Yes We Can (Eat Cookies)

Election night 2012 is finally here.  Fingers crossed for four more years.

Formal Robot Night

The museum continues to keep me busy with more and more special robot assignments.  Since the big event out in LA, I've also been working on more reliable programming for the Fast Forward exhibit and occasionally putting together a welcome message for Nao to share with important families when they visit.

In addition to everything above, the robot and I have also been tapped to help open this year's Columbian Ball.  The ball is a black tie fundraiser that the museum hosts onsite each year and is one of the marquee annual events.  Although I didn't have it for the demo below, Nao was given his very own little black tie to keep with the dress code.

Since I was out of town for the gala itself, I put together a little Windows app to let my colleagues easily trigger and control the introductions, adding yet another tool to the museum's robot toolbox.

Fun with Exhibits

My work to increase reliability of the robots in Fast Forward continues.  We're still having motor temperature problems, falls, and occasional other crashes, so I'm investing some more in a simplified program.  It's safe to say that, even though I'm a volunteer, this is my dream job.

I've been a big fan of the "show side" of Imagineering for as long as I can remember.  You get to create personality and character in an otherwise robotic animatronic using just your own programming and choreography.  You can captivate a guest's attention and create a spark of life, bridging the gap between what's real and what's make believe in a magical suspension of disbelief.

Obviously, with a Nao robot, I only have limited resources to achieve this, but, as the uncanny valley suggests, too much realism can be a burden, and I believe that personality can go a long way towards creating the magic.  Obviously Nao is a robot, but hopefully I can make him seem like a robot that's really talking to you, sharing his excitement and telling some dad jokes.

Considering that this exhibit is a short, recurring show I also wanted to have a little bit of replay value, so even though the main script is always the same, I made sure that the examples in the middle and the action at the end vary randomly each time.  Hopefully for the kids who just want to sit and watch robots all day, this little investment helps them enjoy it even more.

Day to Day Reality

Now that the excitement of special promotional work has died down, I've been trying to help with the museum's permanent robot exhibit in Fast Forward.  This exhibit was originally programmed by Aldebaran when the museum purchased its 3 Nao robots, but it's had some bumps in day to day operation.

Aldebaran was very honest from the start that the Nao's are not hardened, industrial grade robots, so running 8+ hours per day, 7 days a week would definitely be a stretch.  For this very reason, they started with 2 backup and a 5-10 minute rest break between each 2 minute show to allow the battery to charge and the motors to cool.

Not surprisingly, given that all of his major joints are raw, non-reinforced servo motors, lots of moving or even simply standing against gravity take a pretty rapid toll on the motors, which heat up quick.  Tuning the power to minimal stiffness and being smart about the types of motion can make a big difference in the amount of runtime you can get before the motor alarms trigger a shutdown.

Even with the optimizations made by Aldebaran, we were still struggling to run the entire day without heat issues, so I took a couple approaches.  The first was to spend a couple Saturdays just running the program and capturing motor temperatures so we could plot them and find the specific joints causing problems.

I also added some alarm detection for things like overheating or falls, which also happen from time to time, especially when excited visitors reach over the rails to shake Nao's hand.  As you might imagine, any of these showstoppers are a big deal when guests are expecting a consistently running show, so to help us handle when things do go wrong, I set it up to send out notification emails with a description of the problem.  It's not a silver bullet, but more data and better visibility will hopefully mean we can incrementally improve.

Lastly, I've been working on my own, simplified rework of the performance to scale down movement and hopefully buy us more time each day.  We've been running it a bit and it's exciting to be able to add even a little bit of a running exhibit to my resume.

Imagineers at Work

After a robotics performance Marty Sklar's house and a trip to Disneyland, there was one last stop on my list to round out my Los Angeles weekend.  I've read so much about the long days and late nights bursting with creativity as the field of Imagineering was born.  Things have come a long way since then, but there was still a magical, creative buzz in the air everywhere I looked.

