Posting will be Weird for a few days.......

The classic problem of being in two places at once.  Tonight is STEAM showcase night at the high school....but the robot and the advance team will already be heading north for our tournament in Duluth.  That starts tomorrow btw.  Specifically, at about 5am when I need to roll out of bed, drink coffee, then get on a school bus to drive through the dark with a bunch of kids.  

Posting from Duluth will be on and off.  We still have a lot of work to do.  And that peculiar state I call Robot Tired hits me earlier than it used to.

Fingers crossed....

FIRST Robotics 2024 - Helios

It has been an ambitious design and build, one that fought us every inch of the way, but eventually....

Here it is in final form, Helios.

Finishing late as we did, there are lots of bugs to work out.  But it does the basic things.

Pickup game pieces:

Shoot them into the high target:

And a neat over the back shot into the low target:

If you are curious about those hooks sticking up, they are for an "end game" climb up onto a swinging chain.  We can do it, but it yanks the robot off the ground with such speed that it is more like a leap. The risk/benefit ratio has to be considered carefully here.  It can't be good to stress the robot frame this way repeatedly....

And as for stressing me.....yes, its been a tough build.  The price of ambition can sometimes be high.....

Wallerville, Wisconsin

Driving into Chippewa Falls from the west is not an entirely scenic route.  Oh, the Chippewa River is pretty.  But you'll also go by the sewage treatment plant, a rails to trucks transfer station....and a humble community of smallish houses near the train tracks.  Those with a bit of local history knowledge refer to it as "Irvine".  But that's not its original name.

Welcome to Wallerville.

It got its name from an early resident, the Reverend Thomas Waller who lived there.  He came to town in the early 1870's, and after working for a lumber company and in "..the old Sheldon store.." served in a variety of area churches as a Presbyterian minister.  Presumably he got his land on this site for cheap, as it was outside of the city proper and a bit close to the flood plain.  It proved a good investment when the railroad set up a switching yard and other facilities on the site in the early to mid 1880's.

If what you find in the local papers is a reasonable guide, 1887 was the year Wallerville took off.  There are frequent mentions of new homes being built, a boarding house being in operation, a hotel and store being under consideration.  This map from 1888 shows many of these structures in place, along with the tracks, telegraph office and round house of the Wisconsin Central.

It's often the little touches that make history interesting.  In 1887 there was a Rail Road Man's picnic in which the "Baby Contest" was won by a Wallerville family.  In fact, there is either a strong hint or a bit of a joke that the baby girl was actually named Wallerville!  Down by the river must have been a nice place to grow up in the latter part of the 19th century.  There was a Wallerville School someplace in the community.  The newspaper felt it newsworthy when a group of local lads brought in a fine specimen of snapping turtle from one of the periodic floods of the low lying suburb.  

But like all communities down by the tracks it had its seedy side.  I read one spirited account of the pursuit of a peeping Tom, and note that in 1897 a special patrolman was added primarily to keep a closer eye on Wallerville.  I also happen to know that to get to Wallerville you had to drive past the City Dump.

So when did it become Irvine?  Well that depends on your perspective.  The newspaper tended to use the older name into the early years of the new Century, while maps as late as 1920 still have it as Wallerville.  This likely is because that was, and in fact still is, the legal name of the Addition.  But by the summer of 1888 the Railroad had already changed the name of the station to Irvine, presumably in honor of William Irvine, local upstanding citizen and benefactor.

Wallerville grew rapidly but not for long.  The streets seen in the 1888 map are all that there ever were, and it does not seem as if all of the lots were ever actually on.  But it is still a residential neighborhood, albeit not a particularly swank one.

And what of Reverend Waller?  He's hard to bring into focus.  He was married and had several children.  His employment seems spotty, he'd fill in at various congregations that had a vacancy but does not seem to have stayed long at any of them.  He was to some extent involved in the business side of the community that bore his name.  The early lots were purchased from him and he took on such jobs as the contract to install street lights.  At one point he petitioned the City Council to make his properties tax free as they were part of his religious calling.

