Getting started in robotics, without a robot
Training a simulated pick-and-place task to a 100% success rate with ACT
Aamir Rasheed
Hey, I'm Aamir! I'm a technologist, writer, and health enthusiast. I write about my journey here.
Latest posts
A minimal AI agent in Python
How intelligence is embodied
30 things I know at 30
Three decades around the sun.
Why I'm leaving product management and returning to engineering
One final retro
Earnest jest
On obtaining lemons in unpredictable ways
100 attempts is easier than 1 attempt
Here's a semi-famous story about a pottery class: A ceramics teacher announced on opening day that he was dividing the class into two groups. All those on the left side of the studio, he said, would be graded solely on the  quantity  of work they
Navigating a Career Transition at 28 years old
I'm building a f*cking time machine
Emotions are partners, not problems
I've recently learned that I have a fundamental assumption about emotions, one that I've carried with me since my early teens, whose inverse is the point of this post. It goes like this: Emotions are problems. Once solved, I can be normal again. Emotions are indeed
Slowing Down to Speed Up
I've been reflecting on the most productive periods of my life recently, and the most striking insight so far is that I enjoyed them. Running a mile every day after school when I was 6. Practicing the same soccer move hundreds of times when I was 12. Practicing
Generational Emotional Wealth
My life is as different as it's ever been. There's no meetings I have to attend. No grades I'm trying to achieve. No income to entice my compliance. No application committees to impress. Just me. I wake up every day, and my whole day
How I built and sold an AI app
I never mentioned it on the newsletter, but my entrepreneurial situation was dire last November. I had just moved to NY, my savings were running out, and I was getting desperate. I'd called several friends and told them that if I couldn't make 1 month'
Loving The Imperfections
I have this (lovely, wonderful, talented) friend who likes to micromanage hangouts. Basically, he calls and texts multiple times in a row to make sure I'm gonna be on time. Every time. At first, this annoyed me. I don't like it when someone repeatedly questions my
Privilege
I worked hard for some of my advantages in life. But some were just blessings. Blessed to be able to have a functioning mind and body, free of major defects. Blessed to have the freedom to pursue a dream. Blessed to play soccer for ten years with the same coach
My Pen, the Cleaver
Carving my own path requires zooming in and zooming out. Zooming in is when I've already picked a milestone, and I just need to get there: I'm heads down. I'm grinding. I'm executing. Sprinting through the finish line. 100% of my effort,
A Slice of NY
I'm buffeted along by icy winds as I head home from the subway stop. It's 4:34 PM, the goddamn sun is about to set, and Zephyrus himself has come down from Olympus to slap me in the face. Grumble grumble California wouldn't grumble