A robot’s birthday

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Quite possibly my fastest fabrication to implementation for a full fledged autonomous robot. Rio, our holonomic robot, works; flawlessly too.

It was fabricated (mechanical and PCBs), wired, tested and ready to go in less than 12 days, quite a miracle given the failure rate in robotics, the lead time for procuring parts in Singapore and the paperwork involved.

Here’s Rio all wired up and good to go.

Don’t stare at the wheels too long, they make your head spin. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Upio7feAY6w)

Rio, DAvinCi @Robocup 2010

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We’ve been working hard to complete the beta version of Rio just in time for Robocup 2010, which is being held in Singapore from June 19 to June 25.

Just the holonomic version of Rio will be on display – it’ll demonstrate its resourcefulness in guiding “visitors” in a demo environment. Do drop by the A*STAR Booth for quick chat.

The Karate Kid

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A 12 year old boy, Dre, moves from Detroit to Beijing with his mother. He gets beaten up by a gang of Chinese bullies who’re also students of an agressive form of Kung-Fu. Mr.Han (Jackie Chan) teaches the boy his style of Kung-Fu to ward off the bad guys at a major tournament. The underdog wins as expected.I liked every bit of it, except the name.

Why is a movie about a kid who learnt Kung-Fu called Karate Kid?

The Evolution of Rio

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I never imagined that I would be going through so many iterations of Rio. And these are just from the Alpha prototype to the Beta. Also, I could not accommodate the countless other versions that superseded the Alpha. I need to employ Agile methods in my design planning and fix elements of the design in short iterations.

12 things I’ve learnt at the Founder Institute

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It’s been a while since I wrote and the Founder Institute is to blame. I’ve been intensely refining my ideas to formulate a viable high growth business plan. My plan is still under wraps, but it sure will be a high growth business.

A few takeaways from the sessions so far -

  1. Most important question for evaluating an idea – How big is the market and who is the biggest player, how much are they worth?
  2. Confused customers do not pay
  3. Your customer should be able repeat your message
  4. Carefully understand the difference between a prospect and a customer. A customer pays
  5. Figure out if your offering is a Vitamin or a Painkiller. Painkillers are always easier to sell.
  6. Execution is key. Read Scott Belsky’s Making Ideas Happen.
  7. Focus on your customer to make better products. Focus on the competition for new products. (Steve from PropertyGuru)
  8. Deconstruct.
  9. Niche markets!
  10. Keep it simple
  11. Order of importance. Customers > Employees > Shareholders
  12. Focus. Focus. Focus.

I’ll add more in the weeks to come.

blinkBL-NK

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We’re finally there. Our first event’s tonight at Hackerspace
and we have an amazing speaker line up. With talks ranging from neurocircuitry in fish to paper Gucci shoes for the dead, we have an interesting night ahead. Many thanks to Chaitu for helping out with the logos and graphics and moral support.

For more info, visit the website here: http://www.blinkbl-nk.com

Entrepreneur vs Businessman

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I met these two amazing guys at Hackerspace
over the weekend.

One introduced himself as an Entrepreneur and the other, a Businessman. However, both of them had young businesses and I asked the businessman why he didn’t call himself an Entrepreneur. His reply was simple;

“I do retail, it’s not as interesting as a startup.”

The Entrepreneur jumped on hearing this and vehemently disagreed. I disagreed too.

An Entrepreneur is a person who organizes and manages a business undertaking, assuming the risk for the sake of the profit.

This Businessman was mistaken about entrepreneurship and I believe the fault is largely with today’s media outlets. Startups have been glamorized. Web 2.0 has been glamorized. Founders have been made akin to rockstars. The process has been glamorized. The struggle has been dramatized. But the point of all this, profits, has been completely forgotten.

Every young business out there was a startup. And every self-created Businessman is an Entrepreneur. An Entrepreneur who’s already made it.