“Hey everyone,
As I discussed at the last meeting, I plan to hold a presentation at the next Robot Group meeting this upcoming Tuesday – 11/05. Here’s a brief blurb on what I plan to present.
MACHINE LEARNING 101: INTRO TO NEURAL NETWORKSHave you heard of Neural Networks but wanted to understand what they are and how they work? This talk will give an introduction to Artificial Neural Networks – their biological inspiration, a brief history, and a general architecture.
Then, we will walk through a hands-on implementation in Python using ANNs to detect a handwritten number from its 28×28 pixel representation (MNIST dataset).
Hope to see you there!
Luke”
Blog
Blast from the past 1996, part 2
The last find in the folder rescued during the move-out from the old Robohut in February 2005 is a postcard advertising RoboFest 7, i.e., seeking additional funding for the event held September 14-15, 1996 at the Dobie Mall.
The gentleman pushing the shopping cart is unknown to me but he was someone known to members, Tom Davidson and Sonia Santana. It would appear that he is ‘dumpster diving’ (a technique to rescue from the municipal waste stream useful electrical, electronic, and mechanical components to repurpose into robots or robotic art).
In his shopping cart of goodies can be seen the Babbling Head (eying the gentlemen pushing the cart), Tai Chi Charlie (articulated arm above and to the left of Babbling Head in the photo), and the torso of a member of the Megabot Army.
On the reverse side of the postcard a small inset photo shows the Babbling Head admiring Tai Chi Charlie. The remainder is a plea for funding.
Blast from the past 1996, part I
This will be my penultimate post concerning the folder rescued during the move-out from the old Robohut in February 2005.
This RoboFest 7 bumper-sticker reveals something about a couple of exhibits from the September 14-15, 1996 show. Once again, Brooks Coleman’s Mechanical Pitbull can be seen front-and-center. Around that are sketches of what I first though were bombs being dropped. Actually, those are the remote-control hydrogen-filled Cybernetic Airships that thrilled attendees.
Blast from the past 1995
Here is another of the items that I found in an old file folder from The Robot Group, Inc.’s move from the old Robohut in February 2005.
This is a postcard-size flyer advertising RoboFest 6 that was held on April 1-2, 1995. The front side features a photo of Brooks Coleman’s Mechanical Pitbull. The opposite side is a list of sponsors.
That list of sponsors is a fair indication of how Austin has evolved. Aside from the City of Austin and the Austin Circle of Theatres (morphed into the Austin Creative Alliance as of 2011). Motorola became Freescale then NXP. Origin Systems was purchased from the Garriott brothers by Electronic Arts and dissolved. Jon Lebkowsky and Paco Nathan of still around but Fringeware is but a memory. Most of the other sponsors have vanished.
Blast from the past 2005
I very recently ran across the postcard below, a souvenir of a visit from Boston-based artist, Ross Miller.
The Robot Group, Inc. had recently vacated the old Robohut and was seeking a new home. In the interim, we were meeting at the Dobie Mall food court. Denise Scioli (who was teaching classes for the Austin Museum of Art at Laguna Gloria), talked Ross into coming over to speak at a gathering of members.
It was nearly a twenty year ago and the details are hazy. Ross was in town under the auspices of Randy Jewett’s Austin Green Art (now-defunct?) organization. He spoke briefly about his own work integrating art into public places then went around the group asking each attendee to explain their interests in art and robotics.
It has long been an inside joke among members that, “If it moves, it is a robot. If it doesn’t, it’s art.”
Officers and Board Members for 2022
At the Annual Business Meeting, held virtually on 2021-12-26, the ballots were counted, and the results ratified by the Board of Directors.
Our officers are board members for 2022 are
- President : Brooks Coleman
- Vice-President : Alex Iles
- Treasurer : Wolf Dilworth
- Secretary : Brooks Coleman
- Board of Directors : Derek Bridges
- Board of Directors : Vadim Konradi
- Board of Directors : Rob Ristroph
Thank you for stepping up for service in 2021!
