This week, we focused on integrating the robot hardware with the vision pipeline on the Raspberry Pi while preparing for the interim demo. A large portion of our time was spent resolving system-level issues, including version mismatches across camera drivers, libraries, and the robot control interface. These integration challenges required debugging at the OS and dependency level to ensure the camera, perception pipeline, and robot base could operate together reliably.
On the perception side, we worked on improving depth estimation using stereo disparity maps, which provide more stable and structured distance information compared to simpler approaches. On the control side, we developed a draft of the emergency stop logic to ensure that safety overrides can immediately halt the robot when necessary. Overall, this week involved shifting from mostly software development to hands-on system integration, and although progress was slower due to unexpected technical issues, these steps are essential for enabling full system testing in the upcoming weeks.