PIRE/DASL South Korea Co-Op 07-08

Last Day In Korea

2009-03-17T02:16:00.003+09:00

Well Happy St. Patrick day for starters and Departure date from Korea! I leaving Korea around 11am to be back in the States 14 hours later...I'm going to miss Korea!!! :(

The Manufacturing - Robogames 2009

2009-03-13T02:50:00.001+09:00

"Double Knee" Final Design Robogames 2009

2009-03-13T00:16:00.005+09:00

This is the Final CAD lay out of our Robot for the 2009 Robogames Competition. I decided to go with the Double Knee configuration , for the proposed running attribute. The Chassis Specification are 1.7 lbs machined parts, 51cm tall, 24 DOF. Incorporated in the feet are also custom XYZ Force Torque sensor for foot landing data collection. The colors are the proposed Anodizing scheme, but that will come later. I know what you want to see the real thing right? Wait for the next post...the Manufacturing!

Prototype "Bent Knee"

2009-03-12T23:46:00.006+09:00

This is the "Bent Knee" approach I prototyped. Notice the distinct feature of the the knee motor is set a 45 degree angle normal to the ground. This I believed allows the robot to lift its leg to take a step with out it needing to swing the lower half of the knee out as far in order to progress forward. Also the ankle pitch does not need to rotate to maintain keeping the foot parallel to the ground. The design uses what I defined as stacked axes , which is the pitch and roll are offset from each other in height. Thou being a clever set up of the motors, that was the down fall why we did not go with this design. As a team we decided we wanted all pitch and roll to be fall on the same plane for the hip and ankle motor orientations. Below is closer look into what I described as the Gate motion of this prototype. I guess it is shelved for now but I may want to revamp it for a future candidate.

Last few Weekends in Korea - Pool Hall

2009-02-28T22:09:00.011+09:00

This weekend I decided to go out on Friday with one of my good friends from Uzbekistan. We went to a local pool hall to shoot around. I had a good night I won 4 of the 6 games we played. Here is an action shot from last night!

The Dynamixel

2009-02-28T17:04:00.007+09:00

To build a mini robot you need to have small motors to drive the articulation of each joint. In Hubo's case It uses a complex set of multiple motors and drive belts in combination with Harmonic Drive systems to produce movements and have holding torque to stand and move. This method work wonders for Hubo but is not a good system for a small system for reasons that it is bulky and very expensive. On top of the mechanical complexity it needs to have custom motor controllers to drive the motor train as well. Small Humanoids can use a off the self package that includes a motor, gear set, encoder, and controller. These servos are far more cost effective, light weight, and have far less overhead to program the included controller. The servo package we chose for this project is the Robotis Dynamixel. Robotis is actually a Korean based Company that sells robot kits such as the Bioliod Humanoid. They sell many other accessories and servos for people interested in building custom Humanoids like ourselves. We deiced to go with the RX-28 that supplies 28N.m of torque for leg servos and RX-10 (10N.m) for the upper body.

Robot Inspiration

2009-02-28T15:29:00.003+09:00

I spent many hours searching internet based videos to see what types of designs existed for small Humanoids. Granted I know the design of Hubo inside and out but yet this robot could not be as complex. So I needed to "switch gears" to start thinking in the perspective of small robots. I found two robots that I liked that were featured in the ROBO- ONE, a Japanese competition. The first robot that gained my interest was the Kondo KHR-2HV.
I liked the legs where the knee joint is set on an angle to the perpendicular part of lower leg and foot. This allowed the robot to have a very fluid motion during walking. I also felt it did not have to Throw its leading and trailing leg as far to achieve locomotion.

The second design that also took my interest was a small robot also from ROBO - ONE. This robot is called OmniZero.
The video shows the unique construction of the robot, notice that this robot has two motors at the knee joint. The double knee is much different than most Humanoid robots competing. Most robot have a single motor actuating at the knee, but in using two motors in the knee allows each motor to rotate half the distance. This allows of for faster actuation at the knee and I believe that this is a potential design for a more capable running robot.

