HN user
Automation+robotics+T&M, running.
Looks like someone beat them to the joke, parody website at:
Sneakernet is coming back.The cloud is expensive. The network is slow. Your feet are already trained. Why pay millions for GPUs when you can just walk the data to the next room? AIIbirds: making physical movement cool again
CO2 increase of 400ppm decreases cognitive function by >20% [1]
I frequently send this medium article [1] to friends + family for a basic dive into how CO2 affects our thinking and abilities at various levels in common areas.
The article cites a study [2] which graphs cognitive score for different activities at different CO2 concentrations. Each activity's cognitive score is worse at higher CO2 concentrations, EXCEPT "focused activity" or "Information search" (up to some point)
[1, note it is from 2016] https://medium.com/@joeljean/im-living-in-a-carbon-bubble-li... [2]https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26502459/
Agreed, this protein target is high for likely many people.
Results from this meta-analysis [1] says
protein intakes at amounts greater than ~1.6 g/kg/day do not further contribute RET [resistance exercise training]-induced gains in FFM [fat-free mass].
Said more plainly: if you're working out to gain muscle, anything more than 1.6g/kg/day won't help your muscle gains.
For those curious about why, see Figure 5. Americans also get too much protein already, ~20% more than recommended [2]. There are negative effects from too much protein (~>2g/kg/day) like kidney stones, heart disease, colon cancer [3]. Going back to the 1.2-1.6 g/kg/day range, this can be a good range if you're already working out, so get out there and walk/run/weight lift/swim/bike!
[1] https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/bjsports/52/6/376.full.pdf
[2] https://hsph.harvard.edu/news/protein-is-important-but-were-...
[3] https://www.health.harvard.edu/nutrition/when-it-comes-to-pr...
So top of the list for us, of course, designing this thing is safety.
Funny issue I learned after talking to a founder at a similar company: although the battery packs were certified safe for cars (passing crash tests, wild heat differences from AK to AZ, people sitting on top of the battery packs in the car) ... the founder had issues re-certifying the batteries for safe use in a static location for grid storage.
The certification process treated his company like the batteries were made from scratch even though they used the same BMS/coolant lines/etc. already proven and tested.
It's clear you still need strong safety regulations and practices in the rare case there's an event, but the founder noted the grid storage industry regulations were adding redundant safety testing and slowing down adoption. The founder also added it's difficult to compete on cost even with effectively free used EV batteries in this startup space of grid storage against the low cost of Chinese made grid-specific batteries due to the added testing + custom hardware + space constraints and other items. (Caveat: I didn't fact check any of their statements)
Also a cape wind proponent here, I got carried away with my comment below reminiscing about the "just one more year" feeling for cape wind for the past 20 years.
My wind energy professor[1] assigned everyone the task of arguing against cape wind as one of our assignments (and later, for it). Of course, we found a few valid arguments for and against, but enormous reasons for it. The professor had a despondent take on utility scale wind, even though it was environmentally + economically viable, partially from the decades of fighting against the often irrational public perception.
Example homework:
"Wind turbines will block our sunset"
no, dune grass will block more of the sunset for you, many turbines won't even be visible (insert math)
"Wind turbines will be too loud"
no, they're so far away from shore that even your breathing is louder (insert math)
"They won't make energy cheap enough to reduce costs"
no, even using conservative payback plans and limited life, it still works (insert math)
"The native's sunset ritual will be ruined by the wind turbines"
no, see above, are you serious? [Yes, this was proposed- https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/environment/article/tribes... ]
It's less about a conspiracy against renewables, you start to feel this conspiracy for pro foreign fossil fuels in the Boston area. The iconic Citgo sign, core to Boston's image [2]-> maybe The iconic Rainbow tank for liquid natural gas[3] -> maybe maybe The fact that Boston receives tanker ships of LNG from Russia[4]-> maybe maybe maybe
[1]I have a Wind Energy Certificate from my university education, but this was not my focus
[2]https://www.texasstandard.org/stories/how-century-old-citgo-...
[3]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_Swash
[4]https://www.aei.org/carpe-diem/why-is-lng-coming-4500-miles-...
I've worked in this space in automation with industrial grade robots and more bespoke end effectors that don't look like mainstream robots, but fulfil specific needs. Responding to some of your questions with how I could see the above touch sensor helping:
Trash sort and recycling: Not many robots here, majority of sorting takes advantage of object material properties. Some companies tried to add delta robots to keep up with the high rates required to even approach profitability, but they weren't good enough. Maybe some municipalities or universities that have lots of funding could justify adding robots, but it's just hard to financially justify.
Recalibration: I'm curious what the developers have for handling reduced magnetic fields over time along with gunk. Silicone is washdown rated, but anything soft at high throughput with parts will start to wear out and change pickup characteristics.
Washing and destemming a tomato is more of a problem to solve now that will need another 10+ years of price reductions in robot+end effector costs and increased efficiency before it beats bulk washing and hand-destemming (or crude machine work). Maybe it'll be a grad-student's project for a theoretical future home-bot
The Lenovo TrackPoint is likely already 95% of what you'd need from a trackpad, but this touch sensor is likely not even focused at that market.
