Question 1: How did you get involved in the LEGO Robotics Group of Ann Arbor?

I had a huge collection of Legos (mostly Expert Builder and Technic) from when I was younger. I had bought a Mindstorms set after I started working and actually had money, but really didn't use it much. A few coworkers and I had some small-scale contests at work, but we always had a hard time getting=20participants.

Luckily, one day I was lurking around on Lugnet when I saw a posting by Jona about the LRGoAA, inviting anyone who was interested to contact him. So I did, and participated in the next contest (stair climbing).

Question 2: What do you do for work? How does this work effect your robotics?

I'm a computer programmer. This sometimes adversely effects my bots - I put all of my effort into building, with the thought "I'll just whip out the program when I'm done, shouldn't take more than an hour or so". Of course, it always takes longer than that (a classic case of overconfidence). I currently use NQC, but am thinking of going the cross-compilation route in the future.

Question 3: So far, what has been the most challenging aspect of robotics and why?

The hardest part for me is deciding on a design. I usually brainstorm before beginning construction, and can almost always come up with several reasonable approaches. Rather than just using one of these, however, I