I went from $200 to $700 to $1000 in a matter of hours. I’m quite flattered, really!

I’d just like to shout-out to everyone that has helped! This means all the anonymous people, thank you all so much! Also, Jon, Win, Norri, Adrenalynn from Trossen Robotics Community Forum for buying my three Styrobots (and wanting me to autograph them XD), RoboJenny, Mike, Chris, Laurel, and (a different) Chris!!! Thanks so much to all of you. I really appreciate it.
Also, thanks a bunch to Steve who made the article on Robots.net and Kevin who made the article on DVICE.com. I really appreciate it!

I updated some stuff around as I had spare time,

• Posted pics of Teachers Styrobots
• Posted pics of Rube Goldberg machine
• Posted pics of uCHobbygoo

It has been an amazing few days, thanks to everyone! I really do appreciate it, really!

THANKS!

And thanks a bunch to Miss Gierus!

I hope it lands, but it does use retro rockets instead of airbags… so if they do pull it off, well done to them!

NASA TV starts broadcasting the event at 6:00pm EDT. I can’t wait!!!

This $50 donation is from Scott Kaine. Check out his blog, it’s pretty spifftastic! I’m at a loss for words. Thank you so much Scott! It truly means a lot to me. Thank you thank you thank you thank you multiplied by 1 zillion!

Not exactly sure what I will spend it on just yet. Perhaps a Wii Nunchuck controller, and a Motor Shield so I can use my 2 DC motors and make a different type of Segway! I’m thinking something like a skateboard, with a big surface area and big tires so I can balance. For some reason, the idea of a big stick in front just doesn’t cut it for me. (I want to be a RoboSk8r!) I don’t have much mass, so I think I could get away with using big wheels with a gear ratio for lots of power, and some speed, in a wooden chassis. I would use metal, but I have no clue where I could get some. Or I could use plastic from Ponoko! That way it will be pink. Or lime green! The possibilities are only limited to infinity – 1.

JBC has a blog, you can check it out here: coin-op. One of the really neat projects is one called PoliceState. Check it out! I like the look of the cars, really stylish.

I’m just so absolutely honoured, flattered, and blabber-ghasted! Thank you so much!! So, check it out on MAKE!

Oh yeah, one more thing – BristleBot says thanks too.

$100,000,000. For investment.

This can be applicable for any number of start-ups, companies, pre-launch, or what have you. The investments can range from $100K of seed capital to $15M of expansion capital in mobile application and service companies.  

That’s a lot of money, and an even bigger opportunity.   

I’m determined to invent better speech conversation technology. The possibilities of Robbie the Robot are limitless in my mind’s eye. Imagine being able to have your Apple TV, mac mini, or whichever mac server farm in your household, organizing all of the variables. How many eggs one has, what the temperature inside is, or the temperature of the pool. All it would take is asking Robbie, hands free, so you aren’t distracted while driving. I’m not 100% sure if iPhone does or does not have the ability to phone people based on speech, but I have an idea on how to do it. Thousands are killed in cellphone related crashes, hands free is the way to go.  

I’m going to apply, and see what happens. If this investment is bestowed upon me, my life would be changed forever, definitely for the good! If it isn’t bestowed upon me, I’m still going to work on Robbie! Nothing is going to stop me from modifying Robbie into life changing applications. For instance, teaching different languages, making children more focused and relaxed, aiding the elderly as a therapeutic device, helping some autistic children or teaching someone to READ. With all of the possible modifications of Robbie, it is bound to be a thrill. With that in mind, I wanted to end with a little quote during the keynote which I thought was really great.  

Entrepreneurs do more than anyone thinks possible, with less than anyone thinks possible. Entrepreneurs are the risk takers, they’re the revolutionaries, they’re the rebels.  

 

Good luck to everyone that enters!

With the U.N. International Women’s Day coming up on March 8th, the Japan Times ran a special series in this Sunday edition highlighting "… the astonishing progress being made against considerable odds by women in Japan working in a wide variety of scientific fields, long thought to be the sole preserve of men."