RoboGames - Introduction

2009-02-28T15:07:00.003+09:00

Robogames is a organization that hosts many robotics competitions such as Soccer, Combat and Humanoid. Each year an event is held in San Fransisco where many robots from all over the world come to compete. This year in June DASL will be making their daybiew into the Mini Humanoid competition. Dr. Paul Oh has formed a team consisting of four of his undergraduate and Two graduate researchers. This powerhouse team has been challenged to design, build, and program a bipedal walking robot in less than 6 months. I was brought on board for my mechanical skill set with CAD and Manufacturing. I have challenged myself to come up with a unique and fresh design to be featured in this robot. The past month I have been busy pushing many CAD designs and just lately have seen the fruits of my labor. In the next few post I would like to share my designs and my process I took to reach my Final Product. The following is the schedule that I have been following to keep myself of track for the last few weeks of my Co-op in South Korea.

Feb. 9th - 11th Finalize Robogames CAD of Legs/ Feet
Feb. 12th - 14th Produce CAM with MasterCam of the Legs/Feet
Feb. 16th - 17th CNC parts at Hubo lab
Feb. 17th - 21st Torso/ Arms Finalize CAD
Feb. 21st - 28th Produce CAM for Torso/ Arms
Mar. 1st - 7th (Overflow) CNC of Torso/Arms
Mar. 1st - 7th Start MasterCam Documentation for tutorials completion April 1st.
Mar. 7th - 13th Rap up loose ends with Hubo 2 CAD and Documentation

Trip to Beijing China

2009-02-13T23:43:00.007+09:00

During my first few months living in South Korea I had an opportunity to collaborate with the design and manufacturing company that created the Shells that encase Hubo. The owner of the company (http://www.designeers.net/) is expanding his business to China in the next few months and is going to establish offices in the Japan and the US in the next two years. He asked me to join him for a business trip to lay the ground work for the company in Beijing. The 4 days we stayed I joined him in business meetings, site seeing, and evening activities. I visited Beijing Industrial Design Center and I met the Director of the company. He invited us to dinner at the very famous restaurant Quanjude where the main dish is severing Duck. So a little background history on this place it was established in 1864 during the Tongzhi, Qing Dynasty. Apparently Ronald Reagan ate there when he visited China too! So since the the opening they have kept a tally on how many ducks they have served to the public and I my stomach became the proud owner of number 435055! I said that I ate duck... I ate basically the whole duck. The list you would like to know? Heart, Liver, Feet, Brain, Skin, and regular old body meat! Did I like it? Heart was actually pretty good, but Brain...too mushy , odd tasting at best! Above is the picture of the Head of the duck,I had to search for the Brain...It was very samll! But every thing went down smoothly with some Chinese alcohol... 52 % by volume... WOW! During the my remaining stay I ate many tasty cuisines and also saw many location around the City. I visited the place where the 2008 Beijing Olympics was held and I also visited the CCTV building. Both of which I only dreamed of seeing after I saw the Discovery Channel special! I also visited Tineman Square and browsed many small trinket shops. In the evenings we went out and enjoyed the social life visiting many bars. The first night we visited a North Korean Style Bar. Now this was a very interesting experience... I was told that I was the First American to ever come to this bar.... and it was weird for the waitresses at first because I could speak a little Korean. Very Hospitable people, I saw a traditional North Korean dance and drank North Korean Style alcohol. I actually had a really great time there! I also got to visit a very famous Club called Cargo. There I met one of the Directors that produced a part of the Beijing Opening Ceremonies, a TV producer, and a Chinese actress. I was a crowd favorite on the dance floor, even thou I could not speak any Chinese... We expressed are self through dance! Through my meeting with one of the Directors he gave our party free entry into a traditional Chinese theater! Overall I am glad I went to China, I would like to return and visit more places like The great wall and other Cities!

Philadelphia Eagles in Korea

2009-01-14T05:40:00.003+09:00

Philadelphia Eagles ARE IN THE PLAYOFFS!!
Bryan and I watched our first Eagles Football game in Santa Claus Bar on Monday after work. We knew the final score...but we still had allot of fun!
Sorry for the quality of the picture but here is the proof that we watched the Eagles beat New York Giants!!! WOOOOOO Next Game here we come!!!

Hubo a Super Star?

