Extended Photoset from Robots Magazine
Hanson Robotics featured on Robots.net
My Birthday was yesterday and I was sick. So that sucked. Aside from that I still managed to ride the worlds largest outdoor escalator, ROCK IT!
Josh, who is here with me on this trip, found the escalator and when he suggested that we ride it, I refused fervently, swearing that I would not kill again. After he assured me that nobody had to die on this adventure we proceeded onto this doomed escalator and he told me of incidents where escalators had exploded, killing tens if not millions of people. Escalator horrors aside, we had a great pizza in the SOHO area of Hong Kong at a place whose name now escapes me. As it turns out, when we reached the top of the escalator, we noticed that it only went up and we would either have to take stairs back down the miles that this escalator covered, or simply throw ourselves from the top of this mountain. We chose to take the bus, which did not actually come, so we took a taxi.
For my birthday I treated myself to a massage, the massage was given by the strongest 4’10″, 80lb girl I have ever encountered (no, there were no special parts to the massage, sicko). Then I spent the rest of the day in bed, hopped up on Chinese cough medicine (which I am pretty sure are the ground, dried remains of some flying lizard in a tincture of cadmium) because I felt like shit.
This morning, being a Monday, I have returned to Pan Yu, on the mainland in China, I spend the days working, and the nights also working. Occasionally, I feel delirious and repeatedly call people to my workstation saying, “Hey, check this out,” showing them something on my screen as I laugh maniacally until they no longer respond to my call.
31 days is a long time for a work trip.
April 14th, 2012
Well, today is my 29th day abroad. It is the weekend and tomorrow is my birthday.
Yesterday I talked to a man who is developing an Artificial intelligence that by some measures is about as intelligent as a 7 month old, but with better language skills; I saw a Bentley side-swipe a Taxi, and I pissed off 2 billionaires in one meeting. I also got fitted for a suit.
I think it was a little over a year ago that I started the project that I am about to finish. I collected as many of the talented friends I had who were willing to quit their jobs and come build these robots with me. I convinced them that it was good and right and cool; though I don’t know how much convincing it takes to get a bunch of young engineers to say yes to creating robots that walk, talk and smile at you which will one day rule the world.
Remember when you were a child and somebody asked you what you wanted to do when you grow up? Did you say something like, I want to make robots that are like people? I did and adults said, “That’s great” and pated me on the head and rolled their eyes. Now look at me! I knew what I wanted to do when I was 6 and now I am doing it! The point is, there should be a lot more ninjas, pirates, princesses, pony-doctors, unicorns, lion tamers and magicians. I think everybody still has that child inside of them.
Living out of a suitcase for what will be six weeks when everything is said and done is a huge pain in the ass. I only thought that I was going to be gone for 2 weeks when I left so I do not have enough stuff. I do enjoy having my laundry done by a hotel service, because they always return everything nice an folded and wrapped in plastic.
I know that this post is rambling, it has been a long time since I have really written anything non-technical or blog-like so I think I will need a few posts to start to find my voice and integrate some humor back in. I have gotten so used to the short-form twitter like humor and writing, but I want to expand back out. So these posts, if I stick with them will be poorly thought out and poorly written for a little while until I get back into it.
I think that is was about 35 days ago that I actuall confirmed that I was going to China. At the time I knew that the trip would be somewhere between 2 and 6 weeks, so of course it now looks like I will be here for 8 weeks. I will probably miss my best friend’s wedding and my own move into a new apartment. I am also having my 26th birthday in Hong Kong which is not the worst thing to happen because a 26th birthday does not matter other than that it is a number with prime factors.
I am in China for work, finalizing designs for my new robot, the R-50 from Robokind I have been working on this robot on and off for 4 years and to finally put it into production is exciting. Enough about that.
Things I have noticed about China:
1. ”Currency manipulation” is awesome when you are in that country, everything is cheap. I am staying in a 5 star hotel for less than $90 US and that includes breakfast, snacks and happy hour everyday.
2. Driving is completely insane. People ride their bikes along the side of the highway, they walk along the side of the highway. No one gives a shit about lanes, they are all over the place.
3. Everything is burning. The area I am in, outside of Guangzhou, near PanYu. It is a farming and industrial area, they burn their trash, they burn their fields. The air is thick with smoke all the time and I can’t wear my contacts. BOOHOO!!!
Hanson Robotics featured on Robots.net
Extended Photoset from Robots Magazine
