45 Days After Lockdown and Feeling a Bit Guilty

Posted on April 25, 2020 by AZAtheist

Yes, it’s another unboxing blog. I’m feeling guilty because perhaps I shouldn’t be having so much fun while on lockdown when others aren’t so lucky.

Every day starts out with a 5 mile walk on the portion of “The Loop” that is close to my house. It’s starting to get warmer now. Eighty-four degrees this morning when I started. I’m sure it was a bit warmer when I got home. I don’t think I could do it without my headphones and a healthy backlog of podcasts. Most people out on the loop are there to get exercise same as me. I usually wave with my palm open and my 2nd and 3rd fingers spread a bit like Mr. Spock in Star Trek. I say, “good morning” and most respond back. A couple of days back I decided to mix it up a bit and said, “Nanu nanu.” The responses were varied. Some knew the reference and smiled a bit broader. Some just waved. Some looked puzzled. Just like most days, there were the few dedicated, serious peddlers that rode past with that scowl that says, “Don’t bother me I’m doing something really important here!” I get that I guess. People are different. I personally enjoy a “howdy do” during these times of isolation but I understand how others may not. What I don’t understand are the bikers that come from behind and pass at break-neck speed as close possible. There have been times when I step off the trail to let large groups go by. I’m a bit reluctant to do that now because we have some non-human company sharing the path these days.

Normally, these guys don’t bother me much, but “The Loop” is rather busy, and they appear to be rather nervous and noisy. They’re easy to spot on the paved path, but their camouflage is very well matched to the desert on each side. They disappear. On the positive side, I think I get more out of my exercise when I hear the rattle. I’m sure my heart rate goes up a bit. Lately, I’ve seeing two or three every day.

I like to take a few of those plastic grocery bags with me when I walk. They don’t weigh much and don’t take up much space, but they’re handy for collecting the trash along the way. I prefer the path to be clean and it doesn’t hurt to take a few minutes to pick up things along the way that shouldn’t be there. There are three trash barrels along the section that I use. Sometimes, I find things that I want to take home. Some items find their way into reuse projects. Pictured is a shelf completely covered with reuse projects. I have to say that this shelf is not universally appreciated but I still get away with it. Just today I picked up the little green bottle sitting between Rosie and R2D2. It came in handy when I needed a small light weight object to move with my new robotic arm.

By the way, I should end this here. I’ve reached 500 words and came full circle. The box of parts in the beginning is now a working robotic arm capable of holding something that I found on my walk. Nanu nanu!

Posted in Repurposing Material, Retired--A Day in the Life, Robotics, Science and Technology | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

38 Days of Quarantine: Another Robot Unboxed

Posted on April 18, 2020 by AZAtheist

I bought a few robot kits late last year and early this year. I also bought some robot associated kits. For example, I bought a robotic arm driven by hydraulics. I buy these things for evaluation and get ideas for a robotics program at Camp Quest Arizona. Camp Quest Arizona was scheduled for the end of June, but it is cancelled for this year.

This is my second kit from RoboBloq. It’s called Qoopers. .” This high-quality kit costs about $150 (from Amazon). In the kit, there are parts for 6 different configurations. The one pictured and the one I built is called “Captain Alloy I also had the option of building a two wheeled “Scorpoid” version, an obstacle avoiding “The Voyager” version, the “Li’l Guardian” version, “The Dozer”, and “The Cavalier” version. An unboxing video can be found here.

It took me about an hour to assemble and since I previously downloaded the RoboBloq application on my iPhone, it took me no time to start driving it around my living room. Previously, I built the Q-Scout from the same company (RoboBloq) which costs half as much. The Q-Scout and the Qoopers are remarkably similar. The Q-Scout was a bit easier to assemble probably due to the fact there was only one option whereas the Qoopers can make six different robots. There are many more fasteners required on the Qoopers and most of them need back up nuts. The Q-Scout had fewer fasteners and almost no nuts because the threads were cut into the metallic parts. The Q-Scout has two powered wheels while the Qoopers has a pair of tank treads. The motors on the Qoopers are also more powerful.

The parts and fasteners reminded me of my Erector Sets that I had when I was a boy except these were high quality. My Erector Sets also did not have a brain module either. I enjoyed building these two robots and it was great to have the opportunity to play with them a bit. So far, I’ve been using my iPhone to control and program them, but Nancy is giving me her old iPad which should make the programming a bit easier. I don’t think I can build a Camp Quest Arizona program around them. While at camp we discourage the use of iPhones and iPads. In order to operate the robots, you’ll need one or the other. However, I might have a short “free-for-all” robotic activity where these guys will be participants and the campers will be able to interact with them for fun and the experience of interacting with robotic devices.

