Roboticist Mark

Early Years

My interest in engineering has been a lifelong one. From an early age I was helping my Grandpa build his model trains and being introduced to the wonders of his garage workshop. In Primary School I would buy second hand electronic toys just to pull them apart and get the lights and electric motors out. I also developed a keen interest in Model rocketry and was constantly designing and building all manner of devices for launching water balloons long distances

During secondary school I found that while I had a natural aptitude to Maths and Science it was the physical world that captured my attention. I most enjoyed Electronics, Physics and Woodwork. Anything that produced a real world contraption, a solution, device or widget was always more attractive to me than something that proved a theorem or solved an equation.

Higher Education

To this end I decided to take Engineering at University and chose a course in Robotics and Mechatronics at Swinburne University. Swinburne offered me a whole range of subjects around one of my favourite aspects of technology, Robots! I enrolled in the Double degree course which covered Software Engineering as well as Robotics a perfect combination in today's high tech world where the majority of work surrounding Robotics is programming them to get the best performance for each task.

At Swinburne my favourite classes were Intelligent Systems, which focused on Artificial Intelligence and Optimisation methods and Real Time Programming, which allowed me to combine my skills at programming with some N scale model trains. The project, which was to set up a fail safe Ada controlled track layout including turnouts and crossings, was one of the most rewarding that I completed at university. Having the outcome of the software right in front of you to experiment with and debug cannot be under-stated as a learning tool.

24 October 2009

Web Development

I have been involved in web development for many years now, producing my first website quamby.org when I was age 16. This site is hosted free on Tripod.com and back then I used a free, ad supported, dial up internet account called 'GoConnect' to access the net via a 28.8kbps modem. There have been so many changes in the internet since those days and I have struggled to keep up with current trends, until I had a refresher course at Swinburne which formally introduced me to XHTML, CSS JavaScript and AJAX. I have since begun experimenting with semantic markup such as XFN and microformats such as hcard which you can see on my contact page.

Robotic Control

My software work in robotic control has been quite varied in the short amount of time that I have had access to "real" industrial robots. I have programmed both simple and complex sets of movement based on various inputs to robotic systems such as CCD cameras and Laser range finders. I have performed calibration procedures on SCARA and 6 axis robots for accuracy and on cameras for 3D reconstruction. I also worked on a series of automated testing using robots to test other devices.

22 October 2009

Lego Robotics

As a child I was lucky enough to have generous parents who splashed out on a Lego Mindstorms Kit for their sons very early on in the piece, and I suppose now that looking back, I didn't take as much advantage of that as I could have. I am only now learning about some of the functions that a Lego RCX can perform. I am still using it as an experimental platform for the occasional wacky idea. Lego is one of the best rapid prototyping systems I know of.

In my first year Swinburne we had a team project where we had to build Lego autonomous robots to compete in a Robotic Soccer game. The RCX was discarded for a Motorola chip based Handyboard which allowed a bunch more sensors and some more serious C coding. Our little beasty sported a serious kicker and some sophisticated search and retrieve algorithms, but ended up finishing a respectable 4th after a drubbing by a far swifter opponent.

Electronics Design

One of my hobbies for several years has been building and experimenting with electronics kits and circuits. Whether its building a voltage converter for my In Car Entertainment or an LED solar lamp I'm always finding new projects to start and gizmos to modify. While my studies at uni taught me some theory and general guidelines, good electronics design is a skill which can only come through many years of practice and keeping up with changes in technology. I am always learning, experimenting with new tools, microchips and components, and hopefully I will continue to learn throughout my career in engineering.

22 October 2009