... new space opera

Discovering Alastair Reynolds and his take on the space opera has brought me back to the science fiction genre with a passion. Following a 10 year journey into historical fiction. My first taste of Reynolds was via a short story on Interzone. Now the chap cannot write fast enough for me.

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...R2D2

At the age of 9 there was Star Wars. And I was a believer. A tried to take apart my mums Aqua-Vac with designs on an R2-D2. I read all the Asimov novels and dreamed robot dreams.

Then I grew up. Well, Nearly!

At Uni' I got my hands on a 6DOF robot arm with the pleasure of writing a robot-programming language to sit atop its machine code instruction set; and discovered that a robot was merely a machine with an appetite for matrix algebra (groan).

But across the lab at Cardiff uni stood (not quite) a pair of robo legs with aspirations for the good life.

Just keeping alive those C3P0 moments.

So a glimmer of the boyhood dreams remained through all the years of practical engineering in heavy industry. Sometimes diminished by episodes of robowars.

Recently I have been managing a project that includes the installation of a couple of ABB robot arms. Naturally safety has been of primary concern. It is this I think that ensures the industrial robots remain firmly in the machines category. After all how can you build a relationship with something surrounded by double trip wires and light curtains.

Very interesting however to read about Robonaut2 built by GM and NASA. Designed from the outset to work in a human centric environment (as much as space can be). Although the higher levels of AI do not seem to have been developed it appears that significant steps have been taken regarding safe interaction.

Year by year the field of robotics advances. But the steps are very small indeed. I would suggest a lot of research has been inefficient and egotistical. There are some very basic aspects that can be developed using modelling at a much greater rate and at less expense. The insistance on a hardware realisation of a concept is more useful for maintaining enthusiasm and funding but of small value. It is this that has kept me back from purchasing a lego mindstorm and locking myself into the garage for months. Each time I consider a potential project I always come back to the AI as being the real challenge, and one that is beyond my programming ability (oh the heady days of GA, NN and Fuzzy logic written using Pascal on my Amstrad 9150)

But the next 10 years or so is surely going to be the most exciting of times for robot development. Especially when the Afghan war is over and the expanded list of drone suppliers have to find alternative commercial outlets for their wares.

...merry moose

The Moose is getting all excited having been landbound for 18 months.

The Maple makes its debut. Soon to become the paddle of choice.

Truly this was the best Madras I have tasted in mon

ths.

Left unsupervised for only 30 minutes; she couldn't be trusted not to chase the cows. BAD MOOSE!

...having fears to surmount

7th March 2009

I would class myself among those known as "nervous flyer's". 

Nothing debilitating; but enough to cause my palms to squeeze the armrests a little tighter than needed, my eyes to close as the pilot rotates and a prayer or two to the God of engineering.

Naturally I couldn't let this little trepidation go unchallenged! 

So cocking-a-hoot to fear I booked two flights in a glider and headed for the mountain ridge.

 Scene 1 - Met pilot 'Mike' who was a real cool cucumber emitting vibes of ease.

 Scene 2 - Introduced to the parachute. "When the canopy pops don't wait for instruction from me -I'll be gone already - Just jump!" says Mike, " oh, and remember to give a hard tug down on this right here." (or was it a tug right out ?).

 Scene 3 - I had watched the training vids. I knew it was not supposed to be this bad. The tug plane was flaying about like a ferret on a leash. Mikes' commentary evaporated abruptly and I could feel the control column gyrating vigorously between my legs (now now ladies- enough already!). With the mountainside filling the cockpit window and the glider being whipped violently by the tug I was just waiting for the line to break followed by an emergency landing.

 Scene 4 - Both legs where shaking more then I  have ever experienced. But I was alive. We had passed through the turbulence. We had had to be taken up another 1000 feet to do so. Mikes calm never faltered but he casually admitted that that kind of take-off was not normally metered out to newbies.

 Scene 5 - I was flying! The aircraft responding to my touch. Willing me to steer her and steady her. Perfect!

 Scene 6 - Brain too tired, I gave control back to my instructor. Feeling what he could do with the aircraft build my confidence a fair amount.

 Scene 7 - The clouds were closing in quickly leaving a 'hole' through which we needed to descend. Air brakes on and we dived! 

Scene 8 - Approach turn and down. Exciting. 

Beautiful. 

   Love to do it again.

http://www.blackmountainsgliding.co.uk/

I won the 'red letter' as a prize last Fathers Day. I chose the lucky Yorkie bar. Thanks All Nations Church!

...a little moose down the wye

The photos of our Canoeing weekend down the River Wye. I'll never make a photo journalist that's for sure. All these shots look quite tranquil. You will find no record of the trek through the nettles and wood to reach the castle. No snap of the mercifully bludgeoned rabbit s brains next to the coronation tuna salad. No shot of the rapids either I'm afraid.

We reached this point in the river after a lovely peaceful paddle during which Tom sighted more wildlife than I'd ever would have noticed without his keen eyes. Kingfishers, Grebe, long-tailed Tit, and other don't recall. We stopped having seen the battlements of Goodrich castle on the hill trying for a photo op, but the trees just took it out of sight.





Not so easy to get to this point as you may think. We had to brave a few ' no entry' signs to finally breach the castle walls.





Goodrich castle overlooks the Wye and commanded the trade route between England and Wales via a ford that existed in the river just past the tower in the picture below. The castle became a royalist stronghold in the civil war resulting in it being destroyed by a locally fashioned mortar cannon (still present in the castle grounds).



Tom, keen eyed as ever spotted this good spit of land for a nights kip. Just below a small weir (the one in which The Moose became stuck on the last trip) that rumbled throughout the night.

Tom surveys the grace of God in providing a ready supply of fire wood for the night.


Whilst I anticipate the potential for flood defence.




"..the front of the tent should come to about here".

(Which is about where the waters edge ended up the next morning !)



But by faith we held back them waters and enjoyed a most excellent stared night in all it's glory, followed by a descent breakfast.


A strong southerly held back the rain on Sunday providing us with a beautiful day to cruise down to Symonds Yat and the rapids. Tom did a sterling job at holding the canoe to the correct line through the rough and somehow managed to stay indecently dry. Whilst I received quite a lap full!


The final stretch through to Monmouth included this lovely spot of still water given us a little time out to play on the stoppers.




The Moose liked this spot.





Thanks Tom Clarke for great company on our mini-adventure down the Wye.