A very very short Blog

I forgot to thank the Russian Space Agency for taking all those astronauts and cosmonauts including one Canadian to the international  space station.

Also let us all feel for our American friends , they are in pain and seem lost. Sooner or later they will see the light.

I could go on and on but what I really know is how to build robots and that is the only subject I will comment on as I have done in the past.

Pius  

( told you it would be short, not too worry I am already thinking about the next long blog!!)

The End and The Beginning

To all those who have kindly read these words I place down on pages of paper and the transfer to my blog, a most pleasant holiday season. Whatever is your situation, enjoy the warmth and kindness of your fellow man.

As this date approached I felt that it was necessary for an entry. Tomorrow is the last day of the Mayan Calender. Before I go on let me state that I really know a great deal about building robots. I have been fascinated by them for decades and so when I speak about robots I do know what I am talking about. Stating that , I have also looked into the famous date much talked about namely, December 21, 2012.

I know we as a species are facing great challenges and very serious problems. These are approaching us from too many fronts and they seem a bit overwhelming. However I am an optimist. I know that we will live beyond any date made in the past about the final day. It is the manner of how we live that is changing. The is in great flux and our collective future is defined by the choices we make. Our leaders make decisions every single day  and they contribute to the direction our future takes. However it is the great uncountable , myriad choices each individual makes that will be the major force determining this future.

 I have witnessed great cruelty and malice in this human species. However I have seen with my own eyes, amazing acts of kindness and generosity. Sadly bad news makes the headlines and good news is rarely reported. I have found  that people can be very rude and self-centered  but others are kind and thoughtful. This is man's nature and it has to change. Again this has to occur at a very personal level. I cannot be legislated or imposed from without.

This brings me to a point that people tend to take for granted. I have struggled for decades with the problem of how to implement an intelligence into a sentient robot. It has consumed my time and I relish the challenge. My blog Robots and Nothing But deals with this in a more technical way. I have never understood why homo homo sapien, blessed with such an incredible intelligence is still struggling. This wonderful universe after fifteen billion years of evolution has placed this species at the summit. It makes me sad when I see what we could have accomplished and have not. Tomorrow will not be the last but the beginning. One like the world has never seen. One in which we will see a new world slowly, gradually, inevitably emerge from the old one.

Pius

SO Sorry !!

All my life I have tried to express myself in a way that would make me clearly understood. Well I have noticed a lot of traffic on one particular post. I realized that the title was a bit misleading. As such I have renamed that one post.

Now do not get me wrong I am pleasantly surprised when people all this world look at my blog and read my words. I am honored to have so many diverse individuals sharing my thoughts on particular subjects.

At the same time I doubt my blog will be viewed as many times as PSY's  video. However I am alright with that and though I have not blogged a lot lately I shall shortly. 

I know that not everyone will agree with everything I write and that is great. There is nothing, nothing like freedom of thought and the means of expressing it.

I am pleased that so many have viewed my tribute to the Russian moon rover. That robot deserves more attention and a lot of you out in the real world agree.

Take care and I promise to blog shortly.

Two Months till the END of the Mayan Calender !!

I would like to comment on something that is completely out of the media's radar. On December 21, 2012 the Mayan Calender ends and this means that everything we know will change. I got a feeling a few days ago that will not go away. Something is afoot in this world and I cannot get my finger on it.

Now I firmly believe that the world and all the poor humans on this planet will live on. However something will occur that will make us think more than twice about what it is to be human. If only we realized that in this vast , vast universe we truly are miracles of creation, we would treat ourselves and others maybe just a bit better.

Now those who read this will say where do robots come in here. After almost three decades of studying and building robots this fact has come up too many times. To do the most simple human action takes a great deal of effort.

So remember to appreciate who and what you are !!!

CURIOSITY IS ON MARS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It is so early in the morning and I can breathe again! The people at JPL deserve congratulations! I have just seen pictures of the rovers wheels covered in Martian dust. Curiosity landed safely and survived its seven minutes of terror. Though it is an American effort we all can share in the pride of having another robot on another planet in the solar system.

It makes me very sad that the majority of people on this planet are not noticing this historic event. Even when it is brought to their attention they will shrug their shoulders and say or think so what !! I for one cannot wait to see what this machine will discover!!

