Robotics 2025 concluded with 2 kids having built the small Etch-a-Sketch plotter after 5 sessions, and an extra one to just consolidate and draw. There isn’t much to say other than it went like a charm. I’ve added onto the Inherently Programmable Pi so they could have a basic HTML interface to their machine, I have yet to publish the update. This solution I feel is a bit of a game changer for engaging with robotics. At best it lowers the bar significantly for uninitiated learners; at worst it’s just darn convenient to get to work on your Pi project anywhere. A few years ago I’d promote it on a few online communities, these days I just don’t have the will to do much of anything online, but I really should.
Playing with the RPi Etch-a-Sketch
I’m recreating the small SketchyBot for an electronics/robotics curriculum. It’s a perfect opportunity to let kids play with it.
Created on the Spot
I remember an epiphany I had as a kid downloading mp3s at a friend’s house who had DSL while I was still on dialup. You could download music faster than you could listen to it, and the infinity of it blew my mind. To say that AI is leaving my jaw on the floor on most days is an understatement, but maybe what I’m realizing today is it’s potential for creating faster than you can acquire. It’s not just that I’m having it write programs that replace a ton of apps I’m dragging around for only a thing or 2 they do well. It’s that at the time I need a program, it might be faster to make AI produce it from nothing than to otherwise acquire it.
The family’s been into Solitaire and Minesweeper, tons of sites, tons of ads, looking looking, bleh. Fuck it, I’ll just have AI make me one.