Research and Math :)

The IROS paper was submitted 10 minutes before the deadline on March 1st.  The paper was okay, but I’m not thrilled about it because it is only the beginning stages of the work.  So, it doesn’t really use the bounty hunting stuff to its fullest.  Future papers will hopefully provide that.  We also had to create a video.  Ermo and I got the footage of the Pioneer doing the visual servoing on the ball both indoors and semi-successfully outdoors (either due to lighting or to the massively long ping times was not able always stop in time before running into the ball).

Now that is over I’m taking a bit of a break from working with robots and am working with Ermo to do some research in continuous action multiagent learning (CAMAL our acronym, don’t steal it!).  It has been a ton of fun!  I’ve been doing derivations and learning new math (and re-learning some old math!).  Getting to work out how the equations and proofs of convergence happen I believe will aid me in my work with doing proofs of convergence with bounty hunting in the future.  So, it is benefiting Ermo and me at the same time and we are having fun in the process :)!  We are working on this for a paper in NIPS.  If our algorithm concept is successful and we can show some convergence we should have a very strong NIPS paper.  David is also trying to join in and we can greatly use his help as it is a very challenging problem.  Main issue is he is still taking classes.  Can’t wait for his classes to be done!

Dan wants us to write up a paper for the Robocup Symposium on how we were able to adjust the behaviors to work with a robot that could not turn that well using HiTAB (our learning from demonstration software).  That is due March 25!  He just told us about it this monday.  Thankfully though we won’t have to produce any experiments or results we just need to write about what we did.  So we are actually pushing that off until the 22nd because Ermo and I need to make a poster and a slide for GMU’s first CS symposium.  Just what we need, not!  The really frustrating part is that it is mandatory for all CS PhD students to attend and those selected to present are required to present!  So, it is not optional.  I guess they figured no one would show up otherwise.

 

Starting on IROS 2016 paper

I got the rejection email from AAMAS last week for my paper on task abandonment for my bounty hunting system.  However, I sort of was expecting this as it needs some more theoretical basis.  So, I have to work on that.

In the mean time there is still IROS!  That is in Korea :).  The paper is due March 1st and I just started working on getting the code written for that.  But this is a fun paper as it is combining cloud robotics (can’t stand that name!) and my bounty hunting work.  So, I’m giving myself a lightning fast tutorial on ROS, raspberry pi, and the pioneer 3dx robot!  Plan is to get the base system working by friday so next week we can start doing experiments and collecting results.  Then the week before the paper is due we can write it!  So, I think we will have just enough time to pull it off.  At least this paper seems likely to be accepted as it both cloud robotics and bounty hunting are very cutting edge and putting it all on an actual robot should seal the deal :)!  So, hopefully I’ll be going to Korea in October!

Cooking when Sick

When feverish and hungry, follow your instincts.  They are raw and ready to be used when sick.

  1. Moist, piping hot chicken slathered in a spicy bbq sauce
  2. Wrap in a soft, refrigerated taco shell nestled in a bed of snappy spinach
  3. Drink warm water or tea

Eat when fluctuating between hot and cold.  The meal matches your symptoms and most likely your disposition.  The effect it has is almost immediate.  It sends you into a blissful state of peace knowing that you are not the only thing here with such a crazy temperature differential.

 

Of course your appetite quickly vanishes though.  Not really sure why.  Can’t wait to be better.

Spelling

A friend of mine shared a link to an article about why children have a hard time learning to spell.  They argue that we are teaching spelling incorrectly.  We should be teaching how words are formed and the etymology not how to sound the word out to spell it.  They claim that about “12% of words in english are spelt the way they sound” [1].  No wonder I’m bad at spelling in english because that is usually how I spell things.  At least in Italian, words are spelt the way they sound!  Also, I was taught how to spell mainly as they described with spelling tests and memorization.  However, I did also learn definitions for each word.  However, I was really good at remembering the definitions, I guess I just didn’t think to associate the definitions with the spelling!  Although, I do sometimes do that.

