Auric: An update
I've been rather busy of late, and have not had as much time to spend on Auric as it has needed. The motor control has been a problem on this model right from the beginning, and I put some of it down to the L289 controller that is on the NodeMCU carrier. I realise that this sounds like a poor workman blaming his tools, but early on, back-to-back testing showed the more common L298N-based drivers could drive the motors harder. Packaging issues got in the way last time, and so I went with the NodeMCU and its carrier. I paid the price in terms of performance. Unfortunately, there is still the packaging issue. There are very few options for shields or carriers for a NodeMCU (to be honest, I can't find any other options), and there is simply not the space on Auric's deck for a separate driver module. This may well mean changing out the controller altogether. If I go to an Arduino UNO, such as I used the Self-Driving car, then I have a few more choices...