In the big picture we see that robots are trailblazers for us mere humans. They go bravely ahead of us to prepare the way for us. Even though we have lost the vision and will a time will come when humans will be on Mars. In order to do this we must put aside our differences an concentrate what makes us one species, and robots are helping in this as well. What marvelous little creatures.

Rest Curiosity, there will be tomorrow for you to begin your work. Thank you for giving us all a new night.!!!!

Gold Goes to Curiosity !!

The Olympics is all well and good. However it occurs every two years and it sure takes up a lot of media time. Because of this stuff the brilliant event about to take place is being overshadowed. NASA is about to land another robot rover on Mars. I find this a lot more exciting than just mere sports.

This is an amazing event yet it will get only second or third page notice. I feel that as a species we have our priorities a bit mixed up. Once it lands it will explore the surface for evidence that there once may have been life on Mars. In a word WOW!!!!

Once the London games are history it will plod along for many years making one discovery after another. Now come on people this deserves some attention.

In His Image

   
      What inspires us to do the really important things in our life ?? These are the things that make a big difference to us and to our world. Inspiration is what happens to us usually when we are young and is not easy to forget. Inspiration makes us wiser, enlightens us, expands our vistas and does not limit us in any sense of the word. Change abounds within us and all around us. Time presses forever forward and we ride its crest into the future. Yet through all of  this, deep within our soul something remains unchanged. In turbulent times we stand upon it so that we do not falter. In happier times we rejoice we are in possession of it for it helps define who and what we are. It guides our actions and we emerge into our true selves. That is our inspiration.

      Each person on this planet can recall a moment when they realized that their life was going to change. When younger we were more open to new ideas and ways of thinking about things. This not to say that we are hardened to the point of insensitivity as we age. Let us just say that anything new is usually filtered and we add more complex filters as the years march forward. I remember as a youth being surprised and greatly impressed by what went on about me.

      I was a child in the sixties. The history in North America was very much in flux back then. I remember being very confused. This was a combination of growing up and understanding more of the outside world. As I matured I had great stretches of time when I was just trying to figure things out. Leaders that showed sensitivity , vision and hope were dramatically killed. New technologies were born and we were all excited by the great adventure of going to the moon. However this was also the era of Vietnam and the cold war. So mixed with going to school and learn the mathematics, science were the messy politics of the time.

      As a young person I looked to see what I could learn. Fortunately for me television was beginning to show how powerful a medium it would become. Most of the shows were used to keep us entertained. However even back then it was used by some gifted individuals to teach very important life lessons and broaden our minds.

      One such individual was a prolific writer, director, producer and certainly a genius in this new field of television, Rod Serling. His writing was amazing in the sense that although it was used by mass media, it actually spoke to us as individuals. He used fiction to hold a mirror to society and those of us who dwell in it. It was never done in a scolding manner but an enlightened fashion. He had many productions but the one I remember vividly was his show  The Twilight Zone. I shall not now try to explain in few words on so few pages what subjects it dealt with, for it would not do it justice. It was held by its viewers to high standards but at times it was inspiring to watch.

      A good story teller weaves a magical tale that is embedded with gems. We are certainly entertained as
 we watch but behind is a lesson which , if we are fortunate is quickly learned. The great stories are told throughout history because each generation must learn the lessons and not repeat costly mistakes and live well.  A story that has stayed in my mind was about one individual who tried to improve himself. He wanted to remove his flaws, as he saw them. The story begins with this person waiting in a New York subway platform. As he begins to suffer from a mental episode he is questioned by a religious zealot. He snaps back to reality but as she talks he begins again to slip and pushes her onto the tracks as the train arrives. A very disturbing beginning  and we are reassured that this not a dream by the introduction narration of Rod Serling.

      The title of this episode is In His Image. He goes to meet his girl-friend of four days. They go back to his home town but it has changed beyond his recognition. His aunt does not exist and there is an empty field where the school  where he was employed  was supposed to be. An unknown person is living in his house and people that he knew have been dead for years. Once again, as he is being driven back to New York by his friend he begins to lapse and he persuades her to leave him and take the car and go. Now we are coming to the unforgettable part that really, really shocked me when I was younger, oh so much younger. As he ran into the road a car comes from behind and barely misses him as he jumped clear. The person driving runs out in a panic and helps our hero. He does get up and looks at his left wrist where there is a huge gash, but no blood. The closeup of his face was unforgettable as he slowly looks at his injured arm. He pulls back a flap of skin to reveal not skin and bones and blood but electronic parts, circuits and a few flashing lights.