Would it be inappropriate to just walk in and hand them a resume?

Lots of construction means good days ahead for Imagineers

Someday...

Even the bus stops are festive!

Imagineering my Future

Tonight was the night that my biggest opportunity came to fruition.  I was ecstatic when the museum invited me to travel out to LA to help setup and run the Nao robot performance at the Marty Sklar fundraiser.  I've been working day and night on the robot's performance to start the evening, and the chance to be there rubbing elbows with the who's who of Imagineering has been the icing on the cake.

First, let me start off by thanking Mr. Sklar for his generosity, not just hosting the event, but also being so welcoming to those of us working and volunteering in his house the whole day beforehand.  I had a few chances to talk with him, and he is full of great stories, encouragement, and advice.

I'm also happy to report that the performance went flawlessly, without any network hiccups or stumbles.  Knowing that I'd be there in person, I actually ended up building messaging to the robot so that I could control actions discretely with my phone.  This worked like a charm.  I was able to start the main presentation on cue so that it seemed like the robot was really just starting up on its own.

I also put in a couple Easter eggs like having the robot fidget a bit after his spiel while others were talking and even sneezing at one point.  I also gave myself controls so that I could have him clap along as other guests were introduced.

It all worked exactly like it was supposed to, and it was great watching the room full of theme park, robotics, and museum professionals hang on each sentence.  Mr. Sklar had very kind and complementary words for me afterwards as well, so it's safe to say I was on top of the world.

To celebrate, since I was already in LA spending time with Imagineers, it seemed appropriate to spend a day in Disneyland, having never been.  Tomorrow, more adventures!

Going to Hollywood

I have very exciting new to share in this post.  Having only recently gotten involved with robots at the Museum of Science and Industry, things have quickly escalated into a once in a lifetime opportunity.  The museum is currently working to secure funding for a new, robot-oriented exhibit, and Disney Imagineering legend, Marty Sklar is planning to host a private fund raising event at his home on the west coast.

The guest list should include past and present Imagineers, which isn't surprising, given the numerous ties between the museum and Disney.  Not only are there employees with stops at both institutions, but, though it's not widely publicized, Walt was actually born in Chicago, and I've read that a trip to the museum's Coal Mine exhibit was part of what sparked his passion for themed attractions.

Thanks to my wonderful friends at the museum, I've been invited to program one of the Nao robots to do the introductions for the evening.  You read that right.  My first serious assignment in animatronics programming would be performed for Imagineers in the home of one of the greatest original Imagineers himself.

It's no secret that one of my dream jobs would be to work as an Imagineer someday.  I got involved in engineering because of the enjoyment I get using technology to create anything that moves and acts on its own.  Whether it's an industrial robot or a holiday animatronic, after long hours designing, programming, and testing, being able to push a couple buttons and then watch the result take on a life of its own is a thrill that I will never get tired of.

Adding to the excitement, I was given a decent amount of creative freedom with the performance, so I've taken the opportunity to be creative with it.  Hopefully I can entertain and amuse the attendees, make a good impression, and ideally build some rapport in the Imagineering community.  Below is the latest rough draft.  I'm going for something fun and a little unexpected.

Every Bunny Loves Cake

Another holiday means another edition of Food that Looks like Stuff.  Taking inspiration from the size and shape of our loaf pans, brother and sister bunny cakes were born.  Unfortunately, I forget to get a picture of them before dinner, so below you see the aftermath of the poor massacred rabbits.  I'm not an overly artistic drawer, but I was happy with how the big floppy ears came out.

Lucas Oil Stadium as Cake

Another Super Bowl and another chance to be a cake architect.  It may be hard to tell from the photo, but you're not looking at a view of the actual Lucas Oil Stadium, it's just a scale model made of cake and frosting.  This year required a little more sculpting than last, but I bravely ventured into multi-story cake construction.