This time the blog thing will work out (probably not, but I am here for the ride at this point). As the title states, I am restarting this blog for the fourth time.
I first started blogging on the original name of this blog (home-built-robotics) hosted on Blogger. Not much traffic but was a good starting point for a high schooler starting out. I then attempted to transition home-built-robots to WordPress back in the early 2010s but that went nowhere. I continued to sporadically blog on Blogger until about 2014 when undergrad started getting hectic.
Fast forward to 2022, I restarted the blog again (on Blogger) and wrote the following
It has been some time since I last blogged about robotics (2014 it appears). It’s probably about time I restart the blogging thing (now that school is finally out of the way).
When I originally started blogging I wrote,
The reason I started this blog was to empower others with what I hope will be an adventure through robotics. I started robotics in 2010, and from then I have developed my passion. I have ventured through BEAM robotics, microcontroller robotics, and now I am trying PC robotics. I will attempt to keep updates when ever I get something worth posting, or if something catches my attention and believe it is worth sharing. Also the first posts will describe the robots I have built up over the years.
Reflecting back it has been an adventure. I graduated high school in 2014, promptly did my undergrad at the Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE), then did my masters degree at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. Through that I learned a great deal about embedded systems, computer science and human-computer interaction (HCI). Graduate school in particular I focused on human-robot interaction (HRI) within the subdomain of collaborative robotics. Plus I worked on several cool projects and co-authored a few papers along the way.
Graduating with a masters during an ongoing global pandemic was an interesting albeit anxiety riddled experience. I ended up getting a job out in California doing firmware development for transmission electron microscope peripherals. So here I am practically quarter a world away from where I grew up living in the Bay Area, living the life. Or I would if it weren’t for inflation, long-covid, and potentially a WWIII on the horizon.
So here’s to new beginnings, whether another world war happens or not. Let’s build some robots to pass the time.
I posted for a bit after this start then got heavily side-tracked with work, social life, side-projects… So here we are in February 2025 starting the blog over again.
Why the name change?
I am changing the name from home-built-robotics to half-built-robots as a tongue-in-cheek acknowledgement of my project management problem. I start a dozen projects but rarely get over halfway done before switching to the next interesting thing. I am guessing I am not alone in this and hopefully my perpetually half finished projects (and blog) will resonate with other makers.
What can readers expect from this blog?
My goal is as it has always been for this blog. Create a “living” lab notebook on the web to document my various projects and learnings. I am writing for my future self as much as I am writing for the intrepid reader of DIY, hobbyist tech blogs.
Where is the old content?
I am going to port select content over from my shuttered Blogger site (with a face lift). I also have about a decade of projects to document that never received a blog post. Fingers crossed that I can get to it before being distracted.
An old photo
While reworking some of the old content on my blog I stumbled across this photo of my robots. This photo was taken back at my parents place (when they still had carpet in their living room!).
Some of my old robots. Left to right: YAM, Beta Rex, Roverbot, BOE-Bot, Hex Larva, Solar Roller, Symet, Nobb, Spinbot, Symflower, Beetles, Herbie, and lastly Bubbles.
Unfortunately YAM (large robot far left) and Bubbles (dog far right) have seen better days. Rest of the robots have been restored to working condition.