   

      He is shocked to see that he may not be what he thought he was. Later it is revealed by his creator, who looks just like him, that he is a mechanical device. His creator wanted a perfect copy of a human being, not a robot.  It is strange that I recall that moment of discovery with vivid detail. I also remember that I would check myself every time I was hurt to see if I was human. As children we wonder about so many things and this story had a huge impact on me. It made me think about what it was to be human. Is it because we have a body ?? Is it because we have consciousness ???  What is life ? Could we build robots with such sophistication ??

      These very questions guide me today. I have taken a path that was influenced by that show so long ago. I find the work of robot building completely absorbing and fascinating and look back with a sense of joy at this one episode. A last comment as I bring this long essay to a conclusion. Recently I got a copy of this very show and I watch it regularly. An excellent production, well crafted, well acted and I have it from beginning to end!! I usually do not look at it as I work away in my robotic workshop. However I stop and always look directly at the television at the moment he looks at his arm. Interesting that I would do that after all these years.
   

Megahertz

Megahertz is a word used to indicate the frequency of a digital pulse. It means a million pulses per second. The timing pulse is the heartbeat of all serial microprocessors. These days this pulse is well above the gigahertz range. Truly impressive when you consider that all microprocessors implement programs written for them one step at a time. The reason that it appears otherwise is in the skill of the writer of the software. These are the instructions that make the hardware work.

From the very beginning they have been very, very fast. As humans we think at great speeds but studies have shown that this is nowhere near the fantastic speed of these massively integrated circuits. Our consciousness and all the wonders that were conceived and accomplished is based on the singular fact that we possess a massively parallel , interconnected human brain. We have on the order of one hundred billion neurons each with about ten thousand connections. So that means that we have a lot of interconnections.

We are not serial but it is hard to imagine a million steps a second. Our eyes would not be able to see this speed if it was simulated on a flashing light emitting diode. We would see a constant light source. Actually the fastest speed that the human eye can see flashing is about sixty hertz or sixty flashes a second. The speed for these  most fascinating digital marvels is only increasing. It will be interesting to see how fast they will become.

Just a Quick LONG note

I have been busy lately but that is no excuse not to blog. Sadly my loyal computer that has served me and my family for many years stalled and then would not allow me to upgrade. When I rebooted the hard drive after saving all of my data it refused to give me a more modern version of internet explorer and that was making it impossible to do creative work. This blog site warned me that I had an older version and that would give me problems. Youtube is no longer supporting internet explorer 7 and that would make my wanting to learn about the wide subject areas I am interested in very ,very difficult.

As such I gathered my vast, or no so vast resources and bought another computer with a lot more memory in ram and all new systems. I was amazed that it was so easy to set up and it was soooo fast. So here I am bloging once more.

What also amazes me is the number of people who have taken an interest in my blog. This particular note is not going to be technical but I make no promises about the many future ones that are coming. I am pleased that my audience is from all over this wonderful world. I am humbled that you are reading these words. A most hearty hello to each and everyone of you.

Type 0

No this is not a typo . In science fiction and those persons who are interested in the future, rate the level of civilization  that exists around them by the use of resources.

A type 3 civilization is very, very, advanced. It uses the resources and energy that spans an entire galaxy. When you consider that a galaxy contains on the order of 100, 000, 000 stars this is quite an accomplishment.

A type 2 civilization uses the energy and resources of an entire solar system. This means using the raw materials from asteroids and uninhabited planets to serve the needs of the needs of those that have life. It also means using all of the solar energy that is poured out daily by our sun. Though not as advanced as the previous one it is still a high order of civilization.

A type 1 uses some of the solar power the sun gives freely every single pico-second  and all of the resources of an entire planet for the benefit and  betterment  of every single member of the species that inhabit that planet. This would take a great deal of co-operation to accomplish. A high order of social and economic development would have had to occur before this civilization would be brought about.

