James Newton

Williams General Store We are pleased to welcome back the phone booth. It has been given a new home and taken on a fresh purpose. ☎️🥰

Apparently it was out of the store for a while? This was JUST posted!
www.facebook.com/williamsgene...

Drones With Legs Can Walk, Hop, and Jump Into the Air Birds use their legs for all kinds of clever things, and now drones can too

Not exact, but one of my favorites:
spectrum.ieee.org/bird-drone

I just found out that the podunk "Williams General Store" (Williams, OR) where I grew up has a payphone inside still. These are ALL modern pictures. It looked /exactly/ like that when I was 11 years old (50 years go). Just wow. Somethings really do not change.

A dickhead driving a cybertruck... but I repeat myself.

Robots in Spaaaace! Robots in Spaaaace! "We aren't in Kansas anymore" edition With James Newton

For some strange reason, I've been invited to speak at the Las Vegas Robotics Meetup on the 23rd, on the topic of Robots in Space. I've tossed this outline together and would welcome feedback on it:
docs.google.com/presentation...

www.axios.com/2025/10/07/f...

YouTube video by Robert Murray-Smith RIP Robert Murray-Smith (1963 - 2025)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ghra...

Not sure how many people will know this name, but Robert Murray Smith ended his misery. His wife Patty had passed a year and a half ago and he was living in pain. I will deeply miss looking forward to his next crazy device or idea or example. He was an inspiration.

A very impressive accomplishment, especially for the time. Sadly safe and slow is not what big customers want. And so UR, et all, reigns. Individuals should have purchased these. Small companies.

And yet, everyday our customers demand faster operation. Which means they don't want cobots, they want industrial bots. But they don't want to pay for the extra fencing and safety measures. I wish that slow and steady and safe were acceptable. I wish that I could see a way to make fast, safe.

She can say anything. The question is what are they going to report?

Somewhat high power use on transitions, but if they are infrequent, who cares? We did this on a data logger that needed to maintain a setting while the uC was asleep.

Improve and automate bread
palmbread.com/open_researc...

I don't C# (pronounced see sharp) because I am near sighted. ,o) groan. But thanks for thinking of me and that render is lovely. Tell your friend they are doing good works.

The Netflix series"Love, Death and Robots" is always a mixed bag. But season 4 episode 4 "The other large thing" is a fun watch. Cats and robots ... What could go wrong?

Headline 'AI attempts murder to avoid shutdown'.

Duh. Our current AI 'strategy': "Here is everything we've done or imagined, try to be just like us ... Um.. no... Wait... Not like that!"

You do? Help me with mine next time I get ... Oh... We have a sarchasm: The gap between you being sarcastic and me not getting it. ,o)

There was an orchestra which was hiring way more men than women and tried to fix it by auditioning them behind a curtain. Nothing changed. Then they had the performers remove their shoes before walking on, and the high heels stopped influencing the outcomes, which ended up even.

YouTube video by Veritasium Something Strange Happens When You Trace How Connected We Are

Explains WHY social media is bad. Amazing!
youtu.be/CYlon2tvywA

It's true that those who fail to study history are doomed to repeat it, but... It's also true that those who DO study history are doomed to watch as all the other morons repeat it.

YouTube video by FluffyPlaysandVlogs Gir - The Doom Song

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nw_c...

Jumperless V5 The next generation jumperless breadboard

You should check out Jumperless:
www.crowdsupply.com/architeuthis...

BAMF 2025 · Saturday, Sep 27 📸 Shared album · Tap to view!

Bay Area Maker Faire 2025
photos.app.goo.gl/oScmP7gsKnn6...

Building the Next Generation of Physical Agents with Gemini Robotics-ER 1.5- Google Developers Blog Gemini Robotics-ER 1.5, now available to developers, is a state-of-the-art embodied reasoning model for robots.

Has a better chance of working than most. Headstart with Aloha. Now working at all levels, not just "end to end" pixels to motion. Recognizing objects, segmenting, LLM in the mix, pre thinking, planning, all of that. And collecting the data and learning.

developers.googleblog.com/en/building-...

Smartphones Can Now See Beyond RGB With Simple Card Trick Transform your phone into a pocket spectrometer with just a card and an algorithm.

That can't really work, can it?
spectrum.ieee.org/hyperspectra...

Random factoids:
- There are 2 different headlight types for the 2005 prius. One has a brain.
- Rubber plug in tab on brake pedal pushes button when released. Rubber hardens / shatters. Brake lights never go off.
- Cities raise water pressure to support new development. Your sprinklers burst.

waterjet sludge... so... garnet bits and... what's being cut?

Particle-size sorting system of lunar regolith using electrostatic traveling wave A particle-size sorting system of lunar regolith using an electrostatic traveling wave is developed for In-Situ Resource Utilization on the Moon to ex…

So cool! This should also work on large asteroids. #oyebeltalowda
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

YouTube video by Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell Can Humanity Stop A Planet-Killing Asteroid?

Pretty good summary. Asteroids are serious
youtu.be/dKm7T13X7n4