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July 13, 2022
Omnibot

In this project, we'll walk through installing the mounts and making the necessary modifications to the arms of your Omnibot 5402 or Sr for motor control of the arms. My goal was to create a structure to move the arms by the shoulder with minimal modification to the bot itself. It will still require two parts being permanently modified but it could still be reverted back to a cosmetically but not functionally original state.

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February 14, 2022
Home Projects
Home Automation

I'm really terrible at this whole blogging thing. 😕

Anyway, a lot and a little has been going on since my last home automation project overview. I have been really busy with odds and ends over the last year and a half although, only a little has been spent in any meaningful additions to my sub projects - save one!

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April 16, 2021
Musings & Observations

How has this past year been for you? Stressful? Lonely? Maybe a bit of hopelessness?
Now that the vaccines are being distributed, are you feeling a bit more optimistic?
It has been over a year since our society went home to our bubbles of isolation but for people with disabilities or other limiting factors, the pandemic was just more of the same.

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1214 Hits
September 21, 2020
Home Projects
Home Automation

Have you ever had one seemingly trivial issue open up a torrent of "opportunity" and possibly may have saved your life? I believe we may have.

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2213 Hits
March 16, 2020
Musings & Observations

I went to Walmart yesterday...

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2686 Hits
February 05, 2020
Home Automation

So, I have two years of projects and ideas behind me. With all of the fits and starts, labored undertakings and successes and failures, what does the next year hold?

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7802 Hits
January 31, 2020
Home Automation

So, you're building a new home and want it to be ready for the Smart Home Revolution. Well, not to burst your bubble but, it won't be - not entirely. Until there are standards in place for that future home, you'll just have to make your home as standardized as is currently possible and probable.

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4049 Hits
December 26, 2019
Personal Development

A couple of years ago, I responded to a post on Facebook with a personal story that I have rarely shared. I don't talk about these events in my life often and not because I don't think of them as important or central to my identity but rather, because I do. I have kept it to myself largly because, it is a fundamental piece of me - one that is sensitive and utterly personal.

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3148 Hits
October 24, 2019
Personal Development

I'm back on Facebook.
Now, before you get that look on your face, let me also note that I'm a FB Ghost. My profile only contains the items that are required to register and I have zero friends. I turned off all of the available settings to find me and it isn't possible to send me a friend request. So, now that look on your face probably looks puzzled. Let me explain.

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2972 Hits
June 02, 2019
Home Automation

As outlined in UPDATED: My Home Automation Roadmap, I am working on a information center for our kitchen. This device has a 15.6" touch screen that will display information about our home as well as a common calendar, an interface for Home Assistant, local weather, and other programs and databases.

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5735 Hits

Projects

Projects
Projects
22 post(s)
Robotic Arm
Robotic Arm
2 post(s)
Home Automation
Home Automation
12 post(s)
Omnibot
Omnibot
1 post(s)
Robotic Arm V2
Robotic Arm V2
2 post(s)
Weather Station
Weather Station
4 post(s)

My Wall

December 14, 2020

Remember when the idea of your smart speaker listening to you make you uneasy?

Check this out!

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/27/opinion/amazon-halo-surveillance.html

March 31, 2020

Yet again, the big guy swallows up the small and highly useful resource.
https://www.engadget.com/2020-03-31-apple-dark-sky-weather-app.html

December 03, 2019

Snips, a privacy focused locally processed voice agent is being acquired by Sonos. In the deal, the formally open system will be closing their console system. This system is what makes Snips available for developers to create their own apps based on the snips system. Unfortunately, this means that I will have to go back to the drawing board for a couple of my projects and try converting to an alternative - and hope whatever I land on doesn't get acquired and closed.

https://forum.snips.ai/t/important-message-regarding-the-snips-console/4145

May 11, 2019

In a bizarre move by Google, they are closing out their "Works with Nest" program effective at the end of August and have decided that only google products can control google products. So, no more interoperability through open projects like Home Assistant or OpenHAB and possibly no interoperability with things like the Echo or Harmony remotes.

I can't imagine that Google shutting out their competitors isn't going to force their competitors to say "ok, fine, our products work everywhere but in the google ecosystem." In the end either Google strikes a deal with the bigger manufacturers to continue with some kind of special API or they'll suffer the backlash of manufacturers. This seems to me as a very arrogant move. It's like they don't know that Amazon still holds the market on voice assistants. Do you really want to piss off Amazon right now?

https://www.tomsguide.com/us/google-works-with-nest,news-30053.html

March 25, 2019

This is an interesting read that is supposed to be a product launch announcement but wound up being more of an indictment of cloud requirements by hardware providers.

https://blog.ui.com/2019/01/09/introducing-unifi-protect/

Eclipse 2024

April 8th, 2024  
NASA - Total Solar Eclipse of 2024
Great American Eclipse.com

Local Groups and Organizations

If you are in the Nashville TN area, please consider visiting these groups:

b1 mtrasMTRAS.com
We're a robotics / makers / technology group in Nashville. Check out our monthly meetings at the Adventure Science Center.

nashmicro.netNashMicro.net
NashMicro is a group for anyone interested in learning about and making things with microcontrollers or electronics in general.

About Me

AndyI'm a geek! I love learning about and working with all kinds of technologies.
I am also a family man. I love spending time with family and friends. There is nothing better than letting the kids run around while chatting on the back porch!