Officers and Board Members for 2021
At the Annual Business Meeting, held virtually on 2020-12-06, the ballots were counted, and the results ratified by the Board of Directors.
Our officers are board members for 2021 are
- President : Brooks Coleman
- Vice-President : Alex Iles
- Treasurer : Wolf Dilworth
- Secretary : Mike Scioli
- Board of Directors : Derek Bridges
- Board of Directors : Glenn Currie
- Board of Directors : Yama Ploskonka
Thank you for your service in 2020. You are hereby sentenced to another year!
Outreach : Gateway CPS
F1 in Schools is an international STEM competition for school children, in which groups of 3–6 students have to design and manufacture a miniature car … using CAD/CAM design tools. The cars are powered by CO₂ cartridges and are attached to a track by a nylon wire.
Wikipedia
Some of Christy Williams’ students at the Gateway College Prep School in Georgetown, TX have formed a team to compete in the F1 in Schools program. That team, Aspire TX, sought help from The Robot Group and Brooks Coleman and others have risen to the occasion.
You can see the preliminary results in the YouTube video linked below.
At last ….
Luddites that we are, we think that this YouTube thing might stick around for a while. President Brooks Coleman has chased-down that bandwagon and leaped aboard.
Once we get 100 subscribers to the channel, we can get a custom URL.
For now, it’s
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCicL_thM5mLI4_zmNyiXKbA/
Update on Tami Friedman
Tami’s daughter, Rachel, has established a memorial (blog?) for
DE Bob WB5AOH
Tami’s memory, and please share it as Rachel asked us to do :
www.forevermissed.com/rebecca-tamar-friedman/about
Rachel said that an address to send cards would be her own address :
Rachel Jagodowski
86 Waid Rd
Monson, MA 01057
As so much of the web is so very ephemeral, I have taken the liberty of extracting some information from the memorial linked above :
Rebecca (Tami) Tamar Friedman (nee Whaples), of Austin, Texas, passed away peacefully on Saturday February, 8, 2020 after battling a long illness.
Tami was born 07/17/1951 in Bloomington, IN to Dr. George W. Whaples, PhD and Dr. Miriam Whaples (nee Karpilow), PhD. Tami spent her childhood in Bloomington and Westminster, MD before moving to Amherst, MA with her family. She graduated from Amherst Regional High School in 1968.
She moved to Austin, Texas in 1973 where she graduated from University of Texas’ School of Nursing. She lived and practiced nursing in Texas for a number of years before moving back to Western MA in 1987 where she continued working as a nurse and became interested in the work of the Free Software Foundation (FSF) and the GNU project.
In 1990, she moved to Brighton, MA where she worked as a hospice nurse and also worked for the FSF for several years before returning to her beloved home in Austin in the late 1990’s. Tami spent her remaining years staying involved in the FSF community, getting involved in the HAM radio community, cat rescue, and volunteering her time as a nurse to help others.
She was predeceased by her brother, Jonathan Whaples, in 1990, her daughter, Nylah Siddiqi, in 2006, and her nephew, Benjamin Rives, in 2008. Tami is survived by her son, Noah Friedman, and his partner, Carrie Lang, of Seattle, WA; her daughter, Naomi Friedman, and her partner, Matt, of Longmont, CO; her daughter, Rachel Jagodowski, and her husband, Matt, of Monson, MA; her daughter, Esther Friedman, of West Barnstable, MA; her sister, Barbara Rives, of Nantucket, MA; her nephew, Sasha Rives, of Nantucket; and her three granddaughters, Nylah, Analise and Molly Jagodowski.
Tami was very dedicated to her work as a nurse, especially as a hospice nurse. She truly felt that patients who were terminally ill still deserved not only the highest of care but the dignity and humanity that she saw as lacking in much of hospice and elder care. In her honor, please consider making a donation to the Alzheimer’s Association at https://alz.org/ to help advance research of Alzheimer’s and dementia as well as support those who are suffering from those diseases.