Tomorrow I'm honored to be a panelist on Talking to the Future, an all-day event at the Computer History Museum.

We'll be talking to 100 high school students about what got us started in technology and science, putting on our own little maker fair for the kids (and yes, ThinBot will be represented, somehow*) and then each of us doing breakout sessions with 20 of the students.

Apparently my mohawk gave their art department some difficulties when posterizing my headshot.

So it (the mohawk) will obviously have to be up in one form or another tomorrow.

( Spoilers... )

Last night I got pumps 9 and 10 wired and mounted. They will cantilever off the back of ThinBot's frame to be less obtrusive.

( Photos under the cut )
I also got a 5.5V current source wired up, on the off chance I get a servo for the arm installed and working.

I'm planning to put the whole shebang together tonight to make sure it all fits :-)

Today I finished milling the new glass stand for Thinbot, and test assembled it. I still have to wire up the switch and update the code to recognize it.


( Pix under the cut. )

I probably don't have time to get it anodized before the show, but it looks pretty good in its natural silver.

Oh-- I also ran the pressure test on the heat exchanger now that it has had a chance for the sealant to cure. No drips after running it for an hour!

Yesterday I did a complete assembly of the heat exchanger. It's so shiny :-)

( Photos under the cut )

Today I try to finish the glass rest and panels for two auxiliary pumps

I've been working on a replacement chiller (heat exchanger) to replace the steel-tubes-through-cocktail-shaker assembly on the front of ThinBot. I just dropped it off at PK Selective Metal Finishing to be blue anodized.

Before I could do that, though, I had to do a test assembly to make sure it actually went together.


( Photos under the cut )

I did a compatibility test last week to make sure that neither the lime juice nor cranberry juice will react with the aluminum. Everything turned out fine.

I know there are plenty of options for your entertainment dollar this weekend, but if you like cocktails and robots, you might want to get tickets to one or both nights of BarBot 2013

http://www.robogames.net/barbot

It's at a new venue this year, SomArts (www.somarts.org), but the organizers fully expect it to sell out. Tickets are $25 in advance. Note the show was just moved up (yesterday) to 7pm-12 midnight for both Friday and Saturday

That's Friday March 1 and Saturday March 2, to be perfectly clear.

ThinBot will be there, looking quite a bit shinier than at his debut at BarBot 2012 (and there have even been upgrades since Gallifrey, if you saw him there).    

Having identified the interference problem with the pump motors, I took a break and built a new cable for the control unit.

( pix under the cut )

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I also mocked up the design for the new mounting panels:

( more pix )

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Satisfied that the new design would work, I set out to build it, and assemble the works:
( building the new pump head assembly )

Next post: assembled with new hoses.

Photos of some of the new pumps from www.ankoproducts.com

( images under the cut )

I just have to cut the replacement top panels and I can start rebuilding ThinBot with these new pumps!

The custom pumps should be on the way (Anko Products finally charged my account, but they haven't given me a tracking number).

The pump package that arrived was a free debris screen for the fountain pump I use for the chiller circuit, in thanks for registering the product warranty with the manufacturer.

On the other hand, the Robogames acted on my request and has officially changed my team name to the Drinks Advanced Research Project Agency X)