Stay tuned! I’ve got quite a few robotic items in storage and there seems to be no better time than now to break them out.

Posted in Camp Quest, Retired--A Day in the Life, Robotics, Science and Technology, Youth Activity | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

20 Days In (XX)

Posted on April 1, 2020 by AZAtheist

Last May, Nancy and I brought home a beautiful new truck—a 2019 Super Cab Ranger 4×4 with the top-of-line trim and all the goodies. A couple of days ago, my “connected” vehicle sent me a message:

“Your Vehicle is in Deep Sleep mode and connectivity is temporarily unavailable. Manually turn on your vehicle to deactivate this mode.”

In other words, the truck is feeling ignored.

For us, it has been 20 days since we started practicing “social distancing.” We made the decision to go into self-imposed isolation on March 12th right after Nancy’s birthday party on the 11th. Not much changed for us, however. Mainly, we stopped going to the weekly Sabino Canyon 7 O’clock evening stroll and I stopped going to “drinking godlessly” every other week and hosting the monthly Tucson Atheists Meetup at Denny’s. I’m beginning to realize how important those small breaks and socialization events are.

We went to the Safeway today. The Safeway store is right at ½ mile from our front door, so the trip added 1 mile to our step count. Nancy and I needed the steps, so we didn’t drive. I needed vegetables for my “miracle soup.” I make a couple of weeks’ worth at a time and have a cup every morning. This morning I ran out. Nancy sat down and sewed some surgical type masks out of two layers of dense pillowcase material. We put them on when entering the store and made note of all the changes that are designed to keep people 6 feet apart. The masks seemed to work even though they were a little hot to wear. No one seemed to mind. I paid the bill with a credit card to avoid using money and the only thing I touched that was recently touched by another human was the register receipt and 3 Monopoly game pieces. When we got home, we washed our hands with soap.

It looks like this is going to be our new “normal.” I have been walking 4 to 5 miles on the “Tucson Loop” every day and picking up trash when I see it. I probably need to drive the vehicles around the block from time to time. It would be easy for me to spend the day snacking on junk and watching television, but I’m determined not to do that. I have many unfinished projects, and nothing is more satisfying to me than getting in the “zone” while working on a new robot or model airplane. I have a couple of motorcycles that haven’t been started in years. Maybe it is time to get them tuned and prepped for sale to someone that will appreciate them.

I hope your self-imposed isolation is going as well and thank you for reading this. Check in from time to time and if you’d have any questions or concerns, feel free to leave a comment.

Posted in Retired--A Day in the Life | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Out Like a Lion

Posted on March 31, 2020 by AZAtheist

When I sat down to do this blog, I was planning on relating on my activity during the lockdown, but I thought it would be OK to comment on the governor’s most recent proclamation.

Here in Arizona, the governor finally decided to announce a stay at home order. Governor Doug Ducey is just another example of a person who should not be in the office he is holding. When are we going to realize that the best person in administering a government is not a businessman? I’m happy that he can sell ice cream, but I’m not impressed with his performance as a governor.

A businessman is responsible to his stockholders and making a profit is a moral imperative. A governor should be above all else a statesman. Someone that is skilled, experienced, and respected political leader. James Freeman Clarke said “A politician thinks of the next election, a statesman of the next generation. A politician looks for the success of his party; a statesman for that of his country. The statesman wishes to steer, while the politician is satisfied to drift.”

Not all the people serving the public are paid and profit is not the end all of motivations. For example, in business it is a great idea to cut activities that do not produce profit. President Trump made the right decision in a business sense to terminate the White House Pandemic Office. When he closed it, there was no active pandemic. He dissolved the office because there was no immediate need for it. Now he claims he’s a “war time president” and doing a great job while simultaneously claiming “I don’t take responsibility at all.” This is funny to me. If anything, good happens, he always takes full responsibility. In many cases, he takes responsibility for things he had nothing to do with.

Okay, using Trump’s metaphor as a war time president, let’s say that we’re not currently at war and our standing Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marines exceed out current security demands. Using his business sense, he would cancel all preparedness exercises and eliminate those combat units not currently engaged. Of course, that’s a bad idea but the true businessman wouldn’t have any problem with it. I served in the Air Force for 27 years. Much of the work I did was in preparation for future conflicts.