So, maybe I should try learning to spell again using this method as I still struggle to spell and rely heavily on spell check.

[1] https://theconversation.com/why-some-kids-cant-spell-and-why-spelling-tests-wont-help-20497

Poem from 1999

I love to read in bed,

it helps to fill my head

with thoughts of stuff from long, long, long ago,

I can pretend that I’m an Indian with a bow

or

a Union General riding through the meadow as fast as my horse can go

or

a Pilgrim that sailed across the deep blue sea

to worship God, to be free.

A poem by me in second grade, 1999.  It was my first published work.  Glad I still love to read in bed :).  While home for Christmas, Mom was throwing out a bunch of stuff, but she kept the book my poem was published in for me!  She said I wrote the poem, but she fixed all the spelling errors.  I always preferred my version of how words should be spelled and spoken :p.

Amazing last week or so

So, I thought I’d write about the past few days as they were quite exciting, eventful, and since I’m forgetful I don’t want to forget.  I’ll begin of course at the beginning.  Which probably isn’t really the beginning but oh well.  The excitement started 12/12/15.  I went home to hanover that Friday (12/11) and had supper at the Landing with Logan, Rebekah, Josh, Terri, and Mom and Dad.  Food was great, I got a bbq burger and it was massive and delicious.  But, more importantly it was the last meal I was eating with Logan before he became a married man!!!  The next day (12/12) on a beautiful sunny and probably around 60 degrees (practically spring in December!) at around 10am Logan and Rebekah were married!!!!!!!!!!!  The rest of the day was a bit uneventful.  But I wore a suit so that was sort of different (planning on wearing it again Jan 3…).  But I had a fun evening/night taking apart Mom’s new laptop and replacing the hard drive with an SSD.  Before replacing I did a quick boot speed test and it took about a 1.5 minutes to do a cold boot with the hard drive.  With the SSD it took about 12 seconds.  The really cool part was when I installed all of the stuff (anti-virus, dropbox, etc) it still only took about 15 seconds to boot (I wait until all the icons in the task tray are loaded).  Word and excel start pretty much immediately as soon as click on the icon.  Which is amazing :).  So, I was satisfied with the $80 250 GB SSD over the 1TB hdd.

But wait that’s not all :).  Wed. 12/16 I finished my last class for my PhD!!  I only have to do comps, propose, and defend!

And then to celebrate (not really but I like to think) the next day (12/17) I went with some friends to the DC zoo lights :)!  Basically my bible study group went to Kings Dominion and we Wesley couldn’t come and we wanted to do something with him.  So, Stephen Kuhl told me about the Zoo lights and I got everyone together and figured out the schedule etc.  This was really fun.  It was my biggest group of people I’ve organized into doing something together ever (9 people).  The group consisted of David, Kelsey, Cameron, Addie, Stephen Kuhl, Ashley, Stephen Emerick, Wesley and me!  We metroed in which was quite slow as we all tried to get there together.  I should try to get better at driving in DC.  But, altogether the lights were pretty and we got to see bison, monkeys and gorillas.  We then ate at Chipotle afterwards.

Next, came Saturday (12/19)!  I really packed all the fun into a short period of time didn’t I haha.  Saturday was New Hope’s 25th anniversary dinner hosted by the lovely Katy and Jonathan of The Pixie and the Scout (which now that I’ve met them I think the name is based off of her and him).  I got the opportunity to work in the kitchen with them plating the food and cutting sausage and learning all kinds of tricks.  I got to direct a group of people to set up the 18 tables so that they looked nice and like the model table (I’ve actually gotten good at giving orders since having to direct undergrads with robots).  The food of course was sublime!  Never had anything taste soo good.  I really need to get the recipes for the dishes.  I however ate in the kitchen because I couldn’t find a seat.  It was ok because Katy and Jonathan mostly were in the kitchen too so I got to talk to them a little.  They actually cater for Redeemer!  Tim Keller knows them by name!!!  Totally awesome :).  Through this experience I’ve developed a challenge problem for multirobot task allocation and that is serving tables.  It is a multi-robot task problem (coalitions may need to be formed), we need multi-task robots (robots that can do more than one task), time extended tasks, and some of the tasks have dependencies!  So, it is a very difficult problem and having a real life problem to try and solve is always better than just trying to solve it in the abstract and then looking for a problem to use your solution on.  So, I’m ecstatic!  I’m hoping to send them an email or facebook message to say thanks!