This brings us to our civilization. A group of separate nation states, using fossil fuels , polluting our environment, killing each other. Our social progress is primitive at best and this problem is compounded by the inefficient use  of energy, resources  and most important of all people. I believe that makes us a type 0 civilization.

Complian 1

Complian 1

This is what I sound like complaining. My first attempt at adding sound works well up to a point!!

What Happened 2012 ???

Another New Year, and we celebrated it so loudly and with such enthusiasm. Strange, in a world divided by politics, religion, economics, we should as a species , all look forward to a new year. I watched as each major nation welcomed 2012 with a great deal of noisy fireworks.

I look forward to the future with hope because there is no other way to look ahead. Granted I hope to to do better and hope the best for my world. Sadly though I know I will make  a great personal effort I feel the world as a whole will lag behind. As such I will measure our progress on how well we do.

Have we achieved meaningful world peace ?? If not now , when ?? Though there has been positive moves the animosity level has not decreased. One very telling point is why China was not invited to participate in the International Space Station. I have been monitoring , with interest their many successes in this area. They seem intent on building their own space station and we shall see that the next humans on the moon will be Chinese.

The genome was mapped a few years ago, yet where is the cure for cancer ??. Where are all those cheap and wonderful treatments that were promised ?? Now I know that it takes years of very hard research and development to come up with this stuff but I have not heard a peep lately.

Why is it in the twenty-first century we are still using so much oil?? Where are all those wonder fuels that give us plentiful energy without slowly killing the environment ??  We have 'clean' energy via nuclear power but where do you bury , safely all that radio-active waste?? Using fossil fuels will make us fossils eventually!

Last October the seventh billion person was born. When I was a young lad there were about 3.7  billion humans on earth. In my lifetime, spanning many decades I have witnessed it double. I firmly believe that even with 7 billion people, there are enough resources and ability to give every single person food, a decent education and a home to live in with dignity. However the distribution of the existing resources is very upside down.

Have we figured out what human consciousness is ???  I know form reading this letter you may think that humans are not intelligent but even I have to admit there are signs of it appearing from time to time. However it seems that as one philosopher stated, the hard problem does not have any solutions yet. Research continues and has increased over the past few years and hopefully results will ensue.

To end this long winded commentary I ask where is my robot ?? I am thrilled about the amount of interest, research and progress that has been made. A lot of it in North America is funded by the military and this is a cause for concern. There is so much work being done that it is hard to keep track of the latest developments. I am engaged in this most fascinating work. However I have yet to see a conscious, fully functioning robot leave any of our labs just yet.

As in all things all we can do is hope !!!

Google Prize !!!!!

Though it did not make the front pages,  or the middle pages, or even the back pages, the race to place a robot on the moon is still on!!! Oh yes there are many governments pursuing this worthwhile effort and these I applaud. However I am referring about the individual, non-government efforts that are hoping to win the prize so generously offered by Google. I was so excited to learn about this that I walked around and told that would listen and some of those that did not want to listen how wonderful it was that this was happening. A few must have thought I was touched by the very moon those people were aiming for in their plans.

However I am still very excited about this endeavour and I am saddened that I lack the resources to send a robot to the moon. The building of the robot is not the hard part. The real hard part is getting the fuel and the rocket and the launching it. After this the problems compound. Once it is launched you must be able to track the trajectory of the robot rocket. Since the earth, sun and moon are constantly in motion relative to each other there must be a way of attitude and course adjustment. Then there is the problem of communicating over the vast distance from the surface of the earth to the surface of the moon. I would like the robots to be autonomous but everything that will place this precious cargo in one piece may not be. Then on  the moon the robot has to traverse the surface and send pictures back to eager humans!!

This would be an accomplishment and a half and I wonder if the world will take any notice. I feel that the world has its priorities upside down. To me the use of robots heralds a safer and better world. We make our world from what choices we make and the paths we follow. So it seems that I will continue to jump up and down and tell those that think I am a bit touched and exclaim to the world that this is something to shout about !!!!