Around 1903 he left the area, doing "missionary work" in the West.  While out there he fell ill with "paralysis of the brain due to hard work" and was hospitalized at the Wisconsin State Insane Asylum in Mendota.  Sadly he did not improve and died there, age 63, in 1910.

Although his obituary says the usual nice things about the man he merits little to no mention in local histories.  But he did leave one small, peculiar legacy in the quiet little community that once bore his name.  Did you notice the street names?  Ludgate, Regent, Fleet, Oxford.  These should sound familiar.  They are all famous streets - and in the case of Ludgate, a hill - in London England, where Reverend Thomas Waller was born in 1847.

Nimrods: Prophecy of the 6

I had the chance recently to attend another World Premier.  "Nimrods: Prophecy of the 6" is the second and perhaps final entry in the NCU (Nimrod Cinematic Universe).  If that phrase - never spoken or written before this moment - makes no sense to you then have a look at this:  NIMROD GIANT SKI.

 I can hardly be an objective Film Critic when the cast included two of my sons, one current and one future daughter in law, as well as both of our actual grandchildren and a full half dozen hypothetical ones.  Yes, I know that does not make sense either.

If you are in the vicinity of Hayward Wisconsin this weekend - perhaps for the Birkebeiner Ski Race - there will be another showing at the Park Theater....

Like it says, February 23rd, 5:30 pm.  

FIRST Robotics 2024 - Love and Robots

We had to fight a bit to get the weight back under 125.  It was an all hands on deck, productive session and at the end of it everything back on the scale....

That allowed the next step, and a fun one it was.  Final assembly.  The drive base and the manipulator system got together just in time for Valentine's Day.

Both the CIAO/heart caption and the lurid tone of red were added by my phone for some reason.  I'm concerned that it is both whimsical and evidently self aware...

Alas, the Relationship had some issues at this point.  When the arm was rotated down there was about a quarter inch of interaction between systems.  This required various cutting, trimming and moving about that cost us more Time.  And Time is precious.....

OK, one more session got everything mechanical back where it should be.  So here's the final form of the robot which has been dubbed Helios in keeping with the peculiar H-series.

As you might recall, in competition robots wear either red or blue bumpers.  We have a multi-colored set for practice purposes, keeping the competition bumpers pristine.  It should also be noted that this is the robot in its compact mode, that's a three stage elevator on a pivot, waiting to be extended nearly four feet.

Will it work?  Well, 16 motors each with its own speed controller. 7 chain and sprocket systems.  Six major mechanisms, each of which has been proven to work in isolation....will they play nice together?

At the end of day Sunday it's still not known.  The wiring on this thing is brutal.  Our first robot in 2016 had 6 motors.  Each with two wires, so....12.  13 with the mostly useless camera we had back then. This monster is mostly using three wire brushless motors, so I think the total of power wires alone is 48.  Plus lots more sensors, cameras and encoders.  I bet there will be close to 100 wires that have to all be done right before we compete.

In about ten days...

The Implausible Life of Frank Powell

In my survey of patent medicine companies in my part of the world I've had to leave this one to near the end.  

In many ways the industry was an over the top parody of American capitalism in the great age of expansion that came post Civil War.  Mass advertising, expansive promises....the whole Snake Oil Industry was predicated not so much on fooling the rubes as in getting them to admire the sheer audacity of it all.  And in that world David Frank Powell, aka White Beaver, was almost a parody of a parody.  He was way over the top even for his day.

The bare facts of his life are this.  Born in 1847 in Kentucky.  He moved around a bit in his early days, first to New York State, then to Chicago and Omaha where he clerked in drug stores.  During his time in Nebraska he spent some time on a ranch that his mother now owned.  It was there, in Lone Tree Nebraska, that he met Buffalo Bill Cody, Wild Bill Hickok and other colorful characters.  He spent a little time as a civilian scout for the U.S. Army, later to claim all manner of fanciful adventures in this service.

In 1868 he sat for a competitive examination to attend medical school at the University of Louisville.  He won, despite having had no formal education to speak of.  He spent a couple of years there, working as a janitor to pay his expenses.  He graduated as Valedictorian and was offered a faculty post despite having been involved in a duel with one of his instructors.  He declined and took up a post as an Army Surgeon; not on the western frontier but at Fort McPherson in Atlanta, Georgia.

