LOCATION:
Upstate New York
OCCUPATION:
Research Assistant and PhD Student, Stevens Institute of Technology
MEMBER STATUS:
Walter has been reading Circuit Cellar since he got his first issue in 1999. Free copies were available at the Trinity College Fire Fighting Robot Contest, which was his first experience with robotics. Circuit Cellar was the first magazine for which he wrote an article (“An HC11 File Manager,” two-part series, issues 129 and 130, 2001).
TECH INTERESTS:
Robotics, among other things. He is particularly interested in developmental and evolutionary robotics (where the robot’s strategies, controllers, and so forth are evolved instead of programmed in directly).
RECENT TECH ACQUISITION:
Walter is enjoying his Raspberry Pi. “What a remarkable product! I think it’s great that I can take my AI software, which I’ve been writing on a PC, copy it to the Raspberry Pi, compile it with GCC, then off it goes with little or no modification!”
CURRENT PROJECTS:
Walter is designing a new programming language and interpreter (for Windows/Mac/Linux, including the Raspberry Pi) that uses a simulated quantum computer to drive a robot. “What better way to learn the basics of quantum computing than by building a robot around one?” The first version of this language is available on his website (walterkrawec.org). He has plans to release an improved version.
THOUGHTS ON EMBEDDED TECH:
Walter said he is amazed with the power of the latest embedded technology, for example the Raspberry Pi. “For less than $40 you have a perfect controller for a robot that can handle incredibly complex programs. Slap on one of those USB battery packs and you have a fully mobile robot,” he said. He used a Pololu Maestro to interface the motors and analog sensors. “It all works and it does everything I need.” However, he added, “If you want to build any of this yourself by hand it can be much harder, especially since most of the cool stuff is surface mount, making it difficult to get started.”
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