Lunokhod the Russian Moon Rover

Recently I became aware of some fascinating pictures of the Russian robot rover on the moon. It was launched as the answer to the Apollo 11 moon landing. It was discovered by a Canadian astronomer with data from a recent Lunar Orbiter. He found that it holds the distance record of over thirty-five kilometers traversing on the moon and now is seen beside a crater. The pictures are literally out of this world and it takes your breath away to see the tracks it made in the lunar dust all those decades ago.

Now as I look at these pictures  I wonder about the lagging space programs in the world. All going in their own directions. I think in this twenty-first century we should put our differences aside and work together. In this way we could share the high initial cost of going into space. To set things up is going to be very expensive. However as a species we can certainly afford it. We should back to the moon with the plan of setting up a permanent moon base and from there explore the planets. The moon has less gravity and we could launch ship after ship with less energy use.

Now the crews of these ships should be robotic at first, second and of course third. Robots are perfect for space. They do not need life support  and can be built for specific missions to specific planets. Also they can be built to last for decades. What wonders will we see??  What secrets will we learn ?? As we learn  these secrets the whole world can share equally. World wide interest will cause the governments to keep up the expense. We cannot afford not to do this. Hopefully we could set up a World Space Administration.  We should go into space with specific timetables and goals. We should also have a vision of the future. The great potential of space can be realized if we work as one species. What happens to one affects us all since we share the same biosphere, at least for the near term.

Sleep well loyal, hard working robot !!

I just found a new, well old video in Russian about these robots. They are filmed on Earth with some lively music. To a robot builder the movements of the robot are like a well orchestrated ballet . I hope you enjoy it as much as I love to watch this type of robot in action !

Alloting Words

Shakespeare once wrote in one of his plays, " That a rose by any other name would smell just a sweet."  In another he penned the following words, " How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless child." Even common day to day activities were stated with eloquence. Marc Anthony wished that the people gathered after the murder of Julius Caesar would listen to him. He entreats them with these words, " Friends, Romans ,countrymen lend me your ears !!!" I have remembered these over the years because they are beautiful and crafted with intelligence and genuine warmth.

As I sat in a coffee shop I penned more words surrounded by talk. Most of it unintelligible and distant enough that it did not intrude on my own thoughts. When I walked down the street  I saw and heard people conversing on their cell phones. On the computer there are so, so, so many sites, forums, chat-rooms and blogs that it is at times overwhelming.

I wonder how many words are spoken or written or typed in a single day by all the humans on this planet. Could you actually count such things accurately??  I know  I have like most humans, said words that I wish I could take back. However once something is uttered it is impossible to unsay, not write it. This is the result of engaging the mouth before engaging the brain .

I listened to a talk show host on the radio many years ago and he coined a phrase that has stayed with me. He said we should be allotted so many words a day. When the number of words spoken or written were reached we would have to stop. Hopefully this would give us time to think twice or thrice before we pen or say words that would add nothing of substance or value.  I realize that something like this concept would be almost impossible to suggest , let alone implement. I just found it intriguing!!!

Just the Moon Please !!

What happened here??? Where are those moon bases?? Where are the moon colonies.?? They used to say that people that were a bit touched were lunatics. We are crazy if we do not exploit our nearest celestial neighbour.  We just got there and then we abandoned our grand vision. The first nation to land a man on the moon seems to be seized with an overwhelming lethargy .

However other nations are now beginning to land  robots,  and  hope to land man back on the moon. The nation that can accomplish that will be on the rise and be able to exploit that tremendous potential. They can extract and use the frozen water on the moon's surface. They can construct manufacturing plants. If they have a grand vision, build spaceships from material found on the surface and launch them with less effort and energy due to the lower gravity.

I am glad we have not given up on the dream of returning to the moon. It will mean changing the train going there but it is important to remember that we are all the same species and the man must be back on the moon for the sake of our  future as a race.

                                                   Apollo 15 Moon Rover on surface.

Let us Hear it for the Robots !!

Spirit and Opportunity are well named. It takes spirit to take advantage of an opportunity.  Here these poor abandoned robots have performed brilliantly on Mars. One sadly is stuck but the other keeps going an going. I feel that they deserve recognition for what they have achieved on behalf of the human race. They have been transmitting data for years and years and they were only slated to work for ninety days. It goes to show you where well planned robotic can pave the way for humans.

