Where are you from and where do you live?

Born and raised in Texas, adult life in California, before moving to Waimea 4 years ago.

What is your professional & educational background?

BA degree in Mathematics. Computer programmer for the last 17 years.

How did you get into robotics?

I've always been coming up with crazy ideas for projects. It was when I moved to Hawaii and met Tom Benedict that I actually started building robots. Also, all the grand challenges that are going on for autonomous vehicles or space exploration are very motivating to me.

Describe some of the robots you've built?

The only robot I have completely built out is a mini sumo bot. I have been working on circuits and software for various sensors to incorporate into some of my other robot projects - which aren't finished. My robot plate is the following: minisumo, line following, wall following, and downhiller. I hope to have the minisumo and downhiller at Robofest. For the line and wall following, I'm working on AI-based software algorithms - I have not started the hardware build on these projects. This past year, I bought a lot of components for two major projects I hope to finish in the next few months - electric motor powered rollerblades and a UAV. I hope to demonstrate the some basic functionality of the UAV at Robofest this year as well.

What do you enjoy about designing and building robots?

If you have to repeat an action over and over again, I believe a robot should be built to do the repititious task. I think a robot can do the crazy jobs where human safety could be compromised - like space, volcano, or deep sea science exploration. I like knowing that if I build a certain circuit for a sensor and develop its software, it can be used in more than one robot application. I also appreciate that everything built for a robot is scaleable. If you want to build a 20ft tall biped robot, build a 1ft tall version first. Everything you did for the smaller version applies for building the large one.

Where do you see the future of robot design, construction and implementation?

The robot industry targets education, science/military, and commercial applications. Robots for education need to lower costs and possibly expand into more exciting applications that will engage a wider target of students. I think the current model of public challenges sponsored by the likes of DARPA and Google will continue to drive the science and military robot world. Robots for commercial applications (consumer bots, task bots) could be the next big thing in robot industry. We have the Roomba, and I think builders will start identifying lots of everyday tasks that can be robotized and start building towards that.

What does RoboFest mean to you?

It is THE local event where robots built by Hawaii residents young and old can share their robot experiences and participate in cool robot challenges.

How can young people prepare themselves for, and get involved in robotics?

Young or old can dabble with robots. If you have a computer and about $100, you can get started with a robot kit. Once you've completed the kit, you should have enough knowledge to design and ultimately build any robot for any purpose. Join or make a robot club, in school and/or your community. If you have an idea, find someone to talk to about it. If its feasible, JUST DO IT.