President Trump and Governor Doug Ducey might be great businessmen, but they are lacking as political leaders and suck at their jobs. The sooner we rid our government of these people the better we’ll be as a state and as a country.

If life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is important to you, you’ll vote Blue!

Posted in Arizona Politics, Election, Freethought Community | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Secular Day at the Arizona Capitol 2020

Posted on February 26, 2020 by AZAtheist

What a great day we had at the Capitol! Tory Roberg, our Secular Coalition for Arizona lobbyist put on the best secular day ever. The Secular Coalition for Arizona was created in 2010 so this celebration represented 10 years of effort. We have a small budget but energetic volunteers and have been able to “slow the roll” of the religious groups such as the Center for Arizona Policy and the Alliance Defending Freedom as they try and eliminate the separation of church and state. In fact, we got to march around the capitol saying “Separate: Church and State!” while carrying signs. I don’t know if we changed any minds, but I felt good doing it.

We had speakers and we had many groups that share our desire for a secular Arizona government free of undue religious influence. I represented the American Atheists and got to say a few words about how our missions overlap in keeping religion and religious based laws from affecting all Arizona citizens.

Quite a few of the members of the Secular Coalition got a chance to meet with their representatives. In the past, I got a chance to meet with one of my lawmakers. Her name is Becky Nutt. She met us at the door holding her Bible. During our discussion, I invited her to our “Secular Studies” meetings that provided free lunch to those that attend. She said she couldn’t attend because she attended Bible study. I asked her, “When do the Bible study sessions meet?” She said, “Wednesdays at noon.” I said, “Well Becky, that’s an entirely different day. You can do both.” I also reminded her that she doesn’t have to believe the way that we do in the Secular Coalition but she should be aware that it is her job to represent ALL of her constituents, and the best way to do that is to learn about the things that we have concerns about.” While she accepted that it was a valid point, and she promised to give it some thought, she never attended a single Secular Studies sessions. Who passes up free tacos?

If you’re in Arizona Legislature District fourteen we could use a refresh. I haven’t had a chance to meet with Gail Griffin or David Gowan yet. However, I did see State Senator’s rude performance during a secular invocation last year. All three need to find other ways to spend their time and we should help them out by not voting for them during the next election.

Not everything went smoothly during our “Day at the Capitol.” The Senate president, Karen Fann, ignored a coordinated agreement to have our favorite Arizona Senator to give a Secular invocation to open the session. Instead she called upon another senator that gave a very sectarian prayer calling on Jesus Christ. He was obviously prepared which made Senator Fann’s “apology” ring hollow as if it was a coordinated action to disrespect the many citizens that travelled to the Arizona Capitol for their “Secular Day.” She apologized multiple times. So what? Instead of an apology, I have a better idea and I think my Secular friends would go for it. Why doesn’t Senator Fann recognize her error and her inability to manage the scheduling of her invocations by having and entire week with NO INVOCATIONS AT ALL.

Posted in American Atheists, Arizona Politics, Atheist Action, Bible Story, Election, Freethought Community, God, Religion, Retired--A Day in the Life, Secular Coalition for Arizona, Separation of Church and State | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Martha McSally Disappoints

Posted on January 21, 2020 by AZAtheist

A couple of days ago I sat down to write about Martha McSally and what a disappointment she is. On paper she should be a great representative for me. I live in Arizona and I retired as an officer of the U.S. Air Force. However, she’s such an embarrassment that I’d like her to move to another state and stop bragging about her military service.

Of course, her latest disappointment is voting down subpoenas for information relevant to the current impeachment trial of President Trump. She voted along with her other Republican colleagues. This was no surprise. I’ve learned not to expect much courage from her as a representative. Previously, she represented Arizona’s 2nd congressional district, my district. When her votes faced local controversy, she refused to meet with her constituents and opted for less personal (and safer for her) phone telecons or conducting “town hall” meetings in towns with small populations and limited venues. Her fighter pilot bravado was never evident. She doesn’t defend her positions and she avoids personal confrontations.

Notice how cowardly she was when she was when she called the CNN reporter a “Liberal Hack.” She is running down a hallway, pitches her (undeserved) insult over her shoulder, and ducks into an office. Now she’s selling shirts to capitalize on her “proud brave” name calling incident.