2009-01-14T05:13:00.007+09:00

On Monday the 12th Jeong Hoon Kim, famous Pop Singer visited the Hubo lab for a photo shoot with the stylish Hubo. Dr. Jun Oh built the singer a 7 degrees of freedom motion platform stage that was used in his concert performances. I had the the opportunity to be the Stutman/Testing personnel when Mr. Kim was producing his Choreography at KAIST with this platform featured below. In my good spirit I dressed up in full body pads and gave the group some smiles and laughs for the late evening/morning. Mr. Kim invited us to his concert but we could not make it! But he did recognize me and made an effort to come over and talk with me! Such a nice Guy!!

Korea Family Vacation - In Photos

2009-01-10T15:19:00.001+09:00

Model Completed

2009-01-09T20:56:00.008+09:00

At the end of December I finished The complete CAD model of HUBO 2. By completion I mean, I worked out all the bugs that I knew of and assembled the frame components with its respective shells. This complete model will now allow the PIRE team to in essence have their own Hubo 2, just in CAD form. Sorry I can't give you a peak inside...but enjoy this picture!

Designeer Company Vist

2009-01-09T20:09:00.004+09:00

After my successful completion of work with Korean company Designeer, the owner invited me to visit his office and facility located in Southern Seoul. I was welcomed to stay for a weekend in the beginning of December. Before visiting the company he toured me ppersonally through Seoul. I have been to Seoul before, but I discovered some much more that the city has to offer. I visited the COEX building and Express Bus Terminal among many others. The COEX houses underground mall and 4,500 tons of water under ground Aquarium. The Express Bus Terminal other than being a bus station is connected to a 3 story mall. In the basement is a grocery store and the largest selection dessert vendors that you can find in Seoul (I would recommended the Chocolate covered waffles!). Another place visited was the Hooters Bar. You have to experience a Korean one, I'm a guy come on! Ok well to the Bussness, Mr. lee featured in the picture is the only person in South Korea to have possession of HOAP-2. This was very surprising to me that he had one of these. He allowed me to take a look at it, it gave me a lot of great ideas for our future submission to Robogames. We also talked over many authentic dinners about our cultures and experiences. I tried coagulated pigs blood, it was actually pretty good! I gained not only a business contact, but also a friend level contact. We also discussed a possibility of future involvement of myself with a few of company projects that do not related to HUBO lab. He is also is expanding his business to the US in the next year so, I believe I could be a valuable contact due to dealing with his company originally in Korea.

Working with Korean Industry

2009-01-08T22:15:00.009+09:00

When Dr. Jun Oh tasked me to make a complete model of Hubo 2, I was under the impression it was only for use by the PIRE team. Undisclosed to me the original intent was to be used to facilitate the manufacturing of a "life size" physical Model of Hubo 2. Since November of 2008 I have been working closely with a manufacturing company based in Seoul. The company is called "Designeers" it merges Design and functionality with Engineering, hence the name http://www.designeers.net/) The company is notable for designing the PIRO robotic show case at Postech University in Pohang, South Korea. (shown above) They are also the company that designed the shells that encase Hubo 2. The company used my complete CAD model to generate tool paths for their manufacturing needs. This is unlike previous "mock" models of Hubo, where the inside of the robot was just plastic studs to hold the robot in a posed position. This model has the same detail as the functional Hubo 2 frame and components, but all pieces are made from plastic. The model is currently being showcased in the KAIST research Show Room next to the Book Store. It will eventually be permanently displayed to the public at Daejeon National Science Museum.
It is a true achievement to show chase my skills permanently even after I leave and it truly shows that my CAD is accurate for all the pieces did fit together seamlessly. I also learned many valuable skills with working with secondary companies that I did not expect to learn from my PIRE experience.

