Friday, January 25, 2013

Working on RCHL v1

I was working on RCHL v1 last night in the lab and watching Rachel Armstrong and her Children of the Industrial Revolution TEDx Talk. Really, there is an amazing amount of knowledge and passion happening there.


I installed the Arduino to control the H Bridge for the motor functions and also threw an audio/video transmitter on her to send me the video from the POV/Zoom camera and left and right stereo sound from a pair of mics that I will install this weekend.


The POV/Zoom camera below will be a nice feature. It is 24V and is operated view a web browser. I will add a power over ethernet hub this weekend as well as a 12VDC to 110VAC converter to power whatever goodies that we want to include on the chassis.



Sunday, January 13, 2013

Accidental Unatheist

Yesterday I was working on a mechatron and startled myself. I was contemplating ways that humans could be invisible to the mechatron, so that if, for instance the MT was in an empty parking lot and trying to learn the edges and map it out, I would not be part of it's map. This led me to putting up a plexiglass wall that the designers would operate from behind, it would reflect the sensors on the MT and the MT would essentially be blind to the designers. Then I thought it would be cool if the plexiglass was stuck to the designers, so that they could move around, this led to the next best tech and I thought of like a plexiglass particle suit that the designers would wear. Whatever it is who cares. The point is that the designer is invisible to the MT. So let's say you put 20 MT's in an empty parking lot, they are discovering trees and light posts and etc. Soon they are programmed with some AI and begin to 'think'. They formulate ideas, ask questions, build groups, etc. When do they examine themselves or another and start to think about their creator? If I build them with sensors that work great and enable them to operate but they can't see me unless I want them to, is this what is happening daily to mankind? Is there a designer or designers that built us and watch us? What if I send an MT into the parking lot one day that repairs other MT's? It is the best MT that I have ever built and it has features that the others do not. Does this one special MT become a 'messiah' for the others?