live! shawnhymel.com/3316/what-is... #AI #MachineLearning #ReinforcementLearning #robotics

Making progress! The RL agent is learning to balance the #robot pretty quickly. Next up: trying to get it to stay in one place. It's fun to watch the learning happen in real time 🤓 #robotics #AI #MachineLearning #ReinforcementLearning #embedded

ROS 2 is a great framework, but it's not the right tool for every #robotics project. I put together a few examples and questions to help you figure out when it's worth the investment and when it's overkill: shawnhymel.com/3302/when-to... #embedded #programming #ros #ros2 @openrobotics.bsky.social

ESD mat down and pegboard up! #desk

Balanced the simulated bot using a complementary filter and a PID loop! Next up: doing the same thing with reinforcement learning 😁 #AI #robotics

Why buy, when you can build it yourself for 2x the price and 10x the labor! #XKCD #maker

Programming is becoming like typing: a necessary skill in #engineering, but not enough to get hired alone. In my latest post, I break down how entry-level #embedded jobs are changing with #AI and offer practical tips to stand out. shawnhymel.com/3296/how-to-... #programming #education #jobs

I don’t do a lot of mechanical stuff, but it was great seeing the fun inventions at #RMRRF yesterday! Also got to see some friends and make new ones ❤️ #3Dprinting

Success! It took a little Python scripting and help from Claude, but I'm able to import #FreeCAD models into #MuJoCo. Now it's time to start developing some balancing algorithms...and not the usual PID kind 🤓 #robotics #AI #EdgeAI

Claude helped me put together this moment of inertia calculator for #FreeCAD. It seems to be giving correct numbers...so the next step is importing stuff into Mujoco! #robotics

Mujoco running in a Webtop Docker image. Not great for training #AI with a GPU, but it should work for teaching the basics of RL and #robotics 😁

Alpha School claims it's #AI first, but it's really about tight feedback loops, incentives, and system design. I ask: what actually scales beyond a well-funded, self-selecting group? I ponder these questions and offer tips in my latest post: 👇 shawnhymel.com/3289/what-al... #education #edtech

Progress on the desk upgrade! Cabling for the monitor side done.

The final embedded #Rust episode is out! After 11 episodes of digging into baremetal programming, we can finally tackle embassy to do some async #programming. Check it out! 👇 www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9FT... #embedded #microcontroller #RaspberryPiPico @digikey.bsky.social @raspberrypi.com

AI can speed up #embedded firmware development (especially for prototyping, unit tests, and scaffolding) but you should not blindly trust the output. Always verify against datasheets, test on real hardware, and rely on your fundamentals. 👇 shawnhymel.com/3285/tips-fo... #AI #programming

Great talk by Leo Heuring attempting to answer the question: do robots have souls? #TEDxCU #robotics #maker

Desk upgrade complete! Now time to put all the gear back…

Time for another embedded #Rust video! I demonstrate how to use defmt and step-through debugging to analyze a running program. Check out the video to learn more! 👇 www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZF2... #embedded #microcontroller #programming @digikey.bsky.social

Go, Artemis, go! www.youtube.com/live/Tf_UjBM... #Artemis #space #NASA

I spoke with several ECE professors at #ECEDHA 2026 about how they’re integrating #AI into the curriculum. Everyone agrees it’s essential, but no one agrees on the best way to teach it. Check out my video interviews to learn more: shawnhymel.com/3246/ai-in-e... #engineer #education #edgeAI

Working on an upgrade for the desk and refinishing some scuffs on the tops 😁

Time for another embedded #Rust episode! I demonstrate baremetal interrupts. Warning: it's pretty involved. Frameworks like embassy do a good job of abstracting interrupts. www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5Wb... #embedded #microcontroller #programming #RaspberryPiPico @digikey.bsky.social

Students are already using #AI in the classroom (for better and for worse). The solution is not to ban it but to redesign learning and assessment so students actually understand the material. Check out my latest post to learn more: shawnhymel.com/3224/ai-in-t... #education #teaching #engineering

Flying from Albuquerque right to the #EdgeAI conference. I’m missing the first day…better late than never!

First day at #ECDHA in beautiful New Mexico. Lots of great discussions around teaching #edgeAI and how #AI is transforming #education (the good and bad).