November 10th - National Science Musem

2008-12-10T16:46:00.007+09:00

This weekend we decided to go to the National Science Museum. The museum is much larger than the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, PA but smaller than the Smithsonian in, Washington DC, just for perspective. The museum is packed with many venues like Geology, Space, Botany, Engineering, and Physics to name a few. So now here is a virtual tour of the Museum for your viewing pleasure. Outside the museum had the Chinese zodiac signs as figurines that resembled robots. The 12 figures lead up to two massive robots that stood about 30ft in the air. The entrance fee was only 1,000 won (equal to about $00.50). Around behind the build was an assortment of Korean war era armored vehicles. The Main building consisted of four floors with the center open. Bryan and I spent about 4 hours exploring and being fascinated by the hands on displays. The museum is geared to teach Korean youngsters about Science and Technology. Amongst all the displays the most interesting display was the terrarium located on the bottom floor. It had exotic plants local to Korea on the top and a full aquarium on the under it. I would give the Museum an A+ for accomplishing this goal of getting kids excited about science/engineering topics. They were introducing topics that Bryan and I only just learned in our first and second years of college. The only bad part (well for foreigners) of the museum is the supporting information was all in Korean. Only the display titles were in English, so in essence we did a lot of "window shopping". I will leave it off with a video of one of the displays that showed simple mechanical machines that did absolutely nothing, but was really entertaining!

November in December?

2008-12-10T16:26:00.000+09:00

The following posts I am going to recap the events that happened in November. A Busy schedule kept me from updating, so I hope you enjoy!

It's my 21st Birthday!!

2008-10-18T00:04:00.004+09:00

Well in the United States the 21st birthday is a landmark occasion. You legally can drink alcoholic beverages! Well its not worth much to me in Korea because it is legal to drink at 19. But still it is my day, well 13 hours ahead... I celebrate the day and the technically Sunday for me the day I was "born" back home. But it will be a fun day, some skating in the morning and going out for dinner, plus a couple Pubs/night clubs with a group of international people in the evening!

Cheers!

Day 16 - HUBO Lab - CAD - Part 1

2008-10-13T13:07:00.007+09:00

It has been a while since I have posted last and I am sorry to my audience. I have been working diligently using Autodesk Inventor to create a 3D model of the robot HUBO. I have completed the arms, torso, and hip assemblies so if you compare to a human I just have to finish the head and legs. The most intricate parts are located in the lower arms and I just completed today the hardest to machine part on the robot. The unfortunate thing is I can not show these CAD drawings in their entirety for they are confidential. Today I just sat back an admired my work, they are very impressive, if I say so myself! I will show an example of my daily tasks that have been keeping me very busy, so I don't leave you completely in the dark.
During the day I use two pieces of software Autodesk AutoCAD and Inventor. AutoCAD is a known more for its 2D CAD drawings and layouts. However it can be used for 3D modeling, but Inventor is far superior in simulation and assemblies of many parts. I take the AutoCAD file and pick the best view to copy. I pick the view that has the most detail to extrapolate to form 3D image. Things that I look for are irregular shapes that would take time to re-dimension and draw. I copy the lines that form the drawing to a blank Metric part file. I then move throughout the drawing deleting hidden lines. Hidden lines appear as dashed lines, they usually make up holes drilled to a certain depth or features that can't be seen by the front view. After that I go through and "extrude" or go from a 2D drawing to a 3D shape. Each layer creating the parts or "features" such as pockets or islands. Then I finish off each part with "drilling and tapping" or creating holes with treads in patterns that allow the parts of the robot to bolt together. Shown is an example of what I described to you in words, just this specific drawing I had to create the features by hand by coping and re-drawing the AutoCAD file shown to the left. After completion of the parts I then can apply constraints or ways to hold multiple parts together in 3D space. The constraints allow me to align holes and mate surfaces to each other to give the illusion that the parts are truly attached together my means of fasteners, like bolts.

