Some inspiration and brain candy

Posted by: @zander

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I just stumbled on the following video. There are lots of interesting developments in the world of drones and bots. I have been trying to figure out how to build something to handle the many lakes, swamps and bogs, forests and meadows and hilly rocky terrain where I live. I was going to build terrain-specific devices, but now I see some concepts allowing me to build at least some multi-terrain vehicles, if not the ultimate omni-terrain.

Nice video!  Kind of depressing... with my meager attempts.

Thanks.  😣 

Hi @inq 

 Kind of depressing... with my meager attempts.

  Not at all ... you are building some very tidy looking machines on a budget that wouldn't keep the narrator, let alone one of the projects, in coffee.

The narrator omitted to discuss the budgets, team sizes, resources, etc. behind those projects

       ... I am sure if you had that kind of backing, you would be amongst them!

  Be proud of your achievements!!

Dave

@davee 

Thank you for the kind words.  I wasn't really whining for myself so much... but just imagining about kids coming up.  I was very fortunate in my timing with the IBM PC coming out and could have jumped on the Pong, Galaga type games.  Could have... should have.  Now games are made by huge teams of developers artist, and story writers.  More recently, 3D printers and then came drones where someone could build their own.  Now we see here swarms of coordinated drones searching... 

AI is still in its infancy.   There are very sophisticated AIs used for all kinds of various things.  Many are already outside patience, ability and price range of the common hobbyist.  However, because of the glut of applications and the limited supply of expertise, there is a short window now where many great opportunities for the entrepreneurially interested person can have an impact.  All is necessary is to see a need that can be filled or... filled more efficiently or more in-expensively.  Me... I'm just goofing off.  

@inq I had a personal experience with one of those events. I started a PC game company before DOOM came out. My team was 3 including myself (we worked together at Dow Jones). Our budget at the feasibility stage was a couple hundred bucks. I was quite proud to welcome the team to, I think, our 2nd meeting, where I demoed that I had learned the matrix math involved in moving an object around the screen. Imagine my reaction to seeing DOOM in action and learning that it was built using a million-dollar computer (don't quote me on price; it was a long time ago). It didn't take me more than a few seconds to dissolve the company in the presence of the 800lb gorilla. I don't mind competition, but that was ridiculous.