The Egg: everything before anything flies

1Do this today

2Your domain

I checked every name below directly against the .com registry (Verisign RDAP) on 25 Oct 2026. "Free" means nobody had registered it at that moment.

Also free on 25 Oct

Already taken, so don't waste time on them: projectbee, project-bee, projectbuzz, projecthive, projectqueen, projectapis, projectmelissa, projectpollen, projectnectar, zerotoqueen, dronebee, thedronebee, buzzlabs, hiveforge.

3What the Egg produces

The Egg is done when every box below is ticked. Each item is something you can show someone, not a feeling.

4The 12-day plan

setup = admin and tools · software = no parts needed · hardware = needs the parts. Days 2–4 are deliberately software-only so shipping time isn't wasted. If parts arrive early, swap days around. If they're late, see §10.

5Shopping list (real listings, 25 Oct 2026)

Every link below was opened and stock-checked on the product page on 25 Oct 2026. Prices include GST. Stock changes daily, so if something sold out, tell me and I'll find the next option. The order covers the whole Egg plus v1's motors and batteries, so you pay shipping once and v1 can start the day the Egg ends.

Order 1 · Quartz Components (free shipping on prepaid orders over ₹500, ships within 24 h)

Order 2 · Robocraze (free shipping over ₹999)

Order 3 · Fioparts (free shipping from ₹999, ships from Gurugram)

Order 4 · Quadkart (ships same day before 2 pm)

Order 5 · Amazon.in (tools)

Orders 6–8 · single items

6Learning path: the minimum effective dose

For each topic: one resource, the exact part to consume, and what to pull out of it. Everything was link-checked on 25 Oct 2026. You already have the physics and maths, so most of this is practical translation: how the textbook ideas show up in real parts.

Toolchain note: PlatformIO's official ESP32 platform v8.0.0 (released 19 Oct 2026) moved to Arduino core 3.3. If it misbehaves, the community fork pioarduino is the fallback, and I'll handle that with you if it comes up.

7Mac setup (copy-paste)

Already on your Mac: Homebrew, uv, git, GitHub CLI (gh), VS Code, Cursor, Node. Still needed: the Python libraries, PlatformIO, KiCad and OpenSCAD. Your system Python is 3.9, so we use uv to make a modern 3.12 environment just for this project.

1 · Python environment (for the simulator, plots and cube viewer)

cd ~/Projects/Personal/micro-drone
uv venv --python 3.12
source .venv/bin/activate
uv pip install numpy scipy matplotlib pyserial pygame jupyter
python -c "import numpy, scipy, matplotlib, serial, pygame; print('python ok')"

2 · VS Code + PlatformIO (for the XIAO firmware)

1. In VS Code: Cmd+Shift+P → Shell Command: Install 'code' command in PATH.
2. Then in Terminal:

code --install-extension platformio.platformio-ide

The first time PlatformIO opens it downloads its toolchain (a few minutes). The XIAO uses native USB, so no driver is needed on macOS.

3 · KiCad (PCB design) + OpenSCAD (3D parts written as code)

brew install --cask kicad openscad

Why OpenSCAD: you describe a part with numbers and maths (cylinder(r=3.6, h=3)), which suits you better than dragging shapes, and every dimension stays exact. The thrust stand, motor clips and dummy frame will all be OpenSCAD files we write together. Use your printer's own slicer to print them.

4 · The project repo

cd ~/Projects/Personal/micro-drone
git init
mkdir -p firmware sim ground hardware cad log docs site
cat > .gitignore <<'EOF'
.venv/
.pio/
.DS_Store
video/
*.mov
*.mp4
*-backups/
fp-info-cache
EOF
git add -A && git commit -m "Project Bee: plan, 3D model, Egg playbook"
gh auth login            # once, if you haven't
gh repo create micro-drone --private --source=. --push

Keep it private for now. Make it public once the site is live, because open source is part of the story. Raw video stays out of git (it's in .gitignore). Big files go on YouTube or a drive.

5 · First firmware: prove the toolchain works (Day 5)

New PlatformIO project in firmware/egg, then replace platformio.ini with:

[env:xiao_esp32s3]
platform = espressif32
board = seeed_xiao_esp32s3
framework = arduino
monitor_speed = 115200
build_flags = -DARDUINO_USB_CDC_ON_BOOT=1   ; Serial goes over the USB-C port

src/main.cpp, blink + "alive". The XIAO's little orange LED is on GPIO21 and lights when the pin is LOW:

#include <Arduino.h>
void setup() { pinMode(LED_BUILTIN, OUTPUT); Serial.begin(115200); }
void loop() {
  digitalWrite(LED_BUILTIN, LOW);  delay(100);   // on
  digitalWrite(LED_BUILTIN, HIGH); delay(900);   // off
  Serial.println("alive");
}

