GlenTheMachine

6 ms·

1.
by GlenTheMachine 4d ago
I mean, deer (and cows and goats and sheep, but not horses) are ruminants. They can eat all sorts of things humans can’t digest: grass, tree leaves, most weeds, etc). The evolution of the rumen was one of nature’s best tricks.
2.
by GlenTheMachine 10d ago
I suspect that if/when we get to a world where it makes economic sense to manufacture billions of robots, it’ll be easier and cheaper to modify the infrastructure.
3.
by GlenTheMachine 14d ago
Roboticist here. All of this, and he didn’t mention compliance or online adaptation to otherwise un-sensable dynamics. Or massively complex miniature mechanisms. Current generation tactile sensors cost a couple thousand $ PER FINGER, and ha
4.
by GlenTheMachine 26d ago
I vote for Zotero integration!
5.
by GlenTheMachine 1mo ago
The conclusion linguists are coming to is much stronger than that. The data indicate that the last common ancestor of languages as varied as Hittite, German, and Latin was spoken around 4500 BCE in Ukraine. It's a linguistic equivalent
6.
by GlenTheMachine 1mo ago
Turns out that isn't exactly true. You can poly concepts from genetic drift to language and infer what they must have been like. It's revolutionized the field of linguistics.
7.
by GlenTheMachine 1mo ago
Isn't this a testable hypothesis? If consciousness spread virally and isn't a natural outgrowth of the physical structure of the brain, then presumably isolated indigenous tribes would still have pre-consciousness mental processes
8.
by GlenTheMachine 2mo ago
The RPO and docking are autonomous specifically because it's hard to deal with the latency. Note that the algorithm stack for almost any spacecraft cannot rely on modern compute. Single-core sub-1 GHz processors are the standard. Very
9.
by GlenTheMachine 2mo ago
It's very likely that a spacecraft similar to MRV/RSGS could do a life extension mission on Hubble. But, unfortunately, Hubble is in a very different orbit than MRV/RSGS is, so we wouldn't be able to reach it. "Does
10.
by GlenTheMachine 2mo ago
It's almost impossibly hard to return things to earth from GEO. Robert Heinlein famously wrote that "a circular orbit is halfway to anywhere", which means that the most energetically difficult part of a mission to the Androme
11.
by GlenTheMachine 2mo ago
I can only provide answers to technical or programmatic questions that have already been "approved for public release" by DARPA and NRL. We've done a number of publicly released presentations over the years, so there is a fai
12.
by GlenTheMachine 2mo ago
It’s all custom flight code. The only software packages we use are basic matrix-vector libraries. Hopefully there will be a paper describing the dynamics/kinematics/controls algorithms soon.
13.
by GlenTheMachine 2mo ago
Oh gosh. I grew up in the middle of nowhere Virginia. Like many of you I was a nerd, and I had no outlet for that nerd-dom until I spent all summer working for money to buy a C64. I taught myself assembly, and was a high school intern at NA
14.
by GlenTheMachine 2mo ago
Thanks! There isn't a paper yet, but I'm working on one; I hope it will be presented at the upcoming iSAIRAS/iSpaRo conference in Cologne.
15.
by GlenTheMachine 2mo ago
We use pretty standard BLDCs.
16.
by GlenTheMachine 2mo ago
You wouldn't. Ionizing radiation at GEO altitude quickly exceeds your lifetime exposure dose. The Apollo (and Artemis II) astronauts went through GEO inside a metal capsule going as fast as they could.
17.
by GlenTheMachine 2mo ago
Sort of mini-fridge sized. They take over attitude control and propulsion for satellites that are low on fuel. "Since the mission is designed to attach one and then leave to go to another satellite that needs servicing?" Yes.
18.
by GlenTheMachine 2mo ago
I'm the lead roboticist. Within bounds, I can answer questions.
19.
The most advanced robotic servicing satellite–that we know about(arstechnica.com)
39 points by GlenTheMachine 2mo ago|2 comments
20.
DARPA Robotic mechanic for broken satellites launched(darpa.mil)
4 points by GlenTheMachine 2mo ago|0 comments
21.
First Robotic Satellite Servicer Launched(nrl.navy.mil)
87 points by GlenTheMachine 2mo ago|54 comments
22.
by GlenTheMachine 4mo ago
If you had no idea what a restorable sequence is the takeaway is about halfway down the OP: “This is why Linux now provides rseq() which is a much more enlightened solution. With restartable sequences, you actually can get rid of both the m
23.
by GlenTheMachine 4mo ago
I am firmly convinced that, in the long course of time, Pratchett will be recognized as a modern Shakespeare.
24.
by GlenTheMachine 5mo ago
Maybe that’s the protocol?
25.
by GlenTheMachine 6mo ago
It's more complicated than that. "The system" almost always consists of mid-level bureaucrats. Maybe not this particular one, but her bosses -- a job which, if she sticks around long enough, she will eventually get promoted
26.
by GlenTheMachine 6mo ago
“ It reads like an indictment of the government employee personally” As a government employee: it often is the employee personally. Not always, but surprisingly often. There is a type of mid-level bureaucrat who just can’t be bothered to
27.
by GlenTheMachine 6mo ago
As a government employee, enmeshed in the bureaucracy: This is the way. The problem is that it took Karen zero effort to say “we only accept fax”. She doesn’t care about how much effort it takes you you — in fact, as implied, it taking you
28.
by GlenTheMachine 7mo ago
So after almost 50 years of hacking, I'm starting to feel it in my hands. But I don't have any wrist problems -- no carpal tunnel. What I have is tendonitis in my fingers, primarily in my middle fingers and my right pinky (from sl
29.
by GlenTheMachine 8mo ago
“Extendible” —> extensible, I believe
30.
by GlenTheMachine 8mo ago
That’s certainly an opinion. I’m not convinced that it's a good one, but it’s an interesting one. I think it’s probably important to remember two things: 1) the novel is a relatively modern invention — Don Quixote is often thought of a

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