Day 10,11,12 - Weekend 2

2008-10-04T17:05:00.005+09:00

This weekend started with Friday being the Korean Holiday, Foundation Day. Some history on this date is according to ancient Korean legend, the god-king Tan-gun founded the "Chosen" Kingdom in 2333. It is a day of pride to celibate over 4,ooo years of rich Korean heritage. Thou being a holiday Bryan and I worked a half day and got ready for our celebration festivities. During the week we found a few English speaking foreigners living in our dorm. There was two guys from Uzbekistan, one from Morocco, and one from France. One of the Uzbek students has been living in Korea for four years and is fluent in Korean which is a plus. We decided to go to a pizza place in the area next to KAIST, Eoeun-Dong. I had a pizza it was about a foot in diameter...I had to finish the whole thing. Each of us got our own pizza and I could not use the excuse because I'm skinny, for the Uzbek guys were my size! The pizza was quite delicious. I found out that if you order a cheese pizza in Korea it comes with corn melted in the cheese. I thought it was native to Korea, but I was told it can be seen in the United States as well. After dinner we split up and the Moroccan, Bryan, and I went to the Santa Claus Bar. It is not the theme of the bar just a catchy name, it is mainly a foreigner bar. They had a two for one special going. Either two drinks or two shots for 5,000 won. I went with my favorite a double shot of Gin and Tonic, Bryan had two bottles of Cass beer and our Moroccan friend had a double Cranberry Vodka. We conversed for about 2 hours and found out allot about each other and our home countries. But the most interesting thing about our new friend is he is a expert with anything related to alcoholic beverages and bars in the area a real "pro" to say the least. I did not have my camera with me this time around, but I will have pictures up in the near future of this pizza place and pub.
On Saturday Bryan and I decided to hike the rest of the Mountain chain behind our Dorm. This time we invited our Uzbek friends. We made good time and reached the place were we left of last. From there we traveled up the ridge and found our first destination a "Chinese" Style look out tower. The tower was colorfully painted and on the inside ceiling of the tower was an ornate pattern of painted wooden cross beams. After that we ventured farther up the ridge to another more modern fortress. This building was made of concrete/stucco and had two stories with a steel bar ladder leading to the roof. This building marked the end of the trail so we turned back and headed back to the dorm. On our return we decided we would go out for dinner in a few hours to one of the students favorite Pork places. I should have taken a picture before we started but here is a picture after being completely satisfied by a meal for 5 people, but only 3 were present. I also discovered a new favorite drink, it is call Kin. It is a better tasting Sprite with no caffeine, it went well with a nice pork meal! Another neat thing is if you buy Coke-a-Cola in Korea it comes in a glass bottle... they say it makes it taste so much better!
On Sunday was a relax day where Bryan and I watched the movie Shooter, with Mark Wahlberg. I would recommend it, it is one of my favorite action flicks... But can't top The Rock with Sean Connery, Nicolas Cage, and ED Harris. The rest of the evening I kicked back, read, and looked up more on the US Civil war.

Day 7 - Currency

2008-09-30T16:33:00.013+09:00

This weekend I had my first experience with an ATM in South Korea. So I thought it would be interesting to show the currency. For just a review the United States main currency denominations are $100, $50, $20, $10, $5, $1, 25 (quarter), 10 (dime), 5 (nickel), 1 (penny). So in comparison the South Korean currency is significantly smaller in denominations.The Korean currency consists of 10,000 won, 5,000 won, 1,000 won, 500, 100, 50, 10 won coins. Wait hold a second...Why is the paper money in the thousands??? The highest denomination being a 10,000 won is equivalent in nature to the US $10 dollar bill. I is not equivalent to $10,000...But I did get magically richer, how did that work?? The exchange rate right now is 1 US Dollar = 1206.27262 won. So for a little math lesson $150 dollars = 180,940.893 won. So you can see from that the US dollar is doing pretty good in relation to the South Korean Won. So if you want to make your money worth something more???? Come visit me in South Korea!!

