Equipment:
Camera: Canon S45
MP3 player, FM tuner, Photo storage (w/CF slot) and sound recorder: Archos Gmini 120
Text input: Palm Pilot IIIxe (AAA batteries + serial cnx) + foldable keyboard
Conclusion: The camera worked nicely for my needs, although the battery was very sensitive to cold temperatures. I would offload the CF card contents onto the Archos device, deleting music as I went. Burning to CD was easy in Internet cafes (even in India). A better text input device would have been greatly appreciated: Make sure you can access your content with a USB connection. Being able to write emails, prepare webblog in your hotel room is a must (or spend lots of time in an internet cafe). A laptop is very heavy - I am still thinking I might my hands on an Archos PMA430 for entering text and as a replacement for my Gmini 120.
Hum. Maybe I can be of some advice. I completed a bachelor's degree in robotics engineering some years ago and had a lot of fun doing it (it was a sort of cross between electronics, software and mechanical engineering). However, I saw more robotics jobs in Bangkok than I did here in Montréal, so I never really worked in that field, always sort of wound up in software engineering instead.
Robotics can be a very complex subject. Basically, it depends whether you want to build a robot or program one. At the very least, building a robot requires knowledge of control systems and inverse kinematics, for which you will need relatively advanced mathematics skills. OTOH, programming robots if fun and easy (I used to love Legos as a kid and when I saw that robot gizmo thing they've got, I sent them my resume)!
If ever you're serious about building a robot, read this book's introduction : Craig, John J., "Introduction to Robotics : Mechanics and Control", sec. ed., Addison-Wesley, 1989, 452 p. That'll get you started with inverse kinematics. If you're interested about controlling a motor, it's position and speed (which of course you'll need to move the robot arms), take a look at : Bucek, Victor J., "Control Systems : Continuous and Discrete", Prentice Hall, 1989, 304 p.
But watch out, these books can be pretty harsh. One thing you can also do is to go to the nearest engineering faculty and pick up whatever robotics course documentation you can find : that's usually an easier pill to swallow.
For now, if I were you, I'd go with the Lego thing. The documentation probably introduces all those robotics concepts in an easier manner and from there you can decide if you wanna go further.
I just got back from a 3 month backpacking trip to Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia, and if spending 700$ on a digital camera had not meant shortening my trip by a month, I would have done this : 1. Would have gotten a camera with a floppy interface (Sony); 2. Would have gotten a *very* small & light portable pc/device, ideally with a floppy as well, to write my little stories; 3. In advance, would have created an empty web site with plenty of templates and made sure I could transfer files to & fro with HTTP. 4. Would have transfered all my files/images in Internet Cafes. That's it. Though they can be expensive (and often don't offer FTP services - and are not at all likely to let you install any software whatsoever on their machines), Internet Cafes are numerous and by far the easiest way of going about it. Good luck! r.
Slashdot Mirror
Equipment:
Camera: Canon S45
MP3 player, FM tuner, Photo storage (w/CF slot) and sound recorder: Archos Gmini 120
Text input: Palm Pilot IIIxe (AAA batteries + serial cnx) + foldable keyboard
Conclusion:
The camera worked nicely for my needs, although the battery was very sensitive to cold temperatures. I would offload the CF card contents onto the Archos device, deleting music as I went. Burning to CD was easy in Internet cafes (even in India). A better text input device would have been greatly appreciated: Make sure you can access your content with a USB connection. Being able to write emails, prepare webblog in your hotel room is a must (or spend lots of time in an internet cafe). A laptop is very heavy - I am still thinking I might my hands on an Archos PMA430 for entering text and as a replacement for my Gmini 120.
jp
Hum. Maybe I can be of some advice. I completed a bachelor's degree in robotics engineering some years ago and had a lot of fun doing it (it was a sort of cross between electronics, software and mechanical engineering). However, I saw more robotics jobs in Bangkok than I did here in Montréal, so I never really worked in that field, always sort of wound up in software engineering instead.
Robotics can be a very complex subject. Basically, it depends whether you want to build a robot or program one. At the very least, building a robot requires knowledge of control systems and inverse kinematics, for which you will need relatively advanced mathematics skills. OTOH, programming robots if fun and easy (I used to love Legos as a kid and when I saw that robot gizmo thing they've got, I sent them my resume)!
If ever you're serious about building a robot, read this book's introduction : Craig, John J., "Introduction to Robotics : Mechanics and Control", sec. ed., Addison-Wesley, 1989, 452 p. That'll get you started with inverse kinematics. If you're interested about controlling a motor, it's position and speed (which of course you'll need to move the robot arms), take a look at : Bucek, Victor J., "Control Systems : Continuous and Discrete", Prentice Hall, 1989, 304 p.
But watch out, these books can be pretty harsh. One thing you can also do is to go to the nearest engineering faculty and pick up whatever robotics course documentation you can find : that's usually an easier pill to swallow.
For now, if I were you, I'd go with the Lego thing. The documentation probably introduces all those robotics concepts in an easier manner and from there you can decide if you wanna go further.
Good luck!
Jean-Philippe
I just got back from a 3 month backpacking trip to Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia, and if spending 700$ on a digital camera had not meant shortening my trip by a month, I would have done this : 1. Would have gotten a camera with a floppy interface (Sony); 2. Would have gotten a *very* small & light portable pc/device, ideally with a floppy as well, to write my little stories; 3. In advance, would have created an empty web site with plenty of templates and made sure I could transfer files to & fro with HTTP. 4. Would have transfered all my files/images in Internet Cafes. That's it. Though they can be expensive (and often don't offer FTP services - and are not at all likely to let you install any software whatsoever on their machines), Internet Cafes are numerous and by far the easiest way of going about it. Good luck! r.