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aheadintofun / aheadinto.fun / Austin Marvin

Prototype in progress

The Austin Marvin prototype: a Raspberry Pi Zero, bonnets and wiring fitted inside an open mint tin

It is a tiny desktop rover built into a mint tin.
We made Austin Marvin just for fun.

austin
marvin

See the specs

The Simulator.

The desk, the tin, two motors. Drive it like an RC car or let it wander. It speaks the same commands the real robot will, so this page becomes the remote when the car is online.

Loading the desk…

Virtual product development: the car is built to the dimensions in The Specs. Remote view arrives with the robot.

The Tin.

The whole robot lives in a mint tin. The lid is the hood. The build photos below are the real prototype, Pi and all.

The empty tin with motors mounted inside
Motors in, nothing else yet.
The chassis layout with the battery pack in the centre and a motor on each side
Battery in the middle, a motor on each side.

The Brain.

A Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W with a voice bonnet and a 1.3 inch display bonnet stacked on top. That is the face, the ears and the mouth.

The 1.3 inch TFT display bonnet
Display bonnet. The face.
The voice bonnet
Voice bonnet. Ears and mouth.
  • Pi Zero 2 W
  • Motor bonnet
  • Display bonnet
  • Voice bonnet
  • Battery
  • Camera
  • Geared motors
Candidate parts list from the vault. Proposals; compatibility unverified.

The Wheels.

Two geared motors, two wheels, a tin on top. The drawings are from the planning deck.

Plan drawing: the tin from above with a wheel on each side
From above.
Plan drawing: the tin from the side showing wheel placement
From the side.

The Badge.

Wings, a crown of stars, a face in the middle. The mark from the deck.

The Austin Marvin wings badge: chrome wings around a small robot face with a crown of stars, over the name

The Specs.

Tin, lid outer
2.36 x 3.75 in 59.9 x 95 mm
Tin, bottom
2.3 x 3.7 in 58.75 x 93.9 mm
Tin, inner
2.24 x 3.6 in 56.9 x 91.5 mm
Height, bottom section
0.83 in 21.28 mm
Height, top section
0.36 in 9.26 mm
Corner radius
0.55 in 14 mm
Pi Zero 2 W
2.6 x 1.2 x 0.6 in
Voice bonnet
2.6 x 1.3 x 0.4 in
LCD bonnet
2.6 x 1.2 x 0.6 in
Price
TBD
Ships
TBD
Software
Python camera.py, motor.py in the Marvin repo

Tin measurements from the planning deck and a Raspberry Pi forum thread on mint-tin builds. Nothing here is for sale yet.

The Idea.

A bipolar robot. Austin Powers one minute, Marvin the next.

Austin Marvin switches between two personalities: Austin Powers and Marvin the robot. A small robot with a screen for a face that sits on your desk and drives around when it feels like it. The original 2022 repo had only the Marvin half, in one line: “Marvin, a depressed desktop Martian rover.”

Stay in Touch.

A sign-up for news goes here when the shop and login exist. Until then this page is the whole product.

No email is collected on this page.

Notes

What the source notes say

Casey (2026-10-03): the idea is a bipolar robot that switches between Austin Powers and Marvin the robot personalities. The vault holds a candidate hardware parts list (Pi Zero 2 W, motor, display and voice bonnets, battery, camera, geared motors). These are proposals; assembly and compatibility are unverified.

Style cue (from your Style references tab)

One memorable product color, close-up controls, expressive screen art, playful type, concise copy.

Page status: stub (structure and style only)

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