Welcome to Half-Built Robots!
This blog is a personal lab notebook and digital archive of my projects in robotics, embedded systems, and DIY home automation. If you enjoy technical deep dives, half-finished projects, and the occasional rant about my project management woes, you are in the right place.
A Brief History of This Blog
This blog has been restarted several times. Originally launched as home-built-robotics on Blogger when I was in high school, it evolved multiple times over the years. Between school, work, and other life distractions, blogging has been sporadic, but the goal has always been the same: document projects, share knowledge, and connect with fellow makers.
Now, in 2025, I’m giving it an other shot, this time as Half-Built Robots. The name reflects the reality of my projects: started with enthusiasm, rarely finished.
What you will find here:
- Project Logs: Write-ups on personal robotics, embedded systems, and home automation experiments.
- Technical Deep Dives: Exploration into firmware development, electronics, and system design.
- Lessons Learned: Success, failure, and the various analog levels in-between.
- Throwbacks & Restorations: Revisiting old projects, fixing broken robots, and porting content from past blogs.
- Occasional Side Quests: Topics that don’t fit neatly into the above but are too interesting to not document.
Who Am I?
I’m Curt, an embedded systems engineer with a background in robotics, firmware development, and human-computer interaction (HCI). I’ve worked on collaborative robotics, electron microscope peripherals, and a variety of other technical challenges. When I’m not debugging firmware, I’m tinkering with half-built projects in my free time.
Check out my portfolio website on Github (curthenrichs.github.io) if you want to learn more about me.
In addition to the blog, I’m actively working on my Saas idea Okos Polip (www.okospolip.com), which focuses on build a device-to-cloud state layer for home automation devices.
Where’s the Old Content?
Some of my past posts from the home-built-robotics days will make their way here after a refresh. I also have years’ worth of undocumented projects that I plan to write about (assuming I don’t get sidetracked).
Monetization Disclaimer
Currently there isn’t a plan to monetize the blog with affiliate links or ads (there certainty isn’t enough traffic for it).
Get Involved
Half-Built Robots isn’t just about my projects, it’s also about sharing knowledge, learning from others, and connecting with fellow makers. Here’s how you can join in:
- Leave a Comment: Have questions, suggestions, or your own experience with a similar project? Drop a comment on any post, I would be interested to hear from you.
- Share Your Own Half-Built Projects: If you, too, suffer from chronic project starting syndrome, share your experiences.
- Collaborate: If you have a project idea, an interesting problem to solve, or just want to chat about something interesting then feel free to reach out.