After a few years practicing in Lanesboro, Minnesota he moved to La Crosse, Wisconsin in 1881.  He was elected Mayor four times between 1885 and 1897.  He started a patent medicine company that traded on his dubious claim to have been spared death at the hands of hostile Indians after saving the life of a chief's daughter with his medical skills.  The supposed name White Beaver was either bestowed on him at that time or perhaps sometime in the mid 1870's for, one presumes, monetary considerations.

He wrote dime novels.  Songs were sung of his deeds.

Powell remained friends with "Buffalo Bill" Cody and seems - remember that very little about this man is ever certain - to have toured with the Wild West Shows.  Their friendship involved both heavy drinking and dubious real estate deals.

In 1906 Powell was on a train near El Paso, Texas.  He died of a heart attack, but instead of being buried in his adopted home town of La Crosse, arrangements were made to have his ashes scattered near Cody, Wyoming.  As the name suggests this was another of Buffalo Bill's real estate ventures.

His ashes were supposed to be scattered at a particularly scenic location called Red Butte, but as the story goes his friends got a bit carried away with their drinking to his memory, and when the mule carrying the mortal dust of David Frank Powell finally reached the planned site it was noted that a hole in the container and the bumpy ride had caused the remains to be scattered hither and thither, blown away in the winds of the now closed but still romantic Frontier.

The original marker, a simple cairn of stones, has been upgraded a bit in more recent times.

Patent Medicines of Black River Falls, Wisconsin

 The story of patent medicine manufacturing in Black River Falls Wisconsin is probably synonymous with the story of J.W. Cole.  But there is a frustrating lack of detailed information within easy reach, and as such I'm left with loose ends.

Bottles like the one below are fairly common.  1900 give or take a bit, and with side panels embossed J.W.Cole and Co on the top and Black River Falls, Wis on the bottom.  

The firm of J.W. Cole and Company got started in 1865 as a drug store, later branching out into manufacturing.  J.W. (I think his actual name was Jerome) was a native of New York State; born in 1843.

The company seems to have really taken off in the late 1870's, with their flagship product being a concoction for external use.  Carbolisalve...

I think Cole may be an anglicized version of a German name.  Kohl perhaps.  The company did go in for medicines with a German theme.  Here's a rare one, Blud Bilder, or Blood Builder.  It's really a horrid translation as Bilder in German actually means "picture", and blood should be Blut.

After starting in a smaller space J.W. Cole moved into a substantial building in the 1870's.   A close up view shows he was not averse to selling other people's medicines, as the Kick-a-Poo line that was manufactured by an outfit called Healy and Bigelow out of Boston.

The names on the drug store are interesting.  It looks as if Cole was out of the retail business by the time this picture was taken, probably in the 1890's.  Mr. Chickering was a druggist who had previously worked in Eau Claire.  Farnham Chickering Jr. died in Minnesota in 1902 while on the road traveling for J.W. Cole and Co.

This last bottle lists the town of origin but not the company that made it.  Was this another German themed J.W. Cole product?  Or was there another small time medicine manufacturer in the little town of Black River Falls?

Addendum.  Olie seems to actually be either Dutch or Danish for OIL.  In German Oil would be OL with umlauts over the O.  Maybe you can't get umlauts in bottle molds.  Or maybe just another dodgy translation.   

FIRST Robotics 2024 - Some Things that Work

Yes, its that point in the season where time loses all meaning.  Different versions of prototypes come and go quickly.  Things are built, tested, broken, rebuilt, retested.  Of course the clock continues to tick (will this generation even make the association any longer?) and little things like time at the end of build season to actually test drive slip away.  Sigh. 

The software people have done outstanding work on the ability of the robot to identify specific points on the field where it can set up for game piece launching.  This clip is a test bed functioning entirely in autonomous mode.  Creepy.

And...here's something else that works.  The scale.  We have a 125 pound weight limit.  Building the drive base, elevator and manipulator systems separately has given three working groups better access, but it has made it hard to keep an eye on the total weight.  Robots always gain weight.  Each bolt, each link of chain.  Maybe breathing on it too much.  The scale is under the drive base but the readout is on the table.  It is showing us numbers that are not happy.  Work to do.

