Would you buy a NAVCOM AI kit?

M. K. Borri

Would you buy a NAVCOM AI kit? If there's demand I'll make a few.


Hope this sort of post is allowed, if it isn't I apologize...

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http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?p=650217

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Harley

Borri,

Please explain what a NAVCOM AI kit is.

Maybe some might be interested; may not.

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Harley Shanko
h.a.s. designn

M. K. Borri

Basically it's a Prop-based single board computer that sits between a RC vehicle's radio and its servos, and allows it to function autonomously. It requires at minimum a GPS, but if you add more sensors it automatically interpolates so you get a better positioning (compass, accelerometers, tachometer etc.). You also get an API to work with to have this thing actually perform actions, and a serial telemetry system. It assumes that heading is at least approximately equal to bearing, though, so it won't work with helicopters. Has been tested with a RC sailboat though, and steering one of those is definitely not trivial.

See my signature for more info [noparse]:)[/noparse] I also have videos there.

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Post Edited (M. K. Borri) : 5/20/2007 10:01:16 PM GMT

Kevin Wood

Well, if you have a product that you are thinking about selling - why not sell it?

Build some, put up a website, and have at it!

As for the idea having merit, just look at the current global interest in unmanned vehicle research & development. It's one of the next big things.

Just don't try to determine your potential market from the Propeller forum. After all, it's like selling ice to an Eskimo, since people here are just as likely to build their own Navcom AI unit for fun!

Post Edited (Kevin Wood) : 5/21/2007 2:07:50 AM GMT

M. K. Borri

Makes sense, which is why I put the code AND the schematics up for grabs [noparse]:)[/noparse] Just if you do decide to go commercial, consider hiring me, please.

A problem I am facing is that a lot of companies who are itnerested won't even talk to me (as in, their engineers will, but their HR people won't) because since I am not a US citizen I can't get a security clearance, which seems to be a requirement for this sort of work. Case in point, UTSA wanted to use the NAVCOM AI as a teaching aid for a robotics program they are starting, but since the program depends on NSF money they're not allowed to pay me! (I since got severely pissed off and frisbeed a CD with the schematics and code in the program head's forehead, and told him here you go just build the damn thing yourself).

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Graham Stabler

I was looking at Aeroviroment for a while a possible place to work, they had similar issues but if I got a green card it would have been a possibility.

Graham

M. K. Borri

I just got pissed off and left, nobody insults my trustworthiness, certainly nobody who doesn't even know me. In the end that's what it boils down to.


As an aside, what baffles me is why these people would rather have us outside spitting in than inside spitting out...

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Post Edited (M. K. Borri) : 5/21/2007 11:05:22 AM GMT

Graham Stabler

I don't think anyone was insulting anything, they have to follow rules on these things that they didn't invent so you were getting mad at the wrong people.

TyreBiter

I would be interested in purchasing your kit. Do you have an approximate price and time-table.

Thanks

David

Paul Baker

M. K. Borri said...
I just got pissed off and left, nobody insults my trustworthiness, certainly nobody who doesn't even know me. In the end that's what it boils down to.


As an aside, what baffles me is why these people would rather have us outside spitting in than inside spitting out...

It's not the companies that make these decisions, it's the federal government. In essence the only time a non-national is given clearance is when there is a proven uniqueness of knowledge that cannot be fullfilled by an American citizen. Einstein wasn't even trusted enough to work on the Manhatten Project even though it was his and Szilard's letter to Roosevelt that got the program started.

Even being a citizen it's no walk in the park, the vast majority of positions that require clearance have the clearance as a prerequisite, however to get any sort of clearance you must be employed in a job which requires it: the very definition of a catch 22.·Military service in an intelligence·division is practically·the only sure fire way of breaking up the circular logic.·

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Paul Baker
Propeller Applications Engineer

Parallax, Inc.

Post Edited (Paul Baker (Parallax)) : 5/21/2007 4:55:23 PM GMT

rjo_

MK...

In my experience, when one door closes... another is always open waiting for you to find it.
Clearances just dictate who can pay your check. There are more disadvantages than advantages in having a security clearance.
If I were your age again, I'd follow Paul's advice and join the military. They are THE experts at maximizing human potential.
(all of those commercials about being as good as you can be... really are true).
But if you don't like constraints or don't trust the experts, put up a web site as a Propeller expert... there will be all kinds of opportunities.