Then the I²C scanner, the first thing to run once the IMU is wired. It should print found 0x68:

#include <Arduino.h>
#include <Wire.h>
void setup() {
  Serial.begin(115200); delay(1500);
  Wire.begin(5, 6);            // SDA = GPIO5 (D4), SCL = GPIO6 (D5)
  Wire.setClock(400000);       // 400 kHz "fast mode"
  for (uint8_t a = 1; a < 127; a++) {
    Wire.beginTransmission(a);
    if (Wire.endTransmission() == 0) Serial.printf("found 0x%02X\n", a);
  }
}
void loop() {}

8Documenting the journey

Daily log template

# 2026-10-25 · Egg · Day 1
- Did:      bought eggtoqueen.com, placed Order A, installed tools
- Broke:    PlatformIO couldn't find the board → needed a data cable
- Learned:  why the XIAO needs ARDUINO_USB_CDC_ON_BOOT for Serial
- Numbers:  —
- Next:     simulator part 1 (open-loop physics)

Public post template (one per day, or every two days)

---
title: "Egg · Day 3: teaching a computer to balance"
date: 2026-10-27
phase: egg
---
**Goal:** what I wanted today, in one line.
**What I tried:** the steps, with photos / plots.
**What happened:** including what went wrong (people love the failures).
**The physics:** the one idea that made it click, with the equation.
**Numbers:** the measurements.
**Next:** tomorrow's goal.

Post ideas for the Egg: (1) "I'm building a 4 cm drone from zero, here's the 7-stage plan". (2) "Why the first version is 7 cm, not 4" (the box rule, D ≤ B/2). (3) "Teaching a computer to balance (PID in 100 lines)". (4) "First solder joints: the good, the bad, the blobby". (5) "Which way is up? Fusing a gyro and an accelerometer". (6) "How much can one tiny motor lift?" (7) "Designing my first PCB". (8) "Egg complete: what I'd tell myself on Day 1".

9Bench safety (Egg edition)

10If parts are late

Shipping is the only thing you don't control, so here's how to keep moving:

• No parts by Day 5: move KiCad (Days 10–11) forward. You can design the v1 board from datasheets alone.
• Practise sensor fusion on real data with your phone. The free phyphox app (iOS and Android) records your phone's gyroscope and accelerometer and exports CSV. Write the complementary and Mahony filters in Python on that data. When the IMU arrives you port tested logic instead of debugging two things at once.
• Extend the simulator to a full 3D quadcopter (a stretch goal anyway): 4 motors, the mixer, roll/pitch/yaw. That's the v1 controller, tested before v1 exists.
• XIAO out of stock: any ESP32-S3 dev board works for the bench. The code is the same apart from pin numbers. Keep the real XIAO for v1.

11IIT Roorkee: your toolkit

Researched on 25 Oct 2026 from official iitr.ac.in pages, club sites and their GitHub. Things I couldn't confirm are marked unverified, so check those in person.

Tinkering Lab: your workshop

Clubs to talk to this week

A short email works better than a DM. Say who you are, link dronebee.shreyanbuilds.com once it's live, and ask two things: (1) can I register this as a club project on the Tinkering Lab portal, and (2) do you have an oscilloscope or bench supply I could borrow occasionally? A live site with a 3D model is a strong first impression.

Faculty: for later, and for flying legally outdoors

India's Drone Rules 2021, Rule 42, exempt recognised educational institutions from UIN registration and permissions for R&D flights on their own premises in green zones. A professor sponsoring the project is the cleanest legal route for v4's outdoor flights. Approach them after the Egg, with your thrust curve and cube video in hand. Results get replies.

Flying on campus

• Indoors (your room, a hall) is what the Egg through v3 need. Keep it that way.
• I found no public IITR drone circular. Before any outdoor flight, ask the Chief Security Officer or Dean of Students in writing.
• Airports: Dehradun Jolly Grant is about 45 km in a straight line and Sarsawa AFS about 48 km, both far outside the 8–12 km airport band.
• unverified Roorkee Cantonment borders the campus, and military areas usually carry a red zone. Check the Digital Sky airspace map for your exact spot before v4. This could matter more than the airports.

Money and parts

• Funding (for v5's factory-assembled boards, or a swarm): the TIDES incubator runs an Ignition Program open to undergraduates and NIDHI-PRAYAS prototype grants. iHub DivyaSampark has a CHANAKYA UG Fellowship for cyber-physical-systems ideas. A swarm of 4 cm drones fits that theme.
• Local shops: Roorkee has small electronics stores (e.g. Janta Electronics, Civil Lines; stock unverified). For emergencies, Delhi's Lajpat Rai Market and Bhagirath Palace (watch for counterfeits). The online orders in §5 are still the main route.
• Delivery to Roorkee: no reliable data. One review mentions Robu backorders taking 30+ days, so only buy items shown in stock, as in §5.