They selected six women who represent "Japan’s brightest stars in the fields of science, technology and medicine, ranging from geophysics and cancer treatment to biodiversity and robotics." We were very pleased to find that one of these six wonderful women was our own robotics ‘sensei’, mentor, and friend, Yukiko Nakagawa, the founder of RT Corporation.

Congratulations Nakagawa-san! It’s a well deserved honor!

Well done to her! That is quite a feat! After reading about her, she is definitely one of the people whom I will see as a role-model for now on.

Link.

Woah! The RT Corp store has some pretty awesome stuff!

Hats for MANOI! *freaks out with joy*

Sofa for MANOI! *squeaal*

So cool! I can definitely see my MANOI needing those.

On a more serious note, this article is an interesting read.

Then there is the "attractiveness" factor. As robotics expert Yukiko Nakagawa points out, "Girls are considered ‘uncute’ if they go on a date to a science museum and if they know more about the exhibits there than boys."

…Wow much? Going to a science museum would be pretty cool, in my opinion! I don’t understand how women can like science less than men. Is there really that big of a difference? :/ What makes a person different from one another are their decisions and personality! No one has to strictly conform to tradition. I like science and robotics because of the challenges! At the time, I had no clue when I bought my MANOI that it was one of the toughest athlete humanoids. But, with a little ‘work’ — I put work in quotes as it isn’t work since it is FUN, but physically it is work since I am exerting energy to create a force… — it’s going to be alright! I’ll have to figure out the gyros at a later date though. And, I did get it to walk last weekend instead of moonwalking forwards. *thumbs up*

I cannot wait to blog about my science fair project!! Keep a lookout for a post and a page on March 5th! It is really going to change the way humans and machines interact with eachother.

Until then, I’ll still be adding more to it.

Nano-Explosions Color-enhanced scanning electron micrograph of an overflowed electrodeposited magnetic nanowire array (CoFeB), where the template has been subsequently completely etched. It’s a reminder that nanoscale research can have unpredicted consequences at a high level. (Image: Fanny Beron, École Polytechnique de Montréal, Montréal, Canada)

Bamboos for Vibration Control Ni-Mn-Ga melt-extracted fibers with an approximate diameter of 100 µm showing a bamboo-type structure (imaged with a backscattered electron detector in an FEG-SEM). Melt-extraction is a unique and novel method to prepare single-crystalline particles for magnetic shape memory composites. (Image: Oliver Gutfleisch, IFW Dresden, Institute of Metallic Materials, Dresden, Germany)

Dirty Dice Self-assembled 200 micron size nickel dice, imaged using scanning electron microscopy in the lower secondary electron (LEI) mode. The dice were colorized using Adobe Photoshop. (Image: Timothy Leong, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA)

Definitely really cool!

Link.

Tags: nanotechnology, art

NASA’s Macro-Fiber Composite, or MFC, can be attached to a structure to bend it, reduce vibrations and monitor force. A team at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., created the flexible and durable material that uses ceramic fibers. By applying voltage to the MFC, the ceramic fibers change shape to expand or contract and turn the resulting force into a bending or twisting action on the material. Likewise, voltage is generated in proportion to the force applied to the MFC material.

It almost sounds as if it is too good to be true!

The device primarily is used in industrial and research applications for vibration monitoring and dampening.

That’s interesting… However I’d be researching more about how it could act as a motor alternative for humanoid robots. Would it be lighter, or heavier? Would there be more control, or less control? To what degree is it sensitive to the voltage?

Hmm, all questions one should think about!

Link.

Tags: muscle, material, NASA

I wonder how they react though, when they crash into something or get stuck? And they don’t really seem comfy, but that’s probably intentional, as it is only temporary sitting (we hope)! Worthy of a blog, anyway.

Link.

Tags: robot, chair, moves