Things I see useful for this robot touch sensor:
* Simpler version that detects part presence, is just a Boolean feedback of "part detected" which can stick on existing end effectors. This is often handled by load calculations of the robot to detect if it has a part, but could also detect if a part has substantially "moved" while it's been gripped, sending a signal to the robot to pause
* Harder to suggest items for food as soft grippers (inflatable fingers) will grip at the precise pressure that they're inflated, reducing the need for sensitive feedback. The application for this touch sensor would be food that needs a combination of different pressures to properly secure something, can't think of a great example
* Hard to also suggest places where this sensor would help with fine alignment, as major manufacturers have motor and arm feedback with WAY more sensitivity than the average person would realize, google Fanuc " Touch Sensing". But, this could help when the end effector is longer and it's harder for the joints to detect position
* Fabric manipulation. Fabric is just a hard problem for robots, adding in more information about the "part" should be helpful. Unlocking more automations for shoe manufacturing at reasonable prices is a big wall
Context for those not following running news, The Boston Marathon lowered qualifying times for most prospective runners for 2026 race [0]. Because the Boston Marathon has limited capacity, you can only run if you either:
1) raise $5k+ for a charity (limited spots)
2) run a full marathon below* a qualifying time
The reason it's below* is because even if you run under a qualifying time, there may be enough people even faster than you that fill up the available spots.
This results in some years where you needed to be many minutes faster than the posted qualifying time to guarantee a spot, and every few years, the BAA (group in charge of Boston Marathon) drops the qualifying times.
Note, even though the qualifying times have been dropping, they have been even faster in the past (see the 1980s)[1]
As someone that's done the Boston Marathon a few times, I am glad they are trying to find a good balance of reasonable qualifying times for the most participation without dramatically expanding the field. I'm also always surprised with how popular and well known this marathon is given the NYC marathon (and others) are harder to get into, only about 2 of the miles are actually in Boston [2], and the start/finish are so far away making participating a logistic headache. But that could be what gives it the charm and why I'm now thinking about doing 2026
[0] https://apnews.com/article/boston-marathon-qualifying-times-...
[1]https://www.baa.org/races/boston-marathon/qualify/history-qu...
[2]https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/boston-marathon-route-ma....
I've been sitting on the idea of putting several of these tags around the house and have them display quote, jokes, and facts.
The best guide I've found so far is this one [0], as it uses easy to procure tags + guides on GitHub + offers an application to auto-upate tags via screenshot area of a website and seems like it could be done in an afternoon.
However, I'm hoping to find an even more streamlined approach that I could turn into a gift to others (assuming they want a 3rd party device on their network), where the tags sync to a raspberry pi (or similar cheap USB powered device), and it uses very cheap tags, if anyone has done this or has plans.
Related reading "I’m living in a carbon bubble. Literally."[0] which has a lot of great basic charts and graphs on everyday data related to CO2. Information in this reading that is relevant to 4000 PPM on the Space Station
-Typical CO2 concentrations can reach 4000 ppm in a car
-"On the International Space Station, the odds of a crew member reporting a headache double for every 1300 ppm increase in CO2 concentration [Law 2014]."
-Nearly every cognitive function go "down" in score when CO2 PPM levels go from 1k to 2.5k. The exceptions are Focused Activity Cognitive Score goes UP and information search stays about the same. Not shown are effects over 2.5k.
I do not work nor have studied in a CO2 related field but gained a fascination with how we overlook it in daily life (like many here) and have since purchased CO2 measuring devices and read various studies. I think missing from my notes here is a link to NASA done research on the effects of CO2 on astronauts on the space station.
[0]https://medium.com/@joeljean/im-living-in-a-carbon-bubble-li...
Related video "Tesla Autopilot Crashes into Motorcycle Riders - Why?"[0], summarized to: vision used by Tesla seems to process motorcycles differently, and may be incorrectly "assuming" the closer spaced brake lights on a motorcycle is actually a far away car.
More details on the homicide here[1], which shows the crash happened during daylight hours and the bike resembles a sport bike. This is a different condition than my referenced video (night collisions with cruiser-style motorcycles), but I suspect similar incorrect assumptions by Tesla vision happened.
[0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRdzIs4FJJg
[1] https://www.king5.com/article/traffic/traffic-news/tesla-on-...
To add: there's ongoing research to "reverse-engineer" the magnetic properties of certain meteorites that contain tetrataenite [0], which is as strong as a rare-earth magnet, but requires no rare-earths, but takes millions of years to make[1]. I studied techniques to speed this process up in the lab over a decade ago when this was new, and got to handle meteorites in the process.
A less "magnetically invasive" way to check if a material has magnetic material would be to put a compass nearby (as recommended by the site). Also, one could put a rare earth magnet on a string, watch it align to the earth's field away from the rock in question, then bring it carefully close to the meteorite seeing if it settles to a newer direction. This would still expose the meteorite to a magnet, but a very small field vs checking if something sticks.
[0]https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/new-approach-to-cosmic-m... [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetrataenite
A similar project to what the author worked on is "WikiShootMe" [0] that finds Wikipedia photos near you (green/yellow/blue), and needed (red) on a map. This was discussed here 2 years ago [1].
[0] https://wikishootme.toolforge.org/ [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31575909
I focus mostly on the schedule, then follow the schedule. Sounds simple, but it makes going on a 10 mile run Saturday at 11am more likely because I wrote it down, versus holding myself to do the 10 mile run at some point.
Although I have smart devices and all sorts of equipment to track what I did, it's more valuable to me to have a physical calendar where I write out my schedule, then write out what I did. The data is for fun.