Exploring Stanford

Posted by Erin, the RobotGrrl on Sunday, July 27th, 2008

Stanford has an extremely beautiful campus! It’s full with wildlife- like tiny frogs, geckos and palm trees! It’s also a really giant campus - as I found out after playing The Game. (I’ll blog about The Game later). Apart from enjoying the puns on Bread-First Search (BFS) and Death-First Search (DFS) algorithms, I really enjoyed exploring the campus. Usually I took all of these pictures while going Fountain Hopping, but sometimes I just took them while walking to the class!
Fountain Hopping was an amazing activity. Basically, you find a fountain - and you jump in it! It’s so amazingly fun! One time where we went to the fountain outside of the hospital, we were kicked out. It was pretty awkward!
One of my favourite features of Stanford is the beautiful architecture. You really have to see it in real, but I hope my pictures will better illustrate it! The detail and texture is amazing.
The total GB count of all the photos I took is 9.46! But, I only chose the best and uploaded them, so with all the small versions and thumbnails, it totaled to 2.3GB. There will be way more posts with way more photos! Here are 309 - Hope you enjoy them!! Clicking the image will open it in the lightbox (like normal), but if you click the camera, it will open the high res photos. Please don’t use any of the high res photos without my permission first Thanks!!
Click continue reading for all the pictures

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Art, Other, Projects.

Be back soon

Posted by Erin, the RobotGrrl on Saturday, June 21st, 2008

See ya later to all of the people that read this! A big thanks to everyone that helped donate over $1000! It helped a lot. The rest of the costs were covered by a reserved education savings account thing. This is going to be amazing! And I’m going to the JPL! Feel free to email me when I’m gone! I’m not sure if I will reply, but if I do it will be from RobotGrrl :)~at~:) rocketmail.com.

I hope to come back with many project ideas and a better outlook on AI (artificial intelligence) for NLP (natural language processing), CV (computer vision), and HCI (human-computer interaction)! I’d want to explore it with Arduino, too.

In 3.5 weeks, get ready for lots of blog posts! Funnily enough, this blog post is #666.

Posted in: News, Projects, Robot, Robot News, School.

Inching closer and closer!

Posted by Erin, the RobotGrrl on Tuesday, June 17th, 2008

The day until I start this awesome adventure is getting closer! I’m flying out on June 22nd morning, and I’ll get there on June 22nd morning! That’s so cool! It’s almost like time warping, except … it isn’t
One of the major things that is bugging me is my camera (right now I have the Canon Powershot SD550). I got it a few years ago, so it’s a bit out of date. The Image Stabilization is old, and it’s not as good as it could be. I really want a new camera! I have my heart set on the Canon Powershot SD1100IS. It uses the DiGIC 3 processor! That means I could have it on a higher ISO level, and it wouldn’t be as grainy as on my camera now. Plus, the faces will be in focus! I can never get faces in focus with my camera now. In fact, to take a good photo I have to take at least 10 shots on continuous mode so that it will be in focus, comparable to a DSLR shot, almost. Furthermore, I think I will only have two 2GB cards. Errg! I don’t know how I’m going to do it. Maybe I’ll optimize my settings so that the images will be web quality, but definitely not stellar quality.

Either way, it’s too late to buy it now thanks to my Dad who didn’t want me to order it (even with my OWN money). All of my photos will be horrible quality and blurred. GRR! I won’t have the TIME to worry about making it a great shot. I just want a better point and shoot camera with a waterproof case for this trip!
Despite all this whining and cheesing, I’m really excited to go! I did order 3 books for the planes there.

Designing Sociable Robots (by Cynthia Breazeal)
The Emotion Machine (by Marvin Minsky)
Introduction to Artificial Intelligence (by Philip C. Jackson, Jr.)

I already started reading some of them! Introduction to Artificial Intelligence is very very very mathematical. I like it a lot, except for the parts where I have to re-read chapters But really intriguing. It sort of teaches you a different way to think about AI. As for Designing Sociable Robots, it’s as awesome as I thought it would be! I haven’t exactly started reading The Emotion Machine as I didn’t really adore how it’s written at first glance. It’s sort of like a big FAQ book that can tell a story. However, I look forward to reading it on the planes! It’s probably a really good book, I just didn’t like it at first glance.

I really like Artificial Intelligence Just the thought of designing something that can process thought and learn is really remarkable to me..

On the plane I’m also going to print out a few Project Euler questions and work on it on paper. That site is REALLY addicting! Not to mention, I’ll have my iPod video saturated with videos (maybe I’ll put Chuck on it ;))! I’ll be listening to Robots podcast and the old Talking Robots podcast! Maybe a few Mugglecasts too.
I’m not 100% sure if I will be able to blog while I’m at Stanford. I’m not even sure if I will want to. I can blog anytime when I get home! I’ll probably just write in a journal about what happened each day, and then for 3 weeks I’ll post them up here. It will be kind of like re-living the experience, I guess!

