Posts

First Outings

Historically, I have believed and argued that anthropomorphizing a machine is at best incorrect and at worst deceitful. Even now that I believe that stance to be misguided1 I have a hard time shaking a feeling of embarrassment when I admit to saying, “You did a good job today, little buddy,” while patting ORBiE on…

Mentogeny

To-day before my mind did sproutIn tender, whitish greenA vision of the grandest pumpkinI had ever seen. Before too long that sprout did growAnd change into a vineA-curling all around my thoughtsAnd running through my mind. Compelled to act, I planted seeds,And made a pact: to conquer weedsAnd tend to all the varied needsOf gourds…

Alarm Clock Kintsugi

In the dark months of winter, when even the sun has a difficult time getting out of bed, Alex and I typically find ourselves groggily hitting the snooze button more times than good sense would permit. One possible solution: an alarm clock that offers “a unique combination of light and sound so you can wake…

Livestream Painting | Peinture en Direct

Note: This article describes an event that is now passed. To view the painting that resulted from this performance, click here. I have the opportunity to perform a live painting, grâce à la galerie CAVA! The River City Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Armand Birk, will provide “exciting and emotionally satisfying” sounds from Rameau, Vivaldi, Finzi…

DIY Mölkky Set

Step 1: The plan. Always a good place to start. I looked up the rules and regulations, and poured a little bit of brain-juice out through my pen onto some paper. With that bit of compulsive engineering out of the way, I was ready to start pulling materials together. Step 2: Procure materials. The cut list…

DIY PickleBall Paddle

Here’s a quick how-to recipe for making your own pickleball paddle! Bear in mind that, as much as I strive to stay within regulations, homemade paddles are not permitted for “official” play. But we’re just building and playing for fun anyway. Step 1: Cut out paddle Using a scroll saw, I cut out the main…

Hammock Philosophy

I was doing some thinking. Thought I’d jot down some thoughts here in an unstructured and largely unedited way, mostly just so that I wouldn’t forget them. Perhaps best to not put too much stock into anything. Philosophy is best done from a hammock in the shade of an apple tree. Ideally with a cool…

Splatter Painting

I’ve been working hard at loosening up recently, and let me tell you: there’s nothing quite so therapeutic as taking a piece of cardboard out behind the barn and giving it a good swift beating—with a paintbrush, of course. I’m starting to play around with ideas about the tension between chaos and order, and between…

Automatic Levelling of A Prosthetic Wrist

I’ve been saving this one up for a while… and it’s finally finished! An automatically levelling wrist to help reduce movement compensation in people who use prostheses: There are a lot of details about how this device works and what effect it actually has on compensatory movements in my M.Sc. thesis that I don’t have…

Robot from Household Trash

A few months ago, the New Trail magazine contacted me with an interesting request: They wanted me to design and build a robot out of household trash. At the time, I was right in the middle of writing my thesis, so of course, I jumped at the opportunity for something else to work on. In…

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