New embedded #Rust video is out! I cover test-driven development (#TDD) by showing how to use Rust's built-in test framework with the sensor library we wrote in a previous episode. Check it out! 👇 www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7q4... #embedded #RaspberryPiPico #microcontroller @digikey.bsky.social

Made it! And there’s obviously only one song that should be used to celebrate 😁 youtu.be/Fn58OF_lA-Q?...

Heading off to the annual #ECEDHA conference. Excited to chat with professors and department chairs about the future of #edgeAI! #education

I’m considering making a video series that teaches #ReinforcementLearning using a 2-wheel balancing bot. Would you be interested in learning that? If you've done RL, what frameworks do you recommend? 👇 shawnhymel.com/3219/an-idea... #edgeAI #AI #embedded #robotics #education

Time for another #Rust video! This time, I show how lifetimes and lifetime annotations work. They come up a lot when working with embassy, so it's useful to know what that 'a means. 👇 www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hzr... #embedded #microcontroller #programming #RaspberryPiPico @digikey.bsky.social

The term #PhysicalAI seems to be gaining a lot of hype recently. The idea is simple: #AI systems that sense the world, make decisions, and influence real physical systems. I wrote a short post on how this relates to robotics, #embedded systems, and #edgeAI. 👇 shawnhymel.com/3207/what-is...

Time for another embedded #Rust video! In this one, I combine the previous 6 episodes of knowledge to develop an I2C sensor driver (library/crate). Check it out! 👇 www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HDG... #embedded #programming #RaspberryPiPico #microcontroller

I'm speaking with #ECE department heads at #ECEDHA (end of March) about integrating #edgeAI into university curricula. If you hire or mentor #embedded engineers, what skills are new grads missing? I’d love your input! I'll bring this feedback into the room. #education shawnhymel.com/3203/before-...

New intro to embedded #Rust video is out! I go over generics and traits, which are super important when creating programs or working in something like #embassy. Check it out: www.youtube.com/watch?v=cT_9... #embedded #programming #microcontroller #RaspberryPiPico

After spending some time with embedded #Rust, I've come to the conclusion that it can work for real product development, but for most projects, C is still the safer default choice. Check out the full blog post to see my thoughts: shawnhymel.com/3197/is-embe... #embedded #programming

Time for another #embedded Rust episode 🦀 I show how to use I2C with bare metal on the #RaspberryPiPico 2. Check it out! 👇 www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rlzl... #Rust #programming #microcontroller

My latest blog post highlights the hidden tradeoffs of using #Zephyr and when its added complexity is worth the long-term benefits. 👇 shawnhymel.com/3193/the-hid... #RTOS #embedded #microcontroller #Programming

New #embedded 🦀 video is out! I cover one of the most important aspects of #Rust: ownership and borrowing. This can be tricky to wrap your head around, but it's a foundational part of the language. Check it out to learn more! 👇 www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oyze... #Rust #programming #electronics

OK, this is pretty wild. And not in a good way 😬 You can read the whole PR chain here: github.com/matplotlib/m... #AI #programming

Full object detection on a #microcontroller in 3.5 ms is quite impressive! Yes, I’m using an #AI accelerator…I’m certainly not doing inference on the CPU in that amount of time 😁 #edgeAI #tinyml #embedded

The difference between a hobbyist and a hirable #embedded engineer isn’t just technical skill. It takes hard work, studying, and deliberate practice. I give my thoughts on what's required to get there in my latest post: 👇 shawnhymel.com/3186/the-dif... #programming #jobs #engineer

New #Rust video out! I demonstrate how to use USB serial logging with the #RaspberryPiPico 2. With blinky and serial logging, you've got basic debugging tools ready to go! 👇👇👇 www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6IK... #embedded #microcontroller #programming @raspberrypi.com

We hosted a 24-hour anti-#hackathon at CU Boulder's ATLAS BTU makerspace. No startups or pitches. Just weird, useless, and joyful engineering. Check out my latest post to see the wildly creative projects built by students. 👇 shawnhymel.com/3151/inside-... #maker #engineering #education

Where should I order stickers from if I don't want to support Sticker Mule?

Ready for the final presentations! #ShittyHacks