Category: Random

BEADZ was envisioned as a cryptocurrency backed by a jar of beads. One token is (approximately) one bead. The jar sits in a cardboard box with a webcam pointed at it, and the camera is built to sign a…

During freshman undergrad at MSOE, each engineering student was issued a laptop. My first one came in 2014. Junior year we were offered a new refreshed system, which we could keep upon graduation, and…

This printer is my husband's baby. He bought it after some research, when Micro Center opened up in Santa Clara. He wanted to upgrade from the Prusa Mini and reprint the robot arm, the PAROL6 from…

I started soldering as a kid. My dad and I went to SciPlus (American Science and Surplus) and bought an analog variable temp iron. It worked well for learning. One lesson a bit more painful than the…

The Raspberry Pi 3B+ is a decent little SBC that I have used for robot projects in the past. It was the brain of YAM for a while, running ROS on Ubuntu with MATE Desktop…

My husband (boyfriend at the time) bought the Prusa Mini for us in December 2022 as a Christmas gift (I was always talking up the Prusa to him). We used it once we got back from travels. My mentor…

I bought an iRobot Roomba i7+ in 2021 to clean the one bedroom flat I had just moved into. It has served well since. It has moved apartments with me twice and shows up in both my 2022 and 2025 home…

This past January (2026) my husband and I flew from the Bay Area to Tokyo for two weeks. The first week was vacation. We took the Shinkansen down to Osaka and came back up to Tokyo. I specifically put…

July 2023, I was in Minneapolis for the Microscopy and Microanalysis (M&M) conference for my employer. After I wrapped up, my husband (boyfriend at the time) and I went to the Mall of America. First…

This was RoboGames in Pleasanton, April 2023. Practically in my backyard, since I work in Pleasanton and lived in Dublin at the time. I went with my boyfriend (now husband). I had wanted to go to one…

This was a small project right at the start of COVID-19, where I needed two Universal Robots UR3e robot arms under ROS control. It was early lockdown, so there was no way I was getting into the lab…

January 2022, this was at the San Francisco Premium Outlets in Livermore. I went with my husband (boyfriend at the time) early in our relationship. I had just moved out to the Bay Area (Dublin) in…

The People and Robots Lab at UW-Madison (formerly the HCI Lab) got two of these for free from Mayfield Robotics. We never did anything with them except let them roam the floor. They would make their…

Generally, I love my Third Reality Smart Switches. I currently have three single-pole light switches configured (garage, kitchen, and hallway) and a three-way light switch for the stairs, all without…

A quick break from the semi-rigorous robotics discussion… Hex Bugs (officially HEXBUG) were cool. Not just the tiny ones that were only bristles and a vibromotor, but the slightly larger toys…

This blurry photo has been sitting on a hard drive for a decade. It was August 2014 at Oshkosh AirVenture when I went to the Honda booth. Out walks ASIMO. Teen Curt's mind was blown. A walking robot…