Day 5 & 6 - First Weekend

2008-09-29T11:50:00.010+09:00

Each weekend we have a goal to get out and do something interesting in the city and in the country. We kicked off the weekend with our first cold beers in Korea. On KAIST campus part of the cafeteria there is pub called the "Mercury". Bryan and I kicked back and discussed the usual, any guesses? Talked shop (robotics of course) and we planned what we wanted to do with our first weekend in country. We decided our first adventure on Saturday to be a 7 mile journey through downtown near South Gate. The goals for this outing were to have fun most of all, but we had some business items to take care of. First we had to find one of the two Citi Banks in the city to withdraw our money to pay for our housing. Second we needed the some necessities: toilet paper, hand soap, Landry detergent, Cup- O-Noodles, and chopsticks. Mind this whole trip is on foot, no wheels allowed! In the Google earth picture depicts the root we took in yellow. Number 1 is KAIST campus that is 2 miles from (H) were we live, we stopped for breakfast. The number 2 was our first location visited, the Homever. The Homever is just like our Super Wal-Mart’s in layout just imagine four stories stacked. There are flat escalators connecting the floors so you can bring your shopping carts with you to different floors. This store was packed on all floors; we had to move with the flow. One floor was devoted mainly to the food and home living department. This is where we bought our gear. We found everything we were looking for, but there was allot to look at. They did not sell any packs of toilet paper that were smaller than a 48 pack. So it’s safe to say Bryan and I will not run out of toilet paper!! The package was huge bigger than any bag and one of us had to carry it home...or the rest of the 4 miles. I think it would be funny if you saw a person let alone a foreigner walking around Korea with a 48 pack of toilet paper! But RJ came to the rescue with his messenger bag! The one I wrote about in a previous entry. The package fit snugly inside the bag, loosened the straps and closed the lid securely. So if you are interested in buying this bag, I got news for you, you can fit a 48 pack of toilet paper in it!! After Homever we traveled on an over pass and moved into an area with lots of high rise apartments. We found the bank at location 3 on the map. This was a interesting experience too...lets just say ATM in Korea operate on the times 10,000 won principle and I took out a little to much! After this we walked back to our place and on the way we saw this Korean teen. He was walking like us but as soon as he crossed the street he placed these two pads on the ground. They had two wheels on each, very simple design. Then he got up on them and moved like riding a snowboard and sped away. Bryan and my jaws' dropped to the ground, we had to find out what these were! Bryan searched on the internet for an hour and had no success, but I searched for 10 minutes and found it. They are called Freeline skates and are manufactured in the States, but are popular in Korea for their compact size. Bryan and I found a vendor in Seoul and we are going next weekend to track them down...that is next weekend adventure story!

Sunday was a very relaxing day I spent the morning reading up on the US Civil War and Bryan slept. Around noon we ventured out to eat and when we returned we went hiking on the mountain that we have in are backyard. This mountain is highlighted in green on the map. We traveled about 700-800ft up and the view of the surrounding area was spectacular. I took many pictures looking over the Science Expo Park, that is next to were we are living, and the city skyline. I took a panoramic picture from the highest point on the mountain that I will share with you. The picture is way to large for blogger so I have hosted it on my Drexel research page, click here to see this breath taking picture!

Day 4 - Autodesk Inventor vs. Solidworks

2008-09-26T18:50:00.011+09:00

(Warning Technical Jargon)
While I am waiting for my CAD material from HUBO lab I have been teaching / familiarizing myself Solidworks. I have been making a series of tutorials for Basic and Advanced Solidworks knowledge building. I have dug up a few 3D drawing practices that I used in Advanced Mechanical Drawing in high school to learn Autodesk Inventor. The software came with an online tutorial that was informative to show how to locate the drawing options, just i needed some supplementary material concrete my skills. Therefore, I remodeled each drawing into a 3D model using Soildworks. In the following images and descriptions I'll describe my opinions of both pieces of software.

Can you figure out which software is what?

Can you tell the difference yet?

Well to the trained eye the Autodesk Inventor would be to the top and the Solidworks would be to the bottom. The first thing you would notice is the colors. I tried to match the color as best I could I to show the color features of both software. I was always under the impression that Soildworks had a very flashy color scheme for their models, but Autodesk Inventor 2008 has diffidently passed Solidworks abilities. In modeling there were many things that annoyed me or helped me, but ill focus on a few. In Solidworks the ability to rotate the part with the roller wheel on the mouse is a helpful feature especially in Assemblies. Also the Hole Wizard took some time to get used too, but it is helpful to make standard holes. The only issue is you have to arbitrarily place the hole then demension inside of the wizard. Also it lacks the visual threading features. I still prefer the way Autodesk Inventor takes care of this, they split holes into two steps. The user can place holes (just + signs designating center) during drawing mode and dimension accordingly. Then in solids mode create the proper hole parameters. Solidworks also has a helpful trim tool used to cut loose ends of sketches. The user can draw a free flowing curve over desired lines, what ever it touches it eliminates.

