Archive - Protomota Lab

Project Ogre Part 5: Autonomous Navigation with Nav2

Bringing it all together - autonomous waypoint navigation using ROS2 Nav2 with SLAM maps and RL-trained velocity control.

May 31 • Brad Dunlap

Project Ogre Part 4: Training a Mecanum Controller in Isaac Lab

Using reinforcement learning in NVIDIA Isaac Lab to train a neural network policy for optimal mecanum wheel velocity control.

May 31 • Brad Dunlap

Project Ogre Part 3: Building Maps with SLAM

Using slam_toolbox to build occupancy grid maps for autonomous navigation on a mecanum drive robot.

May 31 • Brad Dunlap

Project Ogre Part 2: Building the Digital Twin in Isaac Sim

Creating an accurate digital twin of the mecanum drive robot in NVIDIA Isaac Sim for simulation-first development and testing.

May 31 • Brad Dunlap

Project Ogre Part 1: Building a Mecanum Drive Robot with Jetson Orin Nano

Building a 4-wheel mecanum drive robot from scratch with NVIDIA Jetson Orin Nano, RPLIDAR, and RealSense depth camera for autonomous navigation.

May 31 • Brad Dunlap

Real-Time SO-ARM 101 ROS2 Teleoperation in Isaac Sim with LeRobot

Building a real-time teleoperation bridge between the SO-ARM 101 robotic arm and NVIDIA Isaac Sim using LeRobot and ROS2.

May 31 • Brad Dunlap

Project NVIDIA JetBot (Orin Nano)

Reviving a cool little project.

May 31 • Brad Dunlap

April 2026

Fewer People, Less Process: How AI Changes the Way Teams Ship

Linear says issue tracking is dead. They are half right.

Apr 12 • Brad Dunlap

bringing it back home: gemma 4 on a 60-watt box

I put Gemma 4 on a Jetson AGX Orin. It's better than it should be.

Apr 10 • Brad Dunlap

"Just ship it" is bad advice for solo founders

The decision framework I actually use before pressing deploy

Apr 2 • Brad Dunlap

March 2026

Stop trying to build a platform. Build a tool.

Platforms need ecosystems. Tools need one user with one problem.

Mar 20 • Brad Dunlap

Building a product nobody asked for

The market research industrial complex is killing more startups than bad ideas.

Mar 13 • Brad Dunlap

#nojs-banner { position: fixed; bottom: 0; left: 0; padding: 16px 16px 16px 32px; width: 100%; box-sizing: border-box; background: red; color: white; font-family: -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px; } #nojs-banner a { color: inherit; text-decoration: underline; } This site requires JavaScript to run correctly. Please turn on JavaScript or unblock scripts