Welcome to my website.
The above image is data from a scanning laser system, which collects range data on each point. The data are mapped into a 3-D data structure, and the image is a representation of the data stored in that structure. There are over 83,000 points collected each second, allowing the system to create a real-time view of the world as it moves through the environment.
This particular sensor was used for the first autonomous flight of a full-sized helicopter.
Here’s a link to the Popular Science Magazine article
This sensor and the efforts leading up to the autonomous flight were all born from work developed under a set of small business innovative research (SBIR) grants which I lead at Piasecki Aircraft.
I’ve led the charge, managed the effort and enabled the success of a lot of cool programs. I hope to showcase some of them here. What is exciting to me is seeing areas where computing can be inserted in conjunction with other technologies, and the combination of technology and computers makes things more interesting and capable. For example, airplanes have flown for 100 years, but having a computer be the pilot in a new unmanned system makes the airplane a more exciting project.
Another area of interest for me is making subtle changes to work environments or team staffing that turn into productivity multipliers. Simple things, like providing the right simple set of tools to the right people can have create huge benefits – gaps are easy to look for, and easy as well as rewarding to correct.
Incidentally, the word “factotum” is a really great word.