Inventor's Life

I've come to realize that I haven't updated this blog in well over 3 years. At this point, I'm not even sure if you can still consider this a blog or if it is now lost to the annuls of the internet. Either way, my lack of updates has left me a bit on the sad side. I've always enjoyed writing for this site and at one time was surprised to see that anyone cared enough to view the results. So, without being so dour as to explain why I'm interested in bringing back the blog; let me get into an update on what I've been up to for the last few years. Trust me, it's a lot. Family:  Since the last time that I was able to write for this blog, I had left my home state of Nebraska to travel to upstate New York and visit Renslear Polytechnic Institute to study for a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering. Unfortunately, that didn't work out so well. Our crappy roach-infested apartment was not a good time. There's something about having to eat soup from a pot with a...

Stress and Reaction. That "AHHH" feeling. From a purely mechanical standpoint stress can be defined as, "Pressure or tension exerted on a material object: "the distribution of stress is uniform across the bar."[1] This is an important definition to me as an engineer and scientist because it allows insight into the language that I understand. However, it is important as a person to be personal; Thus, a less rigid, more biological approach to its definition is desired. [Catch more after the break]

Okay, so this is probably not of any interest other than a good bit of muttering nothing and a spot of fun. here it goes.... Abstraction , [ab*strac*tion]; n. a concept or idea not associated with any specific instance. ORIGIN: abstract, latin abstractus, "drawn away" Confirmation , [con*fir*ma*tion]; n. additional proof that something was believed (some fact or hypothesis or theory) is correct. ORIGIN: latin con- (with) + firmo, "to firm or strengthen" What's the difference between the two ideas? Now, I've had some downtime so don't hate; but, occasionally I do like to ramble, as I'm sure your all aware. These ramblings extend beyond my normal oral rhetoric and into something more akin to a, "thought experiment." So I ask again, "what is the difference?" I believe it to be one leads to another (abstraction to confirmation), but this cannot happen without the second being there (confirmation to abstraction). To me ...

So with the most recent addition to my "cloud" services, I've decided it's time to talk a little about this. For those of you who are uninitiated into the world of "the cloud" I'll give a brief introduction. You see, this idea is nothing new really, email services can almost be considered a cloud service. But basically, it's akin to a virtual hard drive of sorts. It's a place for you to store, manage, backup, and share digital information. While there are many services out now like Google Drive and Microsoft's SkyDrive, my favorite has been  https://www.dropbox.com/  . This service is the first one I was introduced to and features a slew of features that the others don't seem to have as readily. For instance, not only is it managed on their servers, but it keeps a copy on my computer as well. And of course it wouldn't be of any use if it didn't sync between the two automatically, which it does. Anyways, these services a...

Mmm.. static goodness. Life's pretty good when you're not moving; but, what happens when you do? The dynamic case! Of course always being dynamic can be difficult: I'd rather keep my equations derivative free if possible. So what's a person to do? Derive Quasi-static Loading! As far as I can tell it hasn't been done yet , not even sure of its value. Makes a nice slide show of derivations though. Cheers.

Actually this is a good update. I'm now proud to say I've finished the "rough draft" of Chapter 4: methods. This chapter was a jaw dropping 20+ pages of mathematical set, analysis, and simulations. It features several illustrations of free body diagrams, DH parameters, and frame space models. Not to mention that it covers topics of 3 different robotic systems. And a cherry on top! It has a beautiful set of equations with expansions and n degree generalizations. Something like that, I'm proud, get off my back! Cheers. 

So today isn't such a bad day,  just a hectic one. I'm a bit worried and I know that I should be working nonstop on my thesis; but, I've got to have the chance to eat and refresh my mind. Btw, I now have roughly twenty-four hours until a preliminary copy of my masters thesis is due. It's OK though, no really, it's okay. My take on the situation is from one of my favorite novels "T he Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy " and that is "don't panic." That and 42. Speaking of numbers and mathematics, I believe I've finally cracked the formula for my theory of quasi-static loading! It only took a few years and a giant looming deadline but I think I did it! The solution turned out to actually be a hybrid theory of statics and kinematics that can be simplified to a series of summation and a single 6x6 matrix. Now just for that pesky writing... Cheers!