I really appreciate the level of documentation -- I aspire to eventually publish a project of mine this way.

I've been struggling with PCB/circuit design and documentation -- here OP lists the schematics, but I can't find layouts. Can anyone hint at what software was used to produce these plans? The JSON sources hint there might be layouts in there!

EDIT: Answered my own question: it's EasyEDA

https://imgur.com/a/1xOuyB6

The link to the video, has links to videos, of loads of people in China making these things!! very cool: https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1io4y1q73L/

also the homemade(?) NASA phone case, cool/interesting cultural insight.

NASA branded things have been big in China since as early as 2019, peaking in 2021.

https://fashion.sina.cn/s/fo/2019-04-28/detail-ihvhiqax54682...

https://www.zhihu.com/question/337494558

https://zhidao.baidu.com/question/931153568796681979/answer/...

Interesting, the forum post seems like it's the same thing as National Geographic in South Korea: https://www.instagram.com/ng_apparel/?hl=en

non electronics / non arduino guy, i would really appreciate if someone has a very good article on how to go about building a robot from scratch in arduino explained like how they would teach a 10 yr old kid

"What is my purpose?"

"You pass butter"

I want to hack this to drive around the office and find an AP based on signal strength. Bloodhound mode!

Robots that combine the mobility advantages of both wheels and legs are going to proliferate, I think.

I saw vids of a Chinese "dog" style robot with wheels shredding like Tony Hawk, climbing stairs and even small walls, etc. If this footage is real, and Chairman Xi gets it in his head to airdrop them on our shores, the West is cooked.

This https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2UxtKLZnNo ?

That's the one.

... for about an hour, then the battery goes flat.

Have you read the Daemon/Freedom novels by Daniel Suarez?