TurtleBot and Entrepreneurial Ideas
While at drop.io, I acquired an iRobot Create and a netbook to put together a simple telepresence robot. Here’s the original post (with bad links, just for reference). It was a fun experiment and I actually published the code out on github (here). You could use any OSC, hardware or software controller, or a regular telnet prompt to control movement.
At any rate, when drop.io was acquired, I was searching for the next thing to do. With the advice of some of my techy friends, they said I should try to build up and sell an “SDK” and kit for building a small telepresence robot, consisting of an iRobot Create and a netbook. At the time I thought it would be interesting, but would require capital up front to purchase inventory and I didn’t think it would eventually make much profit. But it would be fun.
Sometimes life gets in the way and you make up your own excuses on why you shouldn’t do things. It’s silly, but it’s a part of being human. As an entrepreneur, you have to ignore those excuses and push forward fast. Iterate, push, and go for the glory.
In this case, I caved to my pressures and silly excuses and decided to pursue other interests…
Fast foward to today and I saw a press release how an amazing company, Willow Garage, is going to sell kits for small robot platforms. And guess what, it has an iRobot Create and a netbook. With an addition of a Kinect device, you have TurtleBot, an incredibly powerful and affordable robotics system.
I missed the boat.
That’s part of being an entrepreneur. You have to quickly pick up on your good ideas and move forward. Of course I could still pursue the same route, but I actually was going to bundle ROS and a Kinect anyway, which is exactly the TurtleBot.
Good luck to those guys, as it’s a great idea and I’m glad that someone else was thinking in the same direction at the same time, which is also a part of being an entrepreneur; validation.
UPDATE
Found another company doing the same thing: bilibot
Cool stuff!
Passions and Creative Outlets
If anyone knows me, they know that I love asking questions and researching the hell out of other people’s interests and passions. I like knowing about things, it’s a hobby of mine.
I also have an intense passion for software development.
It also is my day job.
And sometimes, I wonder if my quest for knowledge is really driven by the fact that my intense passion is also my day job, not necessarily a creative outlet.
Often times I’m playing with Legos, electronics, or tinkering with the latest gadgets. Sometimes I spend a lot of time cooking. These are all creative things and are outlets.
Sometimes, I wonder what it would be like if I were a Lego designer, an electrical engineer, a tinkerer, or a professional chef in my day job and how it would affect my passion for software. Would it make me more creative in a focused way? Would it make me not get so burnt out? What would come out of it?
I think lately, my desires to learn more things (about cooking, EE, etc) are driven by the idea… What if I could jump ship, pick up another career, and focus on software as a creative outlet?
Kiva Update
This is insane! In just a little over a month, we’re already getting our funds back from the micro loans we furnished on Kiva…
Exciting!
Eufemia Bartolo Portalatino in Peru (Activity: Poultry)
You Loaned: $75.00
Newly Repaid: $25.01
Total Repaid So Far: $25.01 (33.35% of your loan)
Repayment Status: Paying back on time
View loan profile at:
http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=131905&_te=ru
Taiwo Odetunde in Nigeria (Activity: Timber Sales)
You Loaned: $50.00
Newly Repaid: $6.25
Total Repaid So Far: $6.25 (12.50% of your loan)
Repayment Status: Paying back on time
View loan profile at:
http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=133846&_te=ru
Yoramu Yamanya in Uganda (Activity: Health)
You Loaned: $25.00
Newly Repaid: $2.08
Total Repaid So Far: $2.08 (8.32% of your loan)
Repayment Status: Paying back on time
View loan profile at:
http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=135798&_te=ru
Benkelema Group in Mali (Activity: Retail)
You Loaned: $25.00
Newly Repaid: $6.25
Total Repaid So Far: $6.25 (25.00% of your loan)
Repayment Status: Paying back on time
View loan profile at:
http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=135809&_te=ru
Nyoka Cosi in Sudan (Activity: Charcoal Sales)
You Loaned: $25.00
Newly Repaid: $2.41
Total Repaid So Far: $2.41 (9.64% of your loan)
Repayment Status: Paying back on time
View loan profile at:
http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=136550&_te=ru
I seriously recommend that people try this out…
Microlending on Kiva
It’s no surprise that Becca and I got married back in July… and we’re fortunate enough to have families that support us and are generous enough to shower us with gifts. We have received quite a lot of gifts that we are very thankful for, including some cold cash…
With the cash, we have thought about what we wanted to do… buy things we have wanted, things we have needed, etc. Ultimately we decided to spend half on things for ourselves and half on donations.
With the donation money, we’ve split it up into different amounts to place on different campaigns, including Kiva.
Kiva is a non-profit organization and online movement that focuses on people providing micro-loans to entrepreneurs around the world. You search for people or groups who are in need of funds to expand their business, you loan a small chunk of the total amount, the money goes to a non-profit watchdog in the region that distributes funds, and then you get repaid! You can then take your money and move it to another entrepreneur!
As of right today, Kiva has loaned $45,027,485 and has gotten 98.35% repaid. That’s fantastic! All while enabling hard working people to provide for their families and communities.
We’ll be making around $750 in loans to entrepreneurs through Kiva in the next month… and I’m sure once they get repaid, we’ll be donating to Kiva and redistributing the funds to other entrepreneurs…
You can keep up to date with who we are loaning to and how they are doing here:
http://www.kiva.org/lender/thegoodfamily
It feels good.
Cowork Crashing
Need to come up with a buzzword for cowork crashing…
Thanks to Cohabitat and Eyegate Media for letting us crash their places and get some work done.
I'm a Ruby developer that loves to play with science, math, and gadgets. Previously, I was part of a startup called drop.io, acquired by Facebook. I live in Fort Worth, TX with my wife, 2 dogs, and baby boy. I'm a foodie, a gamer, and a self proclaimed scientist.
