#055: Where to Start With Robotics, Finding Medieval Cities With Lidar, The Physics of Pumpkin Carving

BOO! Happy Halloween, and hello to all!

We are pleased to welcome you to this week's edition of Undiscovered, a newsletter with exclusive resources and insights expanding from the material found on our main site - becketu.com.

This spooky edition includes a guide on where to start with robotics, a fascinating discovery of unknown medieval cities, a convenient cheatsheet for Stanford AI classes, and more HAUNTING entries. Enter, if you dare....

Where to Start With Robotics

Where do you start when interested in dabbling with robotics? This was a question posed by Pieter Levels, and here are a few of the top replies (feel free to dive deeper into whatever response resonates with you):

Andrej Karpathy @karpathy @levelsio Take on the Nat Friedman robotics challenge. Delete leaf blowers, replacing them with little robots that scurry around and individually and very quietly pick and package away leaves. @levelsio @levelsio Where do I start with robotics? Wanna code and build my own robots at home for fun and potential world domination 10:18 AM • Oct 28, 2024 105 Retweets 3078 Likes Read 63 replies

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kache @yacineMTB @levelsio i've been doing this for a while the first thing you absolutely need is: - 3d printer - a soldering station - a gajillion esp32s - dc motors / servos / (there are kits on online sellers) - a breadboard kit The first step will be turning on an led on a micro controller start with… https://x.com/i/web/status/1850580804742586443 @levelsio @levelsio Where do I start with robotics? Wanna code and build my own robots at home for fun and potential world domination 11:50 AM • Oct 27, 2024 10 Retweets 333 Likes Read 15 replies

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Erick Pinos @erickpinos @levelsio Get yourself some robot arms! Spent a lot of time learning basic robotics with rovers and car bots but robot arms were much more relevant for tasks like drawing, holding cups, pointing, sorting, etc @levelsio @levelsio Where do I start with robotics? Wanna code and build my own robots at home for fun and potential world domination 11:7 AM • Oct 27, 2024 29 Retweets 994 Likes Read 22 replies

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Gleb @artdaw @levelsio I started with something simple: an autonomous balcony greenhouse. It must have temperature, humidity, soil moisture sensors, a camera to observe plants, and a servo motor to open a small window to get some fresh air. I started with the temperature and humidity part by buying a… https://x.com/i/web/status/1850576356553228575 @levelsio @levelsio Where do I start with robotics? Wanna code and build my own robots at home for fun and potential world domination 11:32 AM • Oct 27, 2024 4 Retweets 85 Likes Read 4 replies

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Cheatsheets For Stanford AI Classes

​Afshine Amidi is Senior Machine Learning Scientist at Netflix and Instructor for the ICME Workshop on Transformers & Large Language Models at Stanford. He also conveniently shared a few of the cheatsheets used to help get by some of these classes.

The first is for CS 221 - Artificial Intelligence. The contents for this sheet include Reflex, States, Variables, and Logic.

​CS 229 - Machine Learning includes cheatsheets on Supervised Learning, Unsupervised Learning, Deep Learning, and general tips and tricks.

And finally, CS 230 - Deep Learning covers Convolutional Neural Networks, Recurrent Neural Networks, and more Deep Learning tips and tricks.

These are so beautifully designed and organized, it makes me wish I understood the content within them better. But nonetheless, these are undoubtedly useful for the right individual looking for handy guides along their machine learning educational journey.

Finding Medieval Cities With Lidar

In one of the more shocking recent archeological discoveries, two massive medieval cities have just been found hidden in the mountains of Uzbekistan. The cities, Tugunbulak and Tashbulak, were discovered using advanced drone-based Lidar technology.

To compare to modern equivalents, the city of Tugunbulak is roughly the same size as Assisi, Italy (pop. 28,000), while Tashbulak is comparable to Carmel-by-the-Sea, California (pop. 3,800).

These are not the largest medieval cities ever encountered, but they are sizable enough to the point where their discovery matters. This revolutionizes our understanding of the ancient Silk Road, and sheds light on these urban centers that thrived between the 6th and 11th centuries CE.

Historians used to believe that big cities couldn't exist high in the mountains because it was challenging to grow food and survive harsh weather conditions. The presence of large-scale iron production facilities at both sites indicates that these cities likely played a crucial role in producing valuable goods for trade along the Silk Road, possibly controlling the route.

History could potentially be rewritten as a result of this finding.

Read Something Great

This next week will have plenty of distractions online to read, and what better way to escape than by reading something great? The website, readsomethinggreat.com, does the hard part of finding read-worthy items for you.

The builder of the website, Louis Pereira, manually curates the selection and serves 'timeless articles from the belly of the internet'. When you go to the website, you'll see five options of articles, blogs, or miscellaneous readings to choose from.

Above the title you can find what topic it covers, with all sorts of options ranging from "Living Better", "Business & Tech", "History & Culture", to "Science & Nature". You'll see the author, and approximately how long it takes to finish reading.

The Physics of Pumpkin Carving

One of the many traditions during the Halloween season is to partake in pumpkin carving. If you had the privilege of partaking in the event this year, you may have noticed that pumpkin carving sets come with small hand saws.

But why not use large knives? What is about small hand saws that make them more useful for pumpkin carving? In the spirit of the season, we decided to take a look at some of the reasons why:

1. Force Distribution - Smaller saws concentrate force over a smaller area, which increases the pressure applied to the pumpkins surface. This allows the saw to more easily penetrate and cut through the pumpkin flesh.
2. Reduced Friction - Smaller saw blades have less surface area in contact with the pumpkin, which reduces overall friction as the blade moves. This allows for smoother, more controlled cutting motions.
3. Precision and Control - The smaller size of the saw gives the carver more precise control over the intricate cuts and details. This is especially important when carving complex patterns or designs.
4. Pumpkin Structure - Pumpkins have a relatively soft, fibrous flesh. The smaller teeth on a specialized pumpkin saw are better suited to cutting through this material without tearing or damaging surrounding areas.
5. Cutting Mechanics - When using a small pumpkin saw, carvers are advised to use short, fast strokes. This technique minimizes pumpkin movement and reduces the overall force needed to cut
6. Blade Design - Many specialized pumpkin saws have thin, flexible blades that can easily navigate curves and tight spaces. This design is more effective for detailed carving compared to larger, rigid saw blades.

Stay safe if you decide to go out Trick-Or-Treating tonight and Happy Halloween!

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