Why Technology Works !!

   Here I am standing beside my self in wonderment that so many of you out there in the real world take the precious time out of their busy day to look at my blog !!
   I review the stats and there are people from every part of the globe and this makes me very humble and happy !

   Now my lab and research area is in a shambles, not through any natural disaster. I work and read and things get a just more than a bit messy. I have failed in my initial experiments with ultrasonic range finding for my robot . The circuits I have painstakingly built have failed and I have nothing to show for it. So I have to do some more research. Now there are commercial units available however I want to build everything from scratch . It is more fun that way and you learn a great deal more as well.
   
   I have also been documenting my success with Sam's main board. I have implemented an input circuit and a functioning ram. I have also written a z80 machine language program that tests the hard ware. I had to do this before I go on so I can reference back when things go slow or nowhere at all. 
   
   I will provide more detail and schematics of my failed experiments in the next blog. I wonder if the people who write these books and draw up these circuits actually build and test them. In my experience I have found more than one mistake and this is annoying and very frustrating. My rule is to test and test and make sure the things I build and program, work always and for hours if not days. When you trust these guys you assume they know what they are writing about. MY RULE trust yourself when it comes to building things.

A Modern World

            As I think about how to create my robot in the small expanse of time that I was given I also trip over many other thoughts. I am going to finish my wondrous artifact and have him react and act in the world.

             Then I look around as I am walking about and I am concerned at what I witness. People with a terrible sense of preoccupation with themselves. In this twenty-first century I would have expected more progress. We still use fossil fuels to drive our cars. It seems that we use cell phones for the most trivial of conversations. Our leaders are baffled about how to solve the myriad problems facing us as a species.

                                           Sam's Brain Board Prototype 1  

                                                          Sam's Brain Board Prototype ( opposite side wiring)
     

                    Sam's    2716  EPROM which I programmed in Z80 Machine Language

The Mighty Z80  Sam's Microprocessor Brain

 Into this mess I am going to throw a device that will I believe ,as it develops , will help solve these problems. Despite initial negative reaction we will accept the help that will be offered. Then and only then will we survive !!!!!!                                                                                                

First Audio Blog !!!

Here it is the second day of  2013 and I have learned how to add audio to my blog!! How exciting and interesting this year is going to be!!  I am now monitoring my comment section and someone who liked my blog made an excellent suggestion about adding video , pictures and audio to my blog to give it more pop !!

Well here it is and I promise I will not end this sentence with an exclamation mark.

"http://archive.org/download/FirstAudioBlog2013/MIC-2012-12-20_01h21m00s.mp3"

This audio is about 2:55 in length and if you have the time please listen and by all means let me know what you think.

Take Care

Pius

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 !!!