A Visual Chronology of Robots

Sentry being brought back on board the Atlantis after a dive I'm a software engineer in the Deep Submergence Lab at WHOI, and I'm currently at sea with Sentry, a robot whose primary mission is to map the ocean floor. So, what do I do when at sea? And why are they sending software engineers out for operations? At sea, my job usually includes:...

A very partial set of butterfly and flower prototypes. It turns out that origami butterflies have a natural predator in housecats, and I found ripped-apart wings all over the place. As soon as I learned that I could order flexible PCBs, I knew I wanted to play with designing “origami circuits”, where the board itself is folded and soldered...

Designing a PCB1 and sending it off to fab is surprisingly accessible and feels like a super power. I’d been intimidated for years, but finally jumped in. Also, I love living in the future! For This post describes the path I took to get my first PCB manufactured, with an emphasis on not getting sucked into optimizing every decision. I’m assuming...

Don Blankenship's research group at UTIG has been collecting geophysical data in Antarctica for decades. Each season, we hire Kenn Borek Air1 to operate one of their modified airplanes, stuff it full of sensors, and fly around Antarctica. This post attempts to give a tour of the hardware involved, with an emphasis on its scientific purpose and a...

I woke up to hear the magic word “penguins” in the dorm hallway, so I grabbed my camera and ran down to the shore, which led to a lovely afternoon spent following them around the station. This was all in accordance with my research group's official "penguin policy" stating that penguin sightings have priority over anything but a flight. The...