One Class Left, Robots, Summer Reading?
Ok, two down and one to go. Submitted our final hardware layout (done in Cadence) yesterday. It’s not fully optimized, but it works. We never got our grades from the midterm software project, so not sure how I’ll be doing in that class.
The last thing for me is a 3 to 5 page investment memo for finance class. I have to evaluate an online language learning venture. I’ve procrastinated a lot since the pitches on Tuesday, but I’m making a concerted pitch today to knock it out before sleep (note that sleep time can be sometime tomorrow…)
On Thursday I went to the CS225A robotic class’s Demo Day and saw some really cool things. The department has numerous robotic arms and, from what I hear, multiple Asimo robots. But alas, none made an appearance. Though I did hear the professor Dr. Khatib (who has a vague Ian McKellen look about him) murmering about issues with the robot’s apartment. Take what you want from that….who knows what goes on here! Anyway, one group used a simulator to demonstrate robots interacting with soccer balls, a 3D wireless haptic control of a robotic arm, a Xylophone playing robot, and a Shuffleboard playing robot. My favorite though was the team that built their own two-camera motion-capture system and used it to control a huge robotic arm.
One member has bike lights strapped on his arm and hat, and a camera above him and in front of him records his movements. By changing his arm and turning his head, he can control all three joints of the robot’s arm.
I, for one, welcome our future robot overlords.
As a final note before I crunch through this memo — what are some of your summer reading lists? I know summer has started for some of you but I’m curious nonetheless. Any recommendations for me? So far, mine include:
- Processing, by Ben Fry and Casey Reas
- Heat, by Bill Buford
- In a Sunburned Country, by Bill Bryson
- Freedom at Midnight, by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre
Donny Katz Said,
June 12, 2008 @ 10:23 pm
Freedom at Midnight is also on my summer reading list, my dad gave it to me after he finished reading it (in Bangladesh.) I currently just finished, Tree Without Roots, one of the most famous Bangladeshi novels, Lal Shalu, translated into English.
The next book is Chinese Lessons, about one of the first US students to study abroad in China after it started allowing foreigners into the country in the early 1980s.
I think I’m also going to reread The Lost World, it’s been about a decade since I last read it.
Doug Said,
June 27, 2008 @ 9:23 pm
if you have not experienced “the singularity is near,” i must recommend it (the first 5 chapters are sufficient). anyways, if you master that book, you master the future.