We had a good session on Thursday and got the weight at least temporarily under control.  Various systems work individually.  The shooter is quite fun...

This was the first time we'd tried a series of shots and for consistency we took aim at a poster on the wall with Planet Earth on it.  It's fun to be the Alien Overlords......

Here's something fun.  The robot has to do a sort of "chin up" on a hanging wire.  The gear and sprocket system seems up to the task but when power is cut at the end of the match you have to keep hanging for five or ten seconds to get the points.  No additional weight solution?  Garden gate latches!  Dumb but effective.

We started the crucial Saturday session with three robots.  The software test bed robot is now being dismantled and its electronics shifted over to the competition machine.

We'll keep the picked apart frame down in Area 51.  It's the right configuration for future test beds.

Finally a bit of whimsy.  A special cushioned chair for the pit crew.  Built on top of one of our tool caddies and made of old bumper fabric.  

There's still limited time.  We are still right on the edge for weight control.  Many things can go wrong and some of them certainly will.  But we are ready to put the two halves of the robot together.  Then it is in the hands of software.

How Archaeologists Fill Bird Feeders

You'll either understand this at a glance or never understand it.

Just as ancient Rome had free bread for the fickle, noisy proles, so also do I provide for a collection of feathered idlers and the furry scavengers who follow in their wake.  

Of Ledgers and Legerdemain.....

Interestingly, most accountants of my acquaintance have a fine sense of humor.  So for them the etymologic journey of Ledgers and Legerdemain would seem funny.   But I'm sure none of them allow any funny stuff into the columns of their accounts.

When you think of a ledger, at least in the days before computers, you probably have an image of a big, heavy, dusty book sitting on a special table.  And right you would be.  The word comes from "leggen" one of those typical Old English/Germanic/Dutch/Friesian words that cluttered up the Middle Ages.  It means essentially "to lie".  Oh, not in a dishonest way, just something that sits in one place.  Like a big ol' book.  It is preserved in modern German in the verb "liegen", or the adjective "gelegen", meaning roughly, "It sits over there".

And the more fun sounding Legerdemain?  French of course, early 15th century.  It refers to the actions of a magician or con man.  Specifically the phrase "leger de main" meaning quick of hand.  French usually reached back into Latin more than the Germanic tongues, and in this case the word leger comes from the Latin levitas, meaning light.  As in levity and levitate!

So there you have it.  Two words that sound similar but one means a heavy book and the other light fingers!

FIRST Robotics 2024 - Looks a little Complicated.....

 Ah....its a pretty ambitious design this year. Stay tuned, this one's going down to the wire....

One of my Less Good Ideas

When working with the robotics team I throw out lots of ideas.  Some are good, a few are great.  Others....well, nobody is perfect and I figure I'm further away than most.  

For tournament matches it is three robots versus three.  The "sides" are identified by color, so you need to make sets of protective, padded bumpers in red and blue and be able to change them quickly.  Well this year we have an "over the bumper" intake system, and are anticipating a rather vigorous game with respect to defense.  This could result in a bit of scuffing up of our swell red and blue competition bumpers.  So I thought it would be nice to have a set just for practice use.  Testing before events and use during the pre-tournament practice matches the day before the competition.  So far, so good.

Well we had a bunch of the orange fabric that was used in the Robot School "pumpkin bot".  I said just use that.  It was neatly done, with everyone adding their signature and well wishes.

Unfortunately this is the exact color of this year's game piece, and with lots of teams using sophisticated vision tracking, going out on the practice floor with these bumpers would probably mean the autonomous phase of the match would feature up to five robots - friend and foe alike - zeroing in on us and trying to pick us up and launch us.  Sigh.  I had to admit my error and ask the long suffering team member to pull this off and replace it with a patchwork of red and blue.

She got to wear the 5826 sash while doing so.  That was a better idea of mine, recycling old bumpers into things.  We have a sash, a cape and this year might build a small sofa for the pit crew to sit on.  Now, if we can just get the robot finished and reliable they might even have a chance to sit down!