Robotics for Poets

[parsemand]

Poll

Edit:
N.B. I do not intend to use "I" above as a 'fake indexical' (i.e., respondents to my poll are not expected to answer the question of whether they should take the class) but as a variable that is bound to myself as speaker (i.e., respondents should give their opinion on whether I, parsemand, should take the class

Comments

[minus3db]

Willoughby & Baltic... That's part of Dorkbot (or actually vice-versa), a band of electronics geeks / artists (including myself) meet there about once a month. Do you know Meredith?

As for the class, I say 'no' personally because it's sort of a beginner-level class (and I'm a grizzled old firmware hacker by now) :-) By 'I', did you mean yourself or the reader?

[parsemand]

Ah, I tried to clarify with my edit to the original post. This non-speaker use of "I" was just discussed last weekend in a semantics conference at Harvard. So happy to find a real-world application!

Aside from a Lego robotics set that I forced M--- to get me as a gift, but then made no real effort to build anything working with, I'v done nothing with robots and sensors. I'm taking a philosophy of AI class this term (which I'm about to be late to, in fact), and have high hopes of building the intellectual equivalent of a goldfish. I like the evolutional approach, though, so I think I should start with a bacterium (or several), move to nematode maybe, then to snail (they have nine ganglia! pretty advanced) before tackling the goldfish.

I'm hyper-aware of being out of my league, and having no real idea of how to approach the project, even.

All help and advice appreciated.

[minus3db]

Argh, I must have posted just before the edit. If you're wanting to get started playing in robotics/mechatronics, this class should be a good introduction. What exactly is 'philosophy of AI'?

(If it involves trying to accurately model real biology, e.g. neural network simulation, this is probably not the right class, but if you want to make robot arms and wheels react in some smartish way to their environment by arbitrary means, I'd say go for it! Arduino is a good beginner platform, simple enough for non-programmers (even better non-hardcore-programmers), but powerful enough not to feel like a toy. Plus, some of the Dorkbot folks will probably be in it, so that's a great resource for finding a group of like-minded geeks with varying levels of experience.)

[parsemand]

No, I don't know Meredith. Is she good to know?

[kombu]

I can't answer for you as you asked, but I would indeed enjoy such a class. The downside is that it's a kinda one-trick-pony thing. Are you likely to use the skills and materials again after the class? It'd be fun, but maybe not super applicable to anything in the future.

[kombu]

Although looking at your comment, perhaps this is something you intend to dabble with in the longer term. So, why not? If the class is any good, it'll be fun.