What do you know thats not all yet!  Sunday 12/20 I saw Star Wars VII The Force Awakens!!!!!!!!!!  It was totally awesome, I actually might go and see it again tomorrow (12/22).  I got some people from New Hope to come with me to the IMAX at the Air and Space museum in DC to see it.  We drove in and waited in line for about an hour and got pretty bad seats (right in the front).  But, the movie was excellent.  Went with Corrie, Cameron, Addie, Stephen Emerick, Stephen Kuhl, and Ashley.  The cool part was that Steven and Pastor Scott came with some people from HCC.

So, was Star Wars the pinnacle?  I doubt it.  But it will be hard to beat.

Inhaler

Wow, I took my inhaler a bit ago and I feel amazing now!  I think for the past few weeks I must not have been getting enough oxygen.  I’ve been tired and a bit slow.  For the past few weeks I have been going to the gym regularly and running/ellipticalling/lifting.  So, I’ve not been kind to my lungs.  I should probably start taking my inhaler before going to the gym…  That will probably help.  What do you know, doctors are right haha. 🙂

Letter from Calvin to Cranmer 1552

On the procrastination that softened the impact of the Reformation in England: a piercing critique written in season – To Thomas Cranmer, 1552
‘I, for my part, acknowledge that our cause has made no little progress during the short period the Gospel has flourished in England.

But if you reflect on what yet remains to be done, and how very remiss you have been in many matters, you will discover that you have no reason to advance towards the goal with less rapidity…lest after you have escaped danger, you should become self-indulgent.

But to speak freely, I greatly fear, and this fear is abiding, that so many autumns will be spent in procrastinating, that by and by the cold of a perpetual winter will set in…for external religious abuses have been corrected in such a way as to leave remaining innumerable young shoots, which are constantly sprouting forth.

In fact, I am informed that such a mass of Papal corruptions remain, as not only to hide, but almost to extinguish the pure worship of God.’ (Letters p.141)

(Copied from another wordpress blog here)  The full version I found here, google has the whole book for free.

Apparently in 1552 the Gospel is still new.  He is seems to be referencing the fact that although Christianity in the form of Catholosicm has been around for at least 500 years the Gospel and the Reformation on just began in 1517.  And he is correct.  There was a massive paradigm shift in terms of Christianity in a very short period.  However, with such a shift a lot of work is involved.

Therefore, Calvin is reminding and Cranmer (and to us too) that he still has much to do.  To make it relevant to us we have to think that we are called to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth.  So, by reflecting on this, we see that just like Cranmer we have no reason to slow down.

Calvin also comments on the fact that Cranmer has been remiss on many matters.  That to me was very curious.  I don’t know anything about Cranmer so I’ll ask about what was Calvin may be referring tonight.  Calvin just might be commenting on the fact that we are all generally remiss on matters, as we are human?  However, I’d surmise there is something more specific Calvin is referring to here.  I believe while reading the entire letter from google that Calvin brought up a few points about missuse of money and people that have stolen from the church.

I love how right after Calvin says that Cranmer has been remiss on many things and is in danger of becoming self-indulgent that he says “But to speak freely”.  I was like, what!  Calvin and Cranmer must have been pretty good friends because I’d say that so far he has been quite frank.  So, maybe this was a bit humorous.

Overall I think I’d like getting letters from Calvin.  He has a very nice style and is very forthwith.  I find that he has great tact and does a good job of encouraging and speaking the truth in love.

As Calvin ended the letter:

Adieu, most distinguished and esteemed Primate