Spyderbot 1.1

The chakachaka Spyderbot has evolved a little, in full compliance with Karl Popper's philosophy of Critical Rationalism. The constant hum of criticism concerning its stability has - indirectly - equipped it with a self-stabilizing frame and a longer wheelbase, or more precisely legbase.
This has its pros and cons as well, but different ones.

The newer Spyderbot 1.1:

spyderbot_1.1.03.avi

Aggressive-looking though it may be, it gets hooked up pretty badly sometimes, too:

spyderbot_1.1.04.avi

And a fight between the older Spyderbot and the Forces of Nature:

spyderbot.03.avi

Spyderbot

Undeterred by my colleagues' measly criticisms concerning the uselessness of this artifact, I present a lame copy of a remote-controlled walking robot I remember having seen in some conference proceedings - the Spyderbot.

This lame name can be safely attributed to the original name of the underlying LEGO construction kit series Spybotics, which comprises a central controller with integrated motors, remote-control capabilities, zero intelligence and zero programmability.


spyderbot.01.avi
spyderbot.02.avi

PS: The original idea for the MiniWhegs was devised by the Biologically Inspired Robotics Lab at Case Western Reserve University.

Fish, again

"Ich glaub, ich fress jetzt noch nen Fisch."
"Sag mal, Thorsten, kannst Du den Fisch auch bitte woanders essen?"
"Oooh Mann. Da kann ich den auch zuhause fressen. Dann fress ich halt so einen relativ geruchsinerten Keks."

Re: ICRA 2006

07:02:00 [----] stefan:
:)
07:05:00 [----] stefan:
ich glaube dir haette die conf auch gut gefallen!
07:05:00 [----] stefan:
so viele abgruende.
07:06:00 [----] stefan:
angefangen bei dem einen von 3 plenary speaker dessen icra-paper rejected wurde und dann die fette kakerlake die waerend eines plenary talks umherirrte.

(from a chat with a colleague attending ICRA'06 @ Orlando, FL/USA)

Die Barbarei

"Die Barbarei - und das sage ich Ihnen als jemand, der tagtäglich um die Kultur ringt - ist ein Grundbestandteil unseres Daseins, und wichtiger als die Kultur. [...] Überall wo Menschenmassen sind, sinkt der Intelligenzquotient. Und das gilt nicht nur für Brandenburg."

(taken from an interview with a theatre manager from an Eastern German town)

kwakfish!

Sticky

Today I haven't gotten out of my combined sleepwear-workwear at all.

I spent most of the day outdoors with a big tin of synthetic resin, trying to spread it evenly over the new set of wooden kois which are supposed to end up high in the tree next to my parents' place front gate... which made me end up with sticky fingers, which could be saved by a very generous scoop of Jade nail polish remover. The kois ended up all feathered by those little airborne plant seeds, which make them look somewhat less like fish and more like a badly plucked mutant chicken. Kwak.