(The mansion from "Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil.")
Five years ago today: April 24, 2009, Inuvik?
How did the robot club meeting go? It was one of those sessions that had nothing but potential. Or put another way, absolutely nothing but potential. Shown here is the club meeting and it was both impressive and disappointing. The attendance was great but I got the impression most people had shown up to be taught the basics. The meeting was neither a teaching nor learning atmosphere, rather more of a see-what-happens arrangement. A complete beginner would have been overwhelmed by the lingo, the pace, and the assigned tasks which included flashing some lights, reading analog input, and controlling a motor.
My decision is to wait and see. The meetings are monthly, a little too sparse for serious robotics. Although many attendees have extensive credentials, it was the new style of programming that teaches how to reassemble prewritten code modules. I’ve always felt that method is so wrong, but I’m traditionalist. Most of the world’s programming is done from these same software libraries and that is why you’ve seen nothing really new in twenty years. Even video games have the same basic look and feel.
In the spirit of competition, the organizers split us into two teams and gave us a time limit. This was great fun. We would have “won” hands down had there been an Arduino programmer among us. Ah some ask, am I not such a person? No, let’s go over my history on this. In late 2010, I bought an Arduino and quickly programmed all the examples in the book, publishing many of my results as both a lesson and warning to beginners. I did not pursue Arduino because of the C+ language, and programmed nothing through 2012 and 2013. However, I am very much familiar with the structure of code, flowcharting, and meeting arbitrary deadlines.
The flowchart part is curious. Once again, when the clock started, I was the only one in the room who started writing and drawing on a sheet of paper. There you go, something that has not changed since 1972. Everyone else crowded around computers just like back in college. Doing it that way is called “leaving out the thinking part”. The other side of the room finished slightly ahead of us, but I told you about libraries. While our team focused on developing the code, the other team searched libraries until they found examples and modified them. Now is the time to ask which team is more likely to innovate.
NOVA Southeastern is 13 miles from here. Ah, it was so great to be back on campus after all these years. No visitor parking, professional students, Oprah-sized security guards, meaningless chatter, how I loved it. And afterwards, we retired to the student pub for a brew. Who could ask for anything more? In general, there was no meaningful advancements from the meeting but it was great entertainment and of course the gadgets. I was disheartened to find no hardware people showed, thus I did not meet anyone who could teach me how to etch circuit boards and the things I need.
Thus, my decision is to follow along for at least another month, watching if matters progress. I got the impression three times as many newcomers showed up than were expected. It was universally software types who were, like myself when I began, totally unfamiliar with the hardware. That is not hyperbole, some had never seen sensors and servos. I additionally felt the meeting kept getting off topic, into things like 3D animation, which are a totally different discipline. Read my lips, if this club is to amount to anything somebody has to take charge and set goals.
I quickly reverse engineered the magnetic alarms. They were set to latch when triggered. That means they stay on until you turn it off, which is not so great if you are out of town. So I modified one to trigger a second alarm and, using a spring, reset itself. Then I rigged up one of those self-flashing LEDs I built a few weeks ago, which emulates a motion or heat detector. The intruder, thinking there is a beam, instinctively steps backward. He has an instant panic attack because if he moves, the lights flash, if he stands still, the alarm sounds. He’s going to run like hell. And my guess is he’s going to run along the fence where it is darkest. Where if he accidentally tripped and fell over something, he’d land smack in the middle of the Great Stinging Cacti Patch.
ADDENDUM
You know something else that grinds my gears? Women who never grow up beyond constantly commenting that men never grow up. Allow me to bloviate, for you see, I am a professional electric bass player. So yes, I get that rolling of the eyes when some women find that out that I’m “still” a musician. Invariably it is the one woman in the group I could not imagine getting naked with. She has no tact. [At least] I don’t act exasperated when I find out she is “still” a hairdresser. As you’ve guessed, I just met up with such a person, so I’m going to let off steam.
I fully understand these same women who reject musicians were likely to have been rejected themselves, if only by proxy as in not getting their dream date to the prom. These women were once gaga over some big hair singer. They wasted their teenie-bopper years drooling at fan mags and that is as close as they ever got. They learn talented men don’t date dweebs but the moment they conclude the problem is the men, their own development is arrested.
That’s what I’m talking about. They start rolling their eyes and are still rolling them at 50+. They never leave that smug seen-it-all phase. Let me inform you ladies, when you meet a man who has been playing music for 40 years and practices every day, maybe it is time for you to accept the guy really is a musician. It is not his fault some wannabe drummer kicked you out of his dorm room back in the 70s, yes we know all about that. Just try to get past the judgmental stage and try to realize you not superior to men who chose music over golf and beer, two things you seem to be strangely okay with.
There, I feel much better now, thank you.