Oh yeah, I’m staying a few extra days! I want to see the JPL very badly.
With all this said, I’d really like to thank everyone that helped, donated, or bought a Styrobot! This dream wouldn’t have been possible without you guys.

Posted in: Other, Projects.

I’m going!

Posted by Erin, the RobotGrrl on Thursday, June 12th, 2008

I’m going to Stanford EPGY!

Really excited, and I can’t wait! Thanks to everyone that donated, it really helped

Posted in: News, Tech News.

Yay!

Posted by Erin, the RobotGrrl on Wednesday, June 4th, 2008

Little update-

Stanford awarded me $1500 scholarship to attend EPGY. Thanks so much to them!

They also pushed back the deadline till June 13th.

So I need to find $1200 before June 13th. I’m so close!!

Posted in: Projects, Robot.

Astonishment

Posted by Erin, the RobotGrrl on Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008

You know that Cylon contest, over at MAKE and DVICE?
Well, I may not have been able to enter, but they featured my Styrobot!

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! :D :D
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!

Posted in: News, Projects, Robot, Robot News, Tech News.

Styrobots #6 and 7

Posted by Erin, the RobotGrrl on Friday, May 30th, 2008

Okay, so two ‘new’ Styrobots have been posted on Etsy.

Here are the next 10 that will be made

However… before I put the next 10 Styrobots on Etsy, the 4 that are on Etsy have to sell. (I need money to buy the parts!)

I’m going to upload lots of pics of Styrobots tonight to the MAKE flickr pool, maybe it will draw some attention to this!

Posted in: Projects, Robot.

Styrobots 4 & 5

Posted by Erin, the RobotGrrl on Saturday, May 17th, 2008

Happy May Victoria Day weekend to everyone! It’s really cold compared to other years, so that’s a real bummer…

OR IS IT?

For $20 you could have your own personal sunshine with you, wherever you go! What’s it called? A STYROBOT!
The next addition to the Styrobot family is called Yeuxgoo. I named it Yeuxgoo because I think Yeux means eyes in French. Since this Styrobot has large and really cute eyes, I found it quite fitting! You can buy it on Etsy by clicking here.

Here are some pictures of this cutie!

Next up is the fifth Styrobot, named Beegigoo. I thought it would be fitting as I was thinking about the Beegees when I was trying to come up with a name for it. It is up on Etsy where you can buy it, check it out by clicking here.

Here’s some pics!

And last, but not least, Styrobot #3 (the first one sold on Etsy) - Jigglygoo, has been adopted by David at uCHobby! Congratulations! Since he has donated and has been extremely nice in the past, I’ll be making a special uCHobby themed Styrobot for him. It’s bound to be really cool, HEHE. Friends that have donated or helped out, I’ll be contacting you asking what your favourite colours are and if you would like your Styrobot to have anything special on it.

Posted in: Projects, Robot.

Styrobot #003 - Jigglygoo

Posted by Erin, the RobotGrrl on Friday, May 16th, 2008

The first Styrobot for sale has been posted on Etsy! Click here to see it!

The description of the Styrobot:

This Styrobot, named Jigglygoo, vibrates around in circles with the press of one of its antennae. With an irresistible smile, Jigglygoo is bound to cheer you up!

Jigglygoo runs on a small 3V watch battery, which is included!

All of the money raised with the sale of Styrobots will go towards my Robotic Fund. Normally, this fund is used to help me buy electronic parts and books, however I was accepted into the Stanford Education Program for Gifted Youth - Artificial Intelligence program. This really fun opportunity does come with a tuition cost of $3700, where all of the money will be going. Any additional donations would be extremely appreciated!

Hope you enjoy your Styrobot!

And the big question is… How much does it cost?
$20 Each & $18 for shipping!

Here are 6 awesome pictures for you to enjoy:

Don’t worry though! More Styrobots will be coming REALLY soon!

It was quite funny, actually. The 2nd Styrobot, Moop, did work … but the battery was ALWAYS being drained too quickly! The battery is connected in between the switch part, like a normal battery would be… but it happens that the switch didn’t work the way I thought it did, so I was always shorting it out! Eheheh! I fixed it though, in Jigglygoo.

Keep an eye out for more coming throughout the day, I just have to solder some stuff together, and another two will be done!

Posted in: Projects, Robot.

Styrobots! ^_^

Posted by Erin, the RobotGrrl on Saturday, May 10th, 2008

In order to help raise money for me to go to Stanford, I’m starting a new thing called Styrobots. They’re cute robots, just like a Bristlebot, but it is a painted styrofoam cup, with googley eyes, some pipecleaner, and a smile!

I’m thinking about selling these to raise money to help me go to Stanford. They would sell for around $15 More info will be up later!

Here are some pics!

All of the latest info will be on the Styrobot page, which can be found here!

Enjoyyy!

Posted in: Projects, Robot.