Atlas of Space
An interactive exploration of the planets, moons, asteroids, and other objects in the Solar System
Bits, Bots, and Miscellania
written and published by Gordon Hart
Latest posts
Variable Arity, or: Fun with the OCaml Type System
Sometimes the best feature in ML—the type system—is precisely the thing standing between you and what you need to get done. In this article we ll dive into the world of discrete math to understand how to achieve a function of variable arity in OCaml, allowing for the encoding of, say, a logical proposition with any number Continue reading Variable Arity, or: Fun with the OCaml Type System
Mortality in the United States: Past and Present
What do we really know about how the average American dies? The presentation in this post will hopefully illuminate some of the darker corners of that question through the analysis and visualization of over 100 million deaths since 1968 in the United States. Check it out and see what you can find. Navigate with N to move forward Continue reading Mortality in the United States: Past and Present
QUICK: Eyesight Saver
The Problem Hour after hour, day after day staring at the same set of glowing rectangles takes a toll on your long-distance eyesight. Most optometrists recommend taking a 15-30 second break to focus into the distance every 15 minutes or so to keep your eyes from locking into nearsighted mode. Easy enough to follow, eh? Not really—we Continue reading QUICK: Eyesight Saver
BUILD: Drainage Tower Defense & the Unity Game Engine
Drainage Tower Defense: Learning the Unity Game Engine. INTRO If you ve purchased any games from the App Store or Play Store in the past few years, odds are you ve come across the Unity Game Engine. It s become a heavyweight in free and light-commercial game development, and by no accident. It provides a stable and powerful base Continue reading BUILD: Drainage Tower Defense the Unity Game Engine
BUILD: IGUANALAND
Check out IGUANALAND! Register for an account, log in, add friends, and post messages with Iguanas and Iguana lovers. (Disclaimer: Most of the content on IGUANALAND is satire.) INTRO For yet another of my classes this semester, the final project was to build a website from the ground up. It had to be a Facebook Continue reading BUILD: IGUANALAND
UPDATE: Computer Controller
Now more user-friendly! In an earlier post I went over the design and fabrication process for my custom computer controller. Almost as soon as it was off of the milling machine, I knew I had to do something about the raw edges. The solution came from McMaster—a piece of adhesive-backed rubber cut down to size. I Continue reading UPDATE: Computer Controller
BUILD: Planar Tripod
For my last post I included a demo of the CNC Typewriter in action. In order to film this, I realized I needed a second pair of hands around. Rather than ask a roommate to hold the camera, I figured I d have a little fun designing a piece—and so this tripod was born. The Continue reading BUILD: Planar Tripod
BUILD: CNC Typewriter
An adaptation of the Machine Writing project: first forays into live machine communications. INTRO If this build is a Typewriter, the Machine Writing program was a printing press. More of a modification than a full build, the CNC Typewriter project is my first application of live serial communications with the TinyG stepper motor driver board, and Continue reading BUILD: CNC Typewriter
UPDATE: RoShamRobot
It s hard to find a good idea that hasn t been done [better] before. For this post we re going way back to the Rock-Paper-Scissors playing robot that was one of my first write-ups. While reading up on some of the cutting-edge experiments going on in robotics, I came across this 2012 video from Ishikawa Watanabe Laboratory Continue reading UPDATE: RoShamRobot