It’s true that our representatives are never perfect and not everyone will agree with every position, but I expect them to be brave enough to support their positions. Sometimes representatives are presented with a bigger picture and we by necessity must trust them to make the best decisions in our stead. That’s why I vote less on a candidate’s stated positions and more on the person’s character.

Here again, Martha disappoints—she lacks honor. Of course, I could say the same about many of the senators. However, not all of them took the oath that every Air Force Academy cadet takes when they are accepted in the into the Cadet Wing after Basic Cadet Training:

We will not lie, steal or cheat, nor tolerate among us anyone who does.Furthermore, I resolve to do my duty and to live honorably (so help me God)

Fortunately, when it comes to choosing a U.S. senator for Arizona this fall, I have a better choice. Let’s all vote for Captain Mark Kelly.

Posted in Arizona Politics, Election, Retired--A Day in the Life | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Happy New Year from Arizona

Posted on January 18, 2020 by AZAtheist

Can you believe that I used to post on my blog daily? I can’t believe it. There never seems to be enough time. Many of my friends are retired and they all complain that they are busier than they have ever been. I’ll have to second that.

A lot has happened since my last posting on October 16th. Halloween and the Night Before Halloween happened. It was one of the best! The theme was Aliens from Outer Space. As always, much of the fun was creating the props associated with the theme. What is less fun is finding a place the store them after the event is over. Anyone need a collection of pumpkin based aliens? I may have to put them on Craig’s List. Right now, they’re hanging around the storage shed and getting in the way every time we visit it.

I know next year’s theme will not be Aliens from Outer Space so letting them go to another home might be the way to go.

 

 

 

 

 

Right after Halloween, Nancy and I decided to celebrate our 45 years together with a 15-day cruise to the Hawaiian Islands from San Francisco.

It was a goimg_7505-smallod long cruise and about 5 pounds too long. We got to see 4 of the Hawaiian Islands—Hawaii, Oahu, Maui, and Kauai. Our last port of call was Ensenada, Mexico. The stop in Ensenada was necessary because of the Passenger Vessel Services Act of 1886 which applies to passengers on foreign flagged cruise ships. It was a long cruise with many days at sea. Luckily, there was plenty to do on the boat. We saw a few movies and sang Karaoke. We also climbed a lot of stairs. Because we usually end up eating so much while cruising, Nancy and I always take the stairs—never the elevators. Most of the activities are on decks 14 and 15 and our cabin was on deck 7 which means we were always climbing stairs. However, we had to laugh on each trek about superstition. There is no deck 13 on the Grand Princess which means we always got to skip from 12 to 14. It was like a free space in the center of a BINGO card. By the way, we didn’t play BINGO (we’re not quite THAT old). Make no mistake there were plenty that were. Rascal Scooters and wheelchairs were everywhere.

We arrived back home in early December feeling pretty good but that didn’t last long. Our refrigerator decided to take a vacation while we were taking ours and we were welcomed home to spoiled food. No problem. I bought the extended warrantee. Long time readers of this blog might remember the “fun” I had with a Sears refrigerator a while back. Spoiler alert! I threw it in the trash. Having a warrantee isn’t a great deal of help getting the repairman to the house and having an “American” Whirlpool refrigerator is not guarantee that the repairman will care enough to order the needed part and finish the repair. However, the Home Depot monitored the situation and issued me a full refund for the cost of the refrigerator. In the end, it worked out. Aside from the lost food, the hassle of relying on a garage refrigerator during a huge party, and the wasted time, I guess I don’t have any complaints.

Did you get your flu shot? I did. They say that if you get the flu shot and still get the flu your symptoms will be less. If that is true, I think I would have died. The flu hit me so hard in early December that it hurt to think. It made me go to the doctor and I NEVER go to the doctor. Luckily after about 11 days I healed enough to prepare for our next big party.

Another big thing that I missed blogging about was the annual Winter Solstice celebration. It was another fun and personally rewarding event. It is a bit less work than the Halloween party but has a similar number of people. It was held on the 21st of December and started at sunset when we lit the fire in the pit. The party goes on into the night and finishes out a bit after midnight. It’s always a great time. Our ancestors knew that Winter Solstice is the perfect time to have a big celebration. Those in the Northern Hemisphere knew that the days would stop getting shorter and the Sun would hang around longer each day. To celebrate, many lit a celebratory fire right at sundown as we did. Winter Solstice is the end of a solar cycle—the end of the year essentially. It is in the coldest part of the year and the official start of the Winter season.