Paul... I think Einstein failed the IQ test.

Rich

M. K. Borri

Thanks... sorry, I got a bit mad/frustrated [noparse]:)[/noparse]

I bought a protoboard five-pack and will build those into more units... in fact I think that what I should do is write down a schematic for THAT.

I'm going to put the navmath lib on the object exchange within the week, I kinda disappeared for a bit b/c my lab manager had a heart attack and we had to make sure he was okay.

For a number of reasons no member of my family born after 1945 may join the military (having two grandfathers on opposite sides of WW2 can be a bit awkward), so I guess that's out too. About contractors, wine and cookies with them.... what I'll end up doing is probably going to be landing a drone on someone's roof and see if they hire me then, or something [noparse]:)[/noparse]

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John Abshier

To get a security clearance, you will probably have to become a US citizen. A non-citizen can enlist in the military. However, federal law prohibits non-citizens from becoming commission or warrant officers. In order for a non-citizen to enlist in the military, he/she must first be a legal immigrant (with a green card), permamently residing in the United States. (I lost an extremely good soldier because it was discovered that he did not have a green card.) Most junior enlisted personnel do not have security clearances. If you did get a security clearance in the military (based on the requirements of you military jot), I am not sure what would happen when you got out. Normally, if you had a military security clearance, getting a contractor one is just a paper work drill. If someone has never had a security clearance, the drill is that the company must hire the person, park them in an unclassifed job, apply for a security clearance for the employee, pay for the clearance, and wait until it is granted or denied. This makes someone who has had a security clearance more employable, especially if the level is TOP SECRET as those clearances can take a year to be granted.

PS.· I am reading the report.· It is impresive.· So where the videos.

M. K. Borri

Thanks! Just to clarify, the system CANNOT land the plane (I'd love to do that, but it'll have to wait a bit).

About clearance... I still find the whole thing a bit insulting -- if you want to look into my life to see if I am trustworthy, please do so because you'll find nothing but, but asking me to pay for it is surreal. One thing I really like about the US in general is that there's a lot less idiotic bureaucracy, but maybe I was overly optimistic there [noparse]:)[/noparse]

I cannot join a military as it would cause offense to certain member of my family who I hope all live to be a hundred and twenty. I would like a green card though, this is a nice country (we have better food, but you have a post office that works, and a lot less taxes) and I'd love to stay here and get work done.

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Post Edited (M. K. Borri) : 5/24/2007 2:29:01 AM GMT

Paul Baker

Dont take it personally, it stems mostly from the government's awareness of thier fallibility in intelligence.

An under secretary for homeland security was newly on the job and FBI agents stopped by his house to ask his wife about thier neighbor, explaining they were doing a security background check. She explained they just moved to the area and didn't get a chance to meet him but in passing he seemed quite nice. A couple weeks later when they were having dinner with the couple, they congratulated him on his new job and the neighbors were quite purplexed since he had his job for years. Turns out the FBI was researching the under secretary and meant to goto the neighbors house! Now imagine throwing in having to goto one or more foriegn countries with a possible language and cultural barrier and imagine how many more mistakes would be made. When national security is on the line, such mistakes can be extremely costly. They are even suspicious of citizens who have ever lived in a foreign country a year or more or a citizen that marries a non-citizen.

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Paul Baker
Propeller Applications Engineer

Parallax, Inc.

Kevin Wood

You know though, a lot of people do treat national security as something that only exists in spy movies, but that is far from the truth.

One thing for any non US citizen to keep in mind is that business as usual in America changed on 9/11/2001. I'm an American, and in the process of trying to get a replacement social security card, the person I dealt with was practically ready to call Homeland Security on me.

And no, I didn't get the card due to lack of proof of my citizenship.

M. K. Borri

I'm just going to GPL everything... this isn't fun anymore, and honestly the next time someone insults my trustworthiness there's a small but nonzero chance of me slamming them into a wall. I do hope you got some extra orders from UTSA and other places in san antonio though [noparse]:)[/noparse]

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