Indeed we need to look up, if not to the stars just yet, then at Mars. When we look down at our progress on this planet we seem to be fumbling the ball just a tad. I have always thought that our robots,  the children of our collective genius , will lead us onto a path of surviving and thriving.

Junk Wire

As I was walking down the street I noticed something on the ground. It was to me a small treasure!! Some technician had been repairing the land-line  phone box and had thrown out some wire. I grabbed it quickly and wound it into a small ball.

I find it amazing that we can have a copper wire of such great tensile strength in so small a diameter. I have seen cables on those great wooden spools as they slowly unwind down a manhole. As they disappear, I find it fascinating that it can go on and on and not break. Copper is well known as a wonderful conductor of electricity and in order to make it more useful it usually covered with a non-conductor. As such these covered wires can mix and mingle and not short each other.

What a high level of civilization and technology we have surely achieved. When I wrote this note on paper with a gel pen I recalled that this too was fascinating. Paper , created, lined and placed in book form. A pen with ink so it runs out uniformly and smoothly. All I have to do is write. I do not have to dip my pen into an ink jar. The inventor of the ball point pen should be hailed as a hero by everyone. Yet how many people know about this marvel in their hand. In our so called advanced society it is one of the simplest and most abundant artifact. Yet the future is always depicted with people touch writing on an electronic pad. Those who own that great scourge of the twenty-first century , the cell phone, are always texting. Usually when the they are stepping off the sidewalk into the road.

Yes I do type on a computer with my famous one finger method, but I am always writing, writing, writing on paper with a wide variety of pens. We are surrounded by wonders of technology that we take for granted.

Lester the Robot head

LESTER

Here is a video of my latest robot Lester. He is made once again from spare parts. His head was from an old robot I took apart about 15 years ago. 

He was built around the 324 and some parts I had. My building philosophy has always been that you use what you have at hand. It might take some creative thinking and tinkering but I have found time after time that it works. What was fascinating was that the signal to the board where the circuit was went through almost three feet of wire from the light dependent resistor (LDR).

The 324 and the circuit built around it to run Lester.

Me holding one of the LDRs.

I do believe it is an excellent use of spare and thrown out parts!!

Infrastructure

A structure is supposed to last a few years. I wonder what secret the ancients had to build those monuments that still stand. They are wonders of the world because of their longevity. Sadly the civilizations that built these are long gone. The rise and fall of great empires is a complex and interesting study. I think that those that lived in the midst of all this history had difficulty understanding what was happening around them.

Of course they were not as advanced as we, who live in the twenty-first century. They did not have all the high tech tools and gadgets that are everywhere. Those who are technically naive use very sophisticated machines without really knowing how they operate. Why did the ancients not live down through the ages to witness our world??

Possibly they did not pay attention to their infrastructure. Theses are usually the out of sight, out of mind things that make a society function. For example, all humans need water to exist. In the cities of the past that were not built by rivers, where did the water originate ?? How was it transported to the populace ??. How was the issue of waste products dealt with effectively ?? What about transporting people and goods ?? Here we find the soft underbelly of any civilization. It is when the infrastructure weakens and then collapses that it is abandoned.

Surely we have gained the wisdom to avoid this pitfall. Our knowledge and understanding of a great multitude of things has risen to very high levels. So I ask myself, why do I sit on a rainy day in a streetcar that leaks ????

Firefly Pictures at Last !!!!

Here are some of the better pictures of Firefly's circuit board. These are top and bottom shots.

As promised here is the second video of my newest robot FireFly. She was built for my daughter. As I was talking about the robot to her I called the robot, him. She insisted that FireFly is a she and I agreed with her. I cannot argue with the person that inspires me. The robot reacts to light so that makes him a photovore. This shows his forward and backward movements. It all came together and I am pleased with the result.   Now I will post pictures very soon, promise!!

Here is the first video about my newest robot FireFly. The name and the idea came from my daughter. She seems to inspire me and I worked with her closely to design specific aspects of the robot. She was the one who decorated the base. She also helped me pick out the base. It is actually a reusable plastic container. The base of the robot is and old part from an old toy. Except for the photo-transistors, all the other parts were what I could find in my workshop. There is a second video which shows how he moves.