Wikiversity Project

I am working on a microbusiness plan and model at Cargo Imports as part of the Lunar Boom Town study project. The study subject is a mass produced robotic cargo carrier specialized for one way payload to the moon. Payload is maximized by maximizing the salvage value of the Lunar Insertion Stage (crash lander) and the Cargo Soft Lander by constructing them of recyclable elements and components in demand in lunar free markets. I may include robotic warehouse at spaceport at both ends of the cargo leg. I am going to storyboard the whole process by using youtube clips and produce one or two stills and clip segments myself. I am sort of doing a virtual systems engineering project for a robotic cargo cargo. A virtual robot or vapourware. 8)

I am also going to try to cast and machine my own parts for a Estes style model of the virtual robotic carrier. I expect to make a few nickels by returning whole al cans to store while melting down crushed ones for aluminum. I will do some sample economic calculations using estimated electrical consumption and cost of manufacturing green sand casting box, stainless steel melting pot, and pattern.

I suppose I could attempt to sell the model on EBay after test flight for materials analysis or failure analysis.

It would be slick if anybody is interested if some robotics got added into the budding venture plans. Never can tell. We might come up with a viable micro cottage manufacturing variant applicabe to garage hobby or startup here on Earth.

It would be nice also if some of you guys did some of your common efforts at a robotics department, project, course, or task at Wikiversity to add to the free engineering commons design and manufacturing specifications available. We are trying to learn what ground rules and web techniques work for various R&D types of efforts. Wikiversity would benefit immensely if you share with us what you need to collaborate effectively online in pickup teams. We are starting to attract some serious academic and professional scouts so some of you might find access to certain types of pickup expertise or casual chit chat focused on the specific design task you face useful.

Just imagine an open/free specification robotic manufacturing line controlled by a network of "One Laptop Per Child" computers carving doodads for sale to wealthy knick knack collectors on EBay.

Search on Robotics on Wikiversity.

Elasticity may be useful to anyone pushing materials performance envelope.

Online learning and reference resources

Wikibooks (A Wikimedia Foundation, http:\\www.wikimedia.org, sponsored project) augments Wikipedia.org with FDL'ed online textbook and how to resources. Active Wikimedia participants voted 69% (approx 200 of a little under 300 votes) to establish and begin developing Wikiversity, a free online university open and free to all responsible participants.

An appropriate coursebook has been drafted and an initial Wikiversity:School of Engineering:Electrical Fundamentals course initiated that some here might find of interest. We need course participants, developers, and instructors interested in theory, design, prototyping and implementation. I am hopeful that some U.S. engineers reviewing for their engineering boards will show up to help us with some instruction, tutorials and problems. I am also hopeful that some of our robots.net enthusiasts will find it of obvious use to the community and well worth participating with its initial development and subsequent maintenance while enhancing personal skills and projects.

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Wikiversity:School of Engineering:360_Fundamentals_of_Electrical_Engineering

Some of us might find some of the other courses useful and even wish to initiate some other courses applicable to robotics to create online learning resources helpful in augmenting skill levels within open engineering commmunities and team projects.

I invite and encourage anyone interested in helping by actively participating in enhancing existing personal skillsets to come by occasionally and collaborate on self selected tasks/tweaks/study with others while leaving behind an ever improving legacy of online learning materials for newcomers to robotics and the internet.

Wikipedia was not built in a day. It took hundreds and then thousands of dedicated participants as well as hundreds of thousands if not millions of casual edits from dropin internet users a few years to create a free online encyclopedia plus capable of convincing hundreds that it is possible to create a free online Wikiversity. Wikipedia is now among the top 50 web sites receiving traffic online according to Alexa.

I am proud of the small part I played in helping Wikipedia succeed and I intend to pursue graduate level studies at Wikiversity while considering some entrepreneurial opportunities and reviewing engineering fundamentals in preparation for U.S. Board of Engineering Examiners EIT and PE exams. In a decade, I will be able to say I was there and helped create a free educational resource that is helping people worldwide enhance their personal skills, economies and cultures in support of the civilized world's declared war on terrorism. This will satisfy my self declared intention to respond to President Bush's call to action in support of the global war on terrorism.

... and maybe I will finally get some basic robotic toys and/or prototype components implemented in my home work area.

If anyone has any questions or suggestions for us at Wikiversity they can drop a message for me on my talk page at Lazyquaser (rex, robots.net journeyer; mirwin, advogato.org journeyer) or leave a comment or question at one of the pages linked to from there.

Future portal may be www.wikiversity.org

Raw materials, Parts, and Tools

Been strolling for excercise along local highway. Picking up litter, nickels (OR refund Cans, uncrushed), metals (lead weights, crushed aluminum cans), and larger salvage.

Recently found a lawn mower which I am tearing down and perhaps rebuilding for educational purposes. Found a truck drive shaft .... when I get access to a decent lathe might be able to make something of it ... or perhaps slice it in cross sections for wheels???

Started selling stuff at a local flea market. Getting back into rocks in a variety of ways. Have a local supplier for slices of low grade gemstone which I hope to use to create artwork or christmas decorations which people will buy. To fill table out I have been buying and reselling stuff as well as selling salvage computer software, cables, open source apps, and my own software production.

Gotta go, later fellow robotics lovers.

I am back I now have a design goal. Nasa has posted a 250K prize for essentially a robotic way station capable of cracking 10kg of O2 out of lunar regolith and having it handy for wayward lunar suit occupants or explorers.

Centennial Challenge Lunox

I will be at least prototyping a robot to accomplish prior to beginning the engineering necessary to achieve weight, power, and time constraints on the winning system. Even if I do not win (and I must consider myself a dark horse) I will learn a lot that will be of great use to production lunox operators and lunar colonists resulting from huge success with the CRV.

I will establish a formal project here and start posting Process and Instrumentation Diagrams and protographs of the conceptual prototypes as I get them layed out in the carport or down on paper. This is going to be a lot of fun!

Incidentally, I am grateful that this site has been developed by Steven Rainwater, et. al. and all of you readers while I have been goofing off elsewhere on the internet. This site is going to be incredibly useful as I start serious prototyping and soldering necessary to integrate the off-the-shelf and custom components of my Lunox Waystation Wanderor ... LW^2? ... I will need to work on a good acronym. Even if I do not win the prize, I might be able to sell some solid engineering to somebody contracting to NASA in a decade or two?

Anyway I am off to read the recentlog, scan the local site, go gambling with my Dad for Father's day and finish my post at Advogato (which now has a pointer to here). Later

Just checking in, have not done much with robotic design yet. Perhaps the articles or diaries here will provide some inspiration.