We love the Winter Solstice and really appreciate that many of our friends love it too. Some folks spend the entire time around the fire pit. Some play card games. Many sing Karaoke. The potluck is always a hit along with the Hams and other fixings that we supply. It always a great way to end a year and even better when it was a not-so-great year like 2019.

I sat down to discuss how disappointed I am with the latest news involving Martha McSally, but I’ve rambled on enough. I guess it’ll have to wait for next time. Happy New Year Everyone!

Posted in Halloween, Repurposing Material, Retired--A Day in the Life | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Halloween Fogger

Posted on October 16, 2019 by AZAtheist

Greetings. Here’s a peek behind the scenes of “Lacey’s Scary Graveyard.” If you clicked in the link in the last sentence, you got to see a short film of the graveyard as it appeared in 2017. A friend of mine filmed it and I think he did a great job putting it together. Filming a Halloween Haunt in the daytime is necessary but seeing the “real thing” at night is SO much better. When filming a Halloween Haunt at night, it is difficult to capture the ambiance and the blending of light effects. Daytime filming gives better detail, but nighttime viewing gives you the experience.

Fog in a Halloween haunt is not essential but when the weather is calm it is good to have “ground hugging” fog around the grave sites. It adds so much to the experience.

Halloween fog machines are simple devices, but they are prone to failure. I’ve not had many that last over a couple of years. Also, the fog that spews from these devices are not inherently “ground hugging.” They must be augmented with “fog chiller” devices that use ice. There are many, many YouTube videos that show how to construct fog chillers. Some use beer coolers and some use trash cans but all of them require the addition of ice. I’ve tried many. I’ve tried the kind that coils a good length of 4″ tubing in a trash can filled with ice where the output of the fog machine is fed into the tube, into the trash can, and out. I’ve also built and used fog chillers where the output of the fog machine is fed into a beer cooler through a hole and the chilled fog exits another hole. In the second version the fog comes into direct contact with the ice.

Up to this point, my most successful chiller was a simple tube with small holes drilled in the sides. The tube was filled with ice, capped at the end, and the fog from the machine was fed into the other end. This worked great if the fog machine generated fog and there was ice in the tube. The ice didn’t last long and it was messy.

In 2017, I saw a YouTube video that described a water only fogger that used a fountain mister. The fog was continuous, didn’t require special juice, and used a lot less power than the regular fog machines. In practice, it did produce ground hugging fog but not a lot of it and it seemed to dissipate quickly. I used it but I wasn’t completely satisfied.

This year, I found a YouTube video that combined the two types of foggers, a “Robert’s Fogger.” It looked interesting and did all the things that I needed a fogger to do. Unfortunately, I had invested some effort in making the water only fogger that used a computer fan to blow water mist out of a plastic container. My initial thought was to get a “Y” PVC pipe and combine the outputs of a fog machine with my mist fogger. My plan was to pipe the two streams into the original pipe with the small holes drilled in the sides. If it worked as I had hoped I wouldn’t need ice and I’d still get the ground hugging fog for my graveyard. In the process of testing the hypothesis the computer fan on the mist fogger container failed. So, I removed the 4″ computer fan and inserted a 4″ hose and fed the output of the fog machine into the input. It worked just like Robert’s Fogger did in the video. As bonus, I was doing all my testing on a table so that the output of the mister container was roughly 3 feet below on the ground. In between fog machine pulses, the mist maker continued to deliver fog to the output due to a siphon effect.

I’m looking forward to testing this out this year. I’m hoping that Halloween fog is something that I don’t have to worry about.

Posted in Halloween, Retired--A Day in the Life, Science and Technology | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Why I Love Halloween

Posted on September 19, 2019 by AZAtheist

<<<Can you guess the theme of this year’s Halloween display? I’m well into my “silly season” of Halloween preparations. I’ve finished two homemade props so far and bought a few. My workbench has been cleaned from the building and switched over to the electronic fabrication configuration. I’ve brought an old laptop out of retirement, tested a few boards left over from last year, consolidated the components, and I’m about ready to start coding for Halloween Spooktacular activities.

BTW the theme, in case you didn’t get it, is Aliens from Outer Space.

I’ve done a bit of preparation, but I don’t take credit for starting until I’ve worked on my first “new” prop. Two years ago (https://azatheist.com/2017/09/09/its-never-too-early-for-halloween/) I started building an ambitious project in honor of the release of the Steven King movie “It.” This year my theme was inspired by the “Storm Area 51” news articles. Apparently, it has been cancelled (https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2019/09/11/storm-area-51-event-canceled-after-everyone-realizes-its-a-horrible-idea/). However, “the die has been cast.”