Autodesk Inventor is still ranked at the top of my list on CAD software for modeling. They always say "its tough to teach and old dog new tricks". But I believe by the end of Co-Op I will have matched my skills that I have in Autodesk Inventor for Solidworks.

Day 3 - Working and Living

2008-09-25T08:02:00.008+09:00

Today was what I would call my real first day of work. I started off the morning with receiving my Desktop computer. I then proceeded to reformat the computer from Korean to English. I also installed Solid Works (CAD) software. I got through the first four tutorials, but I still prefer Autodesk Inventor. When you learn on CAD software there so many similarities, that it is really easy to pick up a new one. Dr. Jun Oh has assigned me the task of taking the 2D AutoCAD drawings and converting them into 3D solid models. I will be given the material early next week. For now I will just familiarize myself with the Solid Works software.

I thought today that I would like to give the tour of my Dorm Room. The dorm is very simple but a comfortable living space. I only have to pay around $100 per month! So I share a room with Bryan, if you walk into the room my side is on the left. The first thing you notice when you open the doors is the entrance floor. In the Korean culture it is respectful when walking in to the place of living/eating you would take off your shoes.

When you are in the process of tacking off your shoes if you turn to your right you will see the light switch. The light switch has become such a mundane item in the United States culture, but the Koreans have stepped it up a notch. In the center of the two switches is a card slot. To activate the room's power the card most be in the slot. They do this so when you leave the room you pull the card and all the lights in the room shut off. Its like a master switch, used to conserve energy. Next you would then look strait ahead. I have my closet for my clothes, the bed and my desk...I told you it was simple! My desk set up with my computer, some books, and an area set aside for pictures of the people that I care most for! The final thing to show is my view out the window. The view is not bad we look over a construction site of four HUGE apartment buildings it seems that the construction is almost done, finishing in the next two months. It was overcast outside today with occasional rain. I hope you enjoyed the tour!

Day 2 - First Day of Work

2008-09-24T06:02:00.009+09:00

Today was my first day of work, it did not feel like it thou. I remember my first day of Co-Op last year I didn't want to get out of bed. I rolled out of bed at 4am with no complains this year...Thanks jet lag!. I spent the morning on AIM talking to my friends back home for its was prime time for them. I left to work around 9am thinking 30 minute walk...well it turned out to be a hour walk! So Bryan and I both have have our own desks/cubical at the HUBO lab. Our first task was making our own Cat-5 cables. Many people poke fun at me because I keep a small card in my wallet that has Resistor Color chart and Cat-5 cable wiring. Well I made effective use of that today, Bryan and I made two working cables. Thanks John Douglas, Confero for the card!! Also my new Gerber Lockblade came in handy for cutting the shielding on the wires. I successfully loaded AutodeskInventor 2008 Computer Aided Design (CAD) software on my machine and I can't wait to do further work with it! After lunch I talked with Dr. Jun Ho Oh, he is the director of the HUBO lab, about different aspects of HUBO. I found it interesting talking to him that he entirely designed the Mechanics and Mechatronics behind HUBO. All CAD he has done himself with Autocad 2007. He has two staff members that work in the lab that take care of manufacturing the Robot using the Computer Numeric Control (CNC) and building/populating Printed Circuit Board (PCB). The first staff member then uses the CAD to generate toolpaths with MasterCAM X2. I see that my mission to learn as much as possible about the manufacturing process, may be a difficult for the staff members do not speak English. But with close observation and continuing learning of Korean I feel I will gather my knowledge needed.To the left there is a HUBO HR-4 beautifully manufactured hand. There is over 40 parts per finger! All mechanical parts other than motors are manufactured in house by their CNC Mill and Lathe.

The remainder of the day I got my first taste of surface mount soldiering. The old motor controller from the HR-3 HUBO uses a 128 pin DSP package. Below is a video of Bryan soldering his board.
The technique used by HUBO lab is to tack the two corners of the DSP to the PCB making sure it is lined up on the soldering pads. Then pool a large amount of solder and drag the soldering iron up and down the pins "brushing". Then use Flux to wick away the residual solder that is left. The goal is to have no solder left between pads, if it was left it would cause a short. A short is meant if two electrical paths that are not meant to be connected touch, will cause the component to burn up/blowup. After both boards were completed, Bryan turned out to have the better hand for doing the surface mount soldering!

