Arduino Day 2014

This last Saturday was Arduino day, where around the world there were seminars and projects being shown off. St. Louis didn't have any local events, so I watched a few of the online presentations and worked on my Little Computer Person project. I had a lot of similar code for the project written for a Windows app.

After a chunk of code rewriting, I was able to shoehorn in a minimal AI and pathfinding algorithm.  For the project, I am using a Teensy 3.1 and the ST7735 LCD. Most of the fighting I had to do was converting my code from a C++ 11 implementation to it. After 2 days, it all came together.

Now, my little guy will build up a queue of things to do and walk to the positions where those things will be, using the stairs correctly to get between floors.

Currently, with 2 sprites and all the AI processing, I get about 30 frames per second with no flickering.

Cosmos revival

Last night, Jenn and I took Lain to a special screening of the new Cosmos series at the McDonnell planetarium. We arrived later than I would have liked and were lucky to get in the overflow and take a spot for press members who didn't show up. Of the 100 press spots, only 10 were used. Thank Talos that science isn't newsworthy. Ann Druyan even commented something similar about that in the Q&A

The episode was very similar to the original's first episode where it explains the size of the cosmos both in size and time. It then goes in to tell the story of Giordano Bruno, who was persecuted by the Christian church for having the gall to believe that the Earth isn't the only thing their God made and that the cosmos is infinite.

During the Q&A, Ann Druyan commented that today's knowledge gatekeepers are adults and that they should let children imagine and dream and let them test their dreams for proofs.

I am excited for the rest of the series.