(I know it’s not “Talk Like a Roman Day! Avast matey. Now you be knowin’ wha’ day tis.)

I started with a DIY video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WwGnaL-vTo) by This Southern Girl Can. In the video she builds a cute movie inspired prop from Dollar Tree parts including foam rubber foot balls and plastic Ninja fighting sticks. It looked great and I loved both versions of “Little Shop of Horrors” and stage play I caught in Montgomery Alabama in 1987. In the movie Audrey II—the people eating plant—comes from outer space. Perfect! It looked easy and cheap…err inexpensive. It was settled then. I’ll start with “Little Pot of Horrors.”

I followed the video closely and only added a couple of touches like the glowing veins and the mesh tubing lips. It came out great…some of my friends are angling to steal it for their own. I may have to chain it down during the night before Halloween party. I was then anxious to move on to the next challenge.

I wanted my next prop to be built around a piece of motorcycle fairing I found in a field a few years ago. I always saw an alien in it. It is not unusual for me to pick up potentially useful “junk” when I’m walking around in the neighborhood. The alien in this piece was too strong to be ignored. For a few years I’ve been tripping over it. Every time I came in to my workshop it would be looking at me and asking me to do something with it. This year the theme of the Halloween display would be about aliens and I knew that if I didn’t use it , it was going to the curb.

I’m a member of a FaceBook page “Halloween DIY Projects” (https://www.facebook.com/groups/851677191523170/). This shouldn’t surprize ANYONE. So I posted the picture of the fairing on the page and asked if others could see an alien too. Many people saw it and agreed that there was an alien in there. One person saw the beginning of a jet pack. However, one person simply posted “My Tallest.” I had no idea what that meant until after I did a Google search (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3OByb-Gd88) Then my pathway was clear. I will HAVE to build an Invader Zim prop!

The face was free, but I needed a few more items. The ACE store near my house gave me a few scraps of plexiglass for the eyes. My backyard is full of those puzzle EVA foam mats that I should have thrown away years ago. I had some Dollar Tree scraps. I only needed to buy some PVC piping and connectors and they cost me less than $20. Now to add the voice!

Happy Halloween!

Posted in Halloween, Repurposing Material, Retired--A Day in the Life, Science and Technology | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

International Aerial Robotics Competition—Mission 8

Posted on August 6, 2019 by AZAtheist

The first attempt at Mission 8 of the IARC (International Aerial Robotics Competition) finished on August 1st in Atlanta Georgia. No team completed the mission, as expected, but three of the teams did qualify and had an opportunity to demonstrate their capability in the arena. By far and away, the Norway Team (Norwegian University of Science and Technology) with 5 flying attempts was the best prepared but Olin (Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering) and St. Olaf (St. Olaf College) each made 4 flight attempts. Other teams present were Missouri University of Science and Technology, Pennsylvania State University, PES University (from Bangalore, India), University of Michigan, University of Pennsylvania, and University of Texas at Austin. Teams travelling to the competition face many challenges. For example, the PES University Team’s vehicle was destroyed going through customs from India. The Georgia heat melted one team’s vehicles and they had to scramble to replace their propeller shrouds.

This contest has been held once a year for 28 years. The goal has always been to stretch the technology and it was created to be “hard.” It was/is/and always will be a competition based on autonomous vehicles. This year was the first year that the autonomous vehicles could be directed by a human operator through voice or gesture commands. Also, this is the first year that the mission was hindered by active sentry drones. There were four of them and their mission was to prevent the human in the arena from completing the mission. The rules explain in detail what is required and there is also a promotional video that dramatizes the task.

The next opportunity for college teams to meet the Mission 8 challenge will be at the Asia/Pacific Venue on August 24-25 in Kunming, China. Thirteen teams from China and 3 from India are slated to attend. The past two missions were completed at the Asia/Pacific Venue. It is possible but unlikely to have one of the Chinese teams complete the mission and collect the prize money. That would bring up Mission 9 and severely disappoint the creator of the competition. He wants the challenge to be tough enough to take a couple of years to accomplish. On the Past Missions page of the IARC Website one can see that Professor Michelson got his wish on every mission except for Mission 5.

Posted in Science and Technology | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments