Introduce yourself!

**DresnerRobotics** · 02-05-2008

Hey guys,

I figured since this community seems to be growing at a good pace, we could start a thread to introduce ourselves. Feel free to let other members know what you do for a living, what you do for fun (you know, aside from robotics), and maybe post a picture of yourself. Post as little or as much as you want.

I'll start it off!

My name is Andrew, I'm a Network Admin for a smaller IT firm based in Portland, OR. I've worked in the IT field for about 6 years, working for Intel for quite some time as a network admin/teacher, AT&T and some contract work for the gov't. I've been building programmable robots since I was 13.

Update: I started working for Trossen Robotics in 2008.

**Alex** · 02-05-2008

Maybe we need an off-topic forum? This would fit better there~

Done, and done Tyberius, thanks for the suggestion! I've been rolling that idea around a bit, and after talking to some peeps here about it and seeing that others wanted it as well, I decided why not?

**DresnerRobotics** · 02-05-2008

Well done Alex, now introduce yourself

**Alex** · 02-05-2008

Well done Alex, now introduce yourself

oh yeah, hehe.

My name is Alex. I work here at Trossen Robotics as well. I was the first hire, hired back in April '05, back when we were still Phidgets USA.

My official title is Systems Analyst / Administrator, which covers a lot of what I do, but I am pretty much everywhere. Basically if it involves technical expertise, I'm the guy who looks into the feasibility, development & execution. You name it, I do it; programming, architecture, administration, setup & deployment, marketing, website design, database work, operations, order packing, vendor orders, and even a little accounting (ewe). I don't get to play around with the goodies as much as I used to though

I really hope to get back into that sometime soon.

Outside of work, I love gaming, but not so much the online type. I'm more of a hermit when it comes to my games. I have an awesome finance (update wife

), Heather. We've been together since 2003. UPDATE: We're having our first child this June (2011); Her name will be Lexi.

Here's a pic of Heather and I back in I think '07 (?) when we were in Colorado:

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Check out my Facebook for more info

**Dave** · 02-05-2008

Nice intros, guys!

Hi, I'm Dave. When I'm not at work, I'm usually absorbing knowledge, tinkering around with electronics, playing guitar or bass, or banging random objects together to see what kind of sounds they make. I also spend a lot of time in weird bars seeing weird bands and meeting weird people. I am a fiend for music; the more subversive, the better. I live with two other miscreants in an apartment in Chicago.

Like Alex, I'm a DeVry graduate. My degree is EET, which is like the Wal Mart version of an EE degree. I started working here in... July '06, I think. When I'm at work, I'm something called a "Product Engineer." We're still not entirely sure what that means. I maintain all of the technical information in our catalog, evaluate and review new products, handle a bunch of hardware-related tech support type stuff, and help customers figure out what they need when they're planning a project. Another important part of my job is harassing Alex. I think Matt may have hired me because I'd worked with Alex when we were in college and had plenty of Alex harassment experience.

I don't have a decent picture of myself readily available, so here's a monkey with my name on it:

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**JonHylands** · 02-05-2008

As my user name implies, I'm Jon...

I'm 40, married, into.... wait a sec, this isn't that kind of forum, is it?

Okay, so I'm a professional software developer, been writing code for something like 27 years now. I started doing embedded development and building robots in 1997, although I've been building mechanical stuff since I was a little kid. My first computer was an Apple //c, and I spent many hours hacking 6502 assembler...

My main goal in robotics right now is to do research and development on advanced AI. I have a lot of ideas about how intelligence can work in a robot (see my MicroRaptor page for some details).

I'm not really into music, I like sailing and off-roading (Jeeps are my thing), reading, playing video games with my 3 kids (all boys), and all things with an outdoor/wilderness setting.

Oh yeah - I'm Canadian

- Jon

ps - the picture below is one of me on my 40th birthday, last September...

**Zenta** · 02-06-2008

Hi!

Nice initative Tyberius!

I'm Kåre Halvorsen (Zenta) from Norway, age 35. I'm not married yet.. I and my fiance have two kids (both boys, age 1,5 and 3,5 years).

I work at The Norwegian Labour and Welfare Service. I work with solutions and facilities for persons with disabilities: stairlifts, platformlifts, home lifts and environmental control.

My personal interests are robotics (electronics, mechanics and some programming), RC (cars, boats, helicopters), model train and photography.

We also love to walk trips in the nature.

A picture of me and my eldest son:

**wind27382** · 02-06-2008

I guess I probably should introduce myself. My name is chris sanders and I live In the state of Ohio. I have just decided to take some time off from the art institute of Pittsburgh. While I was their I studied game art and design, and my hobbies are animation, and i would love to get into some robotics. Right now my goal is to build a real time Virtual Reality game.

I know that the task seems impossible with the budget that I currently have but I have been studying game design for well over 3 years. and I am rather proud of my cgi Graphics. And last year I started learning how to program, so I fiquired now was the time to try and build it.

**Matt** · 02-06-2008

I suppose I better post before I get yelled at

I'm Matt Trossen, 32. I used to be a PM/IT Manager for York Enterprise Solutions. I was in charge of building up their data center and productivity tools for the recruiters and sales people. After a few years the data overload started making me dizzy so I started to think about projects I could build at home for fun to take my mind off work. I wanted to build an immersive VR thingamajigger that would synchronize sound, visual stimulus and physical stimulus. I was trying to think of how to build it when I realized I couldn't recall squat about what I learned in electronics in high school. I thought to myself, what I need is a component in Visual Basic that I can code to that has a real world physical component that's plugged into the USB port. Something that let's me control motors and lights and relays and takes input from switches and knobs and stuff. I literally sat up in my bed at 2 am and thought, holy shit, that's a great idea! That allows computer programmers to break the boundries of the screen and build anything they want.

As with any decent idea, a single person rarely is the only one to have it. I searched the internet researching what was out there that was similar and I found Phidgets, a Canadian company that was already building the exact idea of what I was thinking of. I was deflated and bummed out for awhile, but then I realized that this could be a blessing in disguise. They were doing a great job building the components and truth be told I didn't know squat about building such things. I'd rather be an evangelist and sell the idea and products. So I got into contact with them, they agreed to let me take a shot at the US market and PhidgetsUSA.com was born. Phidgets are a product line of what I now refer to as bridgeware, Hardware components that bridge the worlds of electronics and computer programming. As with many new technologies, they are often first created, then experimented with to find a need they fulfill. To me, robotics seems to be screaming for bridgeware and for the modern processor to evolve in order to realize the many advancements people have been trying to get to. With this in mind, Trossen Robotics was born. We felt that there was a gap in the market for a true robotics hardware store that also would focus on the forward thinking movement of adapting to the computer as the processing platform. So we built it

So here we are, building a kick ass community of innovators who are moving robotics forward in their basements and garages. My greatest thrill is seeing what kind of amazing things people are building. I would like to personally thank everyone who has been helping start this new community that is really starting to look like a game changer. I very excited about where this is going and can't wait to see it evolve.

Outside of work I'm an avid reader of mostly nonfiction, huge movie buff (fan of indie dramas and comedies), like techno lounge / ambiant / hard to define music like Portishead, Delerium, Hooverphonic etc. I grew up as a long haired ripped jean wearing burn out in the 80s. I used to be a bit of a gym rat in my 20s, but haven't quite kept it up lately, I think it's time to find less joint destroying ways of being healthy

I went to SIU for film, but dropped out because I decided I didn't want to be a starving artist. However, I still write and plan to go back to it someday. Maybe after we have finished creating the genesis of a robotic society that will destroy the human race...

Oh, this is me with a batch of Trossen1 bots:
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