SpiderDroid Rewards

The core mechanism of using machine learning to "solve" games is building in an incentive factor that the machine learning algorithm will use to prioritize and identify the best values for the parameters it can control.  For my experiments I think I will need some external pure incentive and disincentive stimulus that can be used for any early assisted learning stages that are required.  This is because I expect the learning process that will connect actuator parameters with movement results will be full of dead ends, and I want to be able to try to back the ML algorithm out of them and encourage the patterns that look more productive.

However, it seems relevant to mention the unfortunate babbling idiocy that has eventually forced me to erase and restart all of the early (local brains only) voice to text translators I tried.

Caveat creator.  Do I need a kill switch?

SpiderTraining

I will know that I have reached a new plateau when my spider droids can learn movement on their own by experimentally moving whatever collection of active joints I have given them.  I expect that discovering the most productive movements and combinations of movements in terms of visibly and inertially detectable changes in position and location of a single eye cluster, and detectable changes in sound composition and volume at the single ear cluster will be the first incentivized results.  If I get that far, there will be others even more interesting.

SpiderDroid 0.02: 3D Models

I have published the 3D Models for the upper (and most interesting) pieces of the leg design of the 0.02 SpiderDroid in TinkerCad under easy free licensing.

https://www.tinkercad.com/embed/e5ogrbWnosU?editbtn=0

NOT becoming a Supervillain by mistake

I do a lot of cryptoquote games.  Way too many, probably.  So I have a stream of notable quotes offering themselves for my fleeting consideration on most days.  Lately I have been adding "... as a Supervillain" to the end of them, like one might add a phrase to a fortune cookie message.

Example fortune cookies:

"Today it's up to you to create the peacefulness you long for" ... as a Supervillain.

"If you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get it" . . as a Supervillain.

Example Cryptoquotes:

"Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself" ... as a Supervillain. (George Bernard Shaw)

"Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies" ... as a Supervillain. (Aristotle)

The story I am telling myself is that this activity will help me avoid becoming a Supervillain by accident, because there might be trapdoors into evil thoughts under high minded thoughts.

😁

NOT Being A Supervillain LLC

In the second (depending on how one counts, it might be the third) trimester of the COVID-19 global pandemic, I have decided that I need to do something besides simply making pandemic masks and obeying rules.  So I have established the NOT Being A Supervillain LLC as a North Carolina USA company.  I plan to offer computer consulting services, including security audits and challenge tests.

SpiderDroid 0.02: Leg twitches

I am happy to announce that I am making progress on one of the wishlist projects that I have imagined for the next few years.  At the moment I have two assembled legs (with servos) that I like for this second incomplete design/build and two more 3d printed but not assembled yet.  Early walking experiments with only 4 legs will be creepy but useful.

I hesitated, because in the midst of this global pandemic the distributor for my preferred servos went 503.

Fortunately, HiWonder seems to be distributing those LX16A servos now, so I am rolling. :D

Allan Dickson

You might think that not becoming a super villain is simple common sense.

You might be right, I suppose.  I seem to be among the people most uncertain about what common sense is.  

The examples I can first recall just now of decisions that I have heard people describe as "just common sense", are "Don't touch things that are hot enough to burn you," "Wear shoes when you go outside in the snow," "Don't break the law," and "Only eat when you are hungry ". 

Each of these examples has a tree of exceptions and gray areas that leap immediately to my mind.  

Having accurate judgement of "...hot enough to burn you..." requires a wide range of levels and kinds of experience in different circumstances.  How long does a plate have to be out of the oven before the waiter can carry it safely using the specific towels or tools they have available to them?  How long does a piece of iron need to be in the quenching water or air cooled after it has been red hot to be touched safely?  These questions are meant to show that using this example of Common Sense requires some uncommon knowledge in order to practice it.  So is calling it "common" just casual hyperbole?

That objection, or others, seem like crippling weaknesses to all the tenets I have considered as candidates for Common Sense, including "Don't be a supervillain."