Trip to Beijing China

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

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?

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

Model Completed

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

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

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.