After work Bryan and I went to the school "restaurant/cafeteria" where while we were eating a girl from the Netherlands came and sat with us. She was the first "foreign" English speaking person we have encountered. Bryan and I had allot of questions for her, mainly having to with the school and things to do around campus. We found out there is a support group on Facebook for foreign KAIST students. Bryan got her contact information and is going to keep in touch with her. Today we really felt like part of the crowd not just alienated people looking in on the student population!

Day 1 - Arrival

2008-09-22T18:00:00.006+09:00

So the most important news is I have safely arrived in Daejeon, South Korea. But it has a most interesting story attached to that. I guess i will start this story from the inception, the van ride to JFK international airport. There was a a Korean woman who was sitting in front of us and started to inquire about Bryan and I. We answered and found that this woman actually lived 5 minutes from Bryan and both of her children graduated North Penn High School; her youngest a year after us. This common ground kept for continuing conversation even past the bus. We went thorough security together and sat waiting at the terminal. Mrs. Park was very kind to us by sharing Korean pastries with Bryan and I, for we both were starving. This new friendship came to light when we got to Korea with Mrs. Park's fluency in Korean. We had a vague idea on how to find the Bus ticket booth, from our last visit to South Korea in March 08. But with out us needing to ask Mrs. Park approached various people speaking a "Philly" sounding Korean and found the needed transportation for both of us. She also handled the transaction with the ticket teller. As quickly as we met her she left with her husband who arrived the day before. But with her last grace of kindness she treated us to "breakfast" at the mini mart. Mrs. Park showed us a compassion and a willingness to help that is hard to come by. We are deeply grateful for every thing she did for us and her generosity. With this helpful push we successfully navigated the bus line and taxi to finish our journey. I commend her for every thing she did for us, for Bryan and I both now know what to tell the next PIRE group when they arrive at Incheon International Airport.

I am safe and well moved into my new dorm, but it is 2 miles from KAIST. I could go for the exercise, for I welcome this 30 minute walk!

I'M Off !!

2008-09-21T00:02:00.002+09:00

I'm off to become a worldly man! So I am leaving on the bus at 6:15pm and then fly out of the US at midnight. My endeavor will be a grueling 14 hour flight!! Most would say what in the world RJ are you going to do?? So I have ranked the top 5 things I will be passing the time 1. Sleeping (Tylenol PM) 2. Watching in flight movies (each seat has a built in touchscreen and remote) 3. listening to music on my Ipod (Thanks Chelsea and Rob) 4. Watching Korean Drama ( You have to see it some time...Its addicting) 5. Eat/ Drink (I turn 21 as soon as I fly over Canada if you get what I mean!) Next psot will be form Korea, US signing out!

Travel Bag

2008-09-07T12:04:00.008+09:00

I have been looking into purchasing a durable and reliable bag that will take a beating traveling thought South Korea. My traditional back pack was not up to the challenge, it can't repel water and is frankly unattractive. Through my search to find an ideal bag I came across a manufacture called Chrome. This company makes Messenger bags designed to withstand the elements, due to their targeted customers mainly are city bikes riders. Here are a few of Chrome's specifications from their website:
"rugged assembly of industrial materials and hardware available: military spec. seam binding, 1000d Cordura shell, 18oz. weatherproof truck tarp liner, and nylon 69 thread"
"weatherproof liner freely floats within the outer shell"
"Your cargo is safe from rain, snow, mud, and most anything else this cruel world can sling at you"

I have purchased the bag featured in the picture above. It is the Metropolis black/ red stripe with the dimensions of 26 X 14 X 7. I am looking forward to testing their qualifications "stated" for this single shoulder strap bag. I'll make sure to keep up to date on the abuses that it can take. Other than this bag being on the pricey side, I believe it will be worth it. Plus I think it looks good to boot!

First Post

2008-09-05T16:37:00.000+09:00

Here is my "hello world" for Blogging. The summer term has just ended and I'm Gearing up for South Korea, It is T-15 days!