Author: Eugene

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iRobot Create

People have been hacking iRobot‘s Roombas almost since they came out, taking them apart, reprogramming them, adding more sophisticated components. I remember reading about one sacrificial effort where some guys took a Roomba, reworked it a bit and used it to play a real-life game of Frogger. I think they made it across the street and back once or twice before the Roomba got squashed.

A little while ago, the iRobot guys opened up the interface for the Roomba. Now iRobot has a new platform just for those robot hackers out there, the iRobot Create. You’ve got access to all the sensors, servos and motors, port interfaces for attaching other hardware (with the optional Command Module) and all the software you need to program the sucker.

To help kick things off, Tom’s Hardware and iRobot are having a robot building contest.
Sounds like fun 🙂

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Aquarium happenings

From the Aquarium‘s Turtle Lady

We will be celebrating the 7th Anniversary of the South Carolina Aquarium (SCA) on the beach at Isle of Palms County Park. On Saturday, May 19, “St. Simon” and “Lighthouse” will return to the ocean after rehabilitation at the SCA’s Turtle Hospital. Everyone is invited to come out at 4 pm to participate in a beach sweep and children will have a chance to run through an interactive Turtle Excluder Device. There will be opportunities to gather information about various SCA and SC Department of Natural Resources conservation programs. The turtles will arrive ~5 pm to be released. “Lighthouse” will be outfitted with a satellite transmitter so we can all track his/her movements after the release. This tracking is part of a research project to get more information about sea turtles with Debilitated Turtle Syndrome, an illness that affects many juvenile loggerheads along our coast.
This event is open to the public so forward the e-mail to your friends and family! Come early to get involved in the activities. I encourage carpooling…this is a Saturday in late May and the beaches will be busy. There is a parking lot at the County Park as well as a city lot and both have costs associated. For SCA volunteers and staff, reciprocity passes will work for the County Park, but not the city lot. If the lots are full, you’re on your own! I look forward to seeing you all out on the beach.

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Fishing fun

Today would have been a good day for a DITL photo essay, if only my camera was working.

Back from our fishing trip and had a great time. Went probably a few miles out past Fort Sumter, set anchor in about 35′ (11 m) or so of water and baited some rods with squid. I managed to catch two black-tipped shark about the length of my forearm. Holding onto the shark while my friend took the hook out was pretty cool. Another friend managed to reel in another shark about the same size, a little baby shark and a croaker, but the other one got shut out today. Still it was a good day for hanging out on the boat and fishing.

Towards the end though, the heat and sun started getting to me more than I expected, and all the bobbing around started to make me feel pretty queasy. It cut our expedition a little shorter than planned, but I’m looking forward to going back out again.

I’m beginning to see why so many people like fishing. It’s not so much catching the fish, but just getting away from everything and leaving it all behind for a while. I could definitely get used to it.