I love the laser cutter!

evosyn: (via rosarioflorio)

R is the cats pajamas..

Visual Programming

We wanted to give a group of visiting high school students a feel for problem solving using robotics and programming -without having enough time to teach them either. Everyone in the lab was instructed to come up with a few ideas.

I had an idea to replace programming with tangible objects that represented code for controlling the robot, a sort of “visual programming” language where code is replaced by color. For example, if the robot ran over a red piece of paper it would turn right, blue would turn left, green would speed up, yellow would slow down, etc. This was difficult to develop and TinFan Wu, a PhD student in the lab, was instrumental in getting the robots and the color sensors to work together. 

The visual programming system encompassed the basic concept of representing physical changes as discrete commands that could be arranged to solve problems. We then introduced obstacles that they were asked to navigate around, which introduced the notion of using programming to overcome environmental constraints. The other lab members had the idea to use line avoidance, where the robot could not cross lines and therefore would have to stay within the bounds of the track. This led to the development of a large poster-board race track that had several difficult areas to navigate through.

The teams were given these tracks and instructed to use the colored squares to “program” the robot to navigate the maze. There were a few races where all teams competed over who could navigate the entire maze 3 time. The fastest teams got ribbons. A good amount of the students expressed interest in the robots and there was some bonding between the students and their team mentors, which is great for encouraging them to pursue science.

The event was written up by CalIt2: http://www.calit2.net/newsroom/article.php?id=1879

The lab bought some robots to teach junior-high students how to think about programming. It basically runs on an ATMega328 with an Arduino bootloader, 2 motors, and 5 line sensors. It has a buzzer that plays classical music too. If you want to get the included AVR programmer to work with OSX, prepare for some gnarly firmware updates. This is my first test run after uploading the included line-following example code.

Next step, integrate color sensors!

Pololu 3Pi Robot + AVR Programmer
http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/1306

Google sites is intended to simplify the process of making a web site. However, the documentation can actually make the process harder than it needs to be. For example, changing the calendar on a pre-made template can drive people crazy. This example will hopefully make the process of changing site features easier.

A while back, I shared a Google site template that allows people to organize group projects.

This example will involve changing the calendar page on this site.

Step 1

Go to the site and click on the calendar page.

Step 2

Look for the “Edit Page” Button at the top right-hand corner.

Step 3

Notice that the calendar turns into a ‘placeholder’ and that a save button appears in the top right-hand corner of the screen.

Step 4

Whenever a widget (like a calendar or checklist) turns into a placeholder (ie light brown box), you can click on it. When you click on it, a little bar menu pops up on the top or bottom of the calendar. Look for the icon that has a gear or sprocket or whatever (it means ‘settings’). Click this.

Step 5

In the properties menu, a variety of options are available. At the top, you should see “Display another Calendar.” Click this.

Step 6

If your calendar doesn’t show automatically, paste a link to your calendar here. (For instructions on getting a link to put here, see the Google Calendar Documentation) 

letterheady:

Frank Lloyd Wright, 1946 | Source

A sheet of architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s personal stationery; a much larger version of which is here. His studio letterhead has been featured on Letterheady previously. 

Great, so this is the GDP of freedom?

takeactionunite: The tear gas used against demonstrators in Tahrir was made in the USA. This makes me feel really ashamed… :’( 

Photo by: @TravellerW 

Two awesome mentors!

(Source: inconcertwithmonsters)

When collaborating on a scientific project, it is important to keep the momentum going with each successive meeting. Meetings that lack structure often take up energy of the group and the project starts to wither. To develop a quasi-universal framework for meeting structure, I scoured the internet for “Steps to Doing Research” and have compiled a list that should hopefully focus group efforts to keeping the project moving:

1. Identify an area of interest
2. Assess ongoing reserach and identify trends in current literature
3. Clearly define terms and concepts
4. Find a unique problem or question
5. Review the literature in that specific area
6. Clarify the problem and identify the purpose of the study, define objectives, and hypothesis
7. Get Feedback from Trusted Colleagues
8. Identify:
   -Experimental Design (randomization, etc)
   -Population
   -Types of Measurements and Units
   -Number of Subjects and Measurement Precision (Power Analysis)
   -Outline Statistical Analysis
   -Develop Standard Protocol
9. Secure funding for the study
10. Prepare a protocol for the study
11. Get IRB approval
12. Recruit Assistants
13. Recruit Subject
14. Conduct and Monitor the study
15. Close the study
16. Analyze study data and interpret the results
17. Communicate the results

Sources:

http://www2.hawaii.edu/~halina/ExpDesWk/ResSteps.pdf

http://psychology.about.com/od/researchmethods/a/steps-of-scientific-method.htm

http://www.nichd.nih.gov/health/clinicalresearch/steps/developconcept.cfm

http://www.humankinetics.com/excerpts/excerpts/steps-of-the-research-process

This is how a democracy begins. When the government does not serve the interests of the people, the people have the right —and duty— to overthrow the faulty state. 

Though the “right of revolution” is as old as the Zhou Dynasty (1122-256 BC), the process of revolution has radically evolved with modern warfare and technology. Accordingly, the strategies of both parties, the people and the state, have adapted to the threat and potency of a digitally enhanced revolution.

Most states have prevented their coup d’état by successfully hindering the ability to assemble and communicate. However, as new digital communication tools, such as Twitter and SMS, have become more available to people in less advanced countries, the ability to assemble has been restored. In correlation with the availability of such technology, there have been several newly sprouted revolutions occurring throughout the world in the last few months alone.

Syria, Egypt, Iran, and Tunisia have all seen the same strategy of governmental response: block websites, if not shutting down the internet outright, and blocking cell phones. Thought this strategy may have been effective, the digital community is fighting back in its own way. The tools developed by this technology-based liberation front provide ways to communicate through narrow and censored pipes.

One such tool is Tor, a tool that “bounc[es] your communications around a distributed network of relays run by volunteers all around the world: it prevents somebody watching your Internet connection from learning what sites you visit, and it prevents the sites you visit from learning your physical location.” Tor has allowed users in heavily-censored areas to effectively hide their location by using a remote computer as a proxy. Other tools, such as Google’s SpeakToTweet, allow users to call a number and leave a voice message that will be tweeted when access to Twitter is shut down.

But where do these people turn when the government shuts down internet or cell phone service entirely? Enter Open Mesh. Open Mesh is a project that allows “citizens of the world to commonly communicate without telephone or cable companies” through a system of interconnected computers, called “nodes,” that both capture data and send data to other nodes on the network. These “mesh networks” allow information to propagate from peer-to-peer while providing access to many other peers. Furthermore, the system is self-healing such that when one node goes down (ie. is captured), other nodes can assume the workload provided they are within range of the users. This system allows the people to take control of their own communication in spite of the government, restoring their ability to organize and revolt.

As panicking states struggle to maintain control, they flail at every option they have left to prevent the public from unifying. But what happens when their tactics lose effect? What sort of control can a corrupt state exert over the people’s ability to assemble when they can’t control communication? In the next few years, it will be less and less likely that they can do anything at all.

The digital community has made their stances and support for an open internet that promotes human rights and will aid the people in fighting pro-censorship governments. In the age of communication, authoritarian governments may find that they cannot supress an informed and equipped public.

http://www.openmeshproject.org/blog/item/1-egypt-situation-gets-worse.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_of_revolution

https://www.torproject.org/

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/01/some-weekend-work-that-will-hopefully.html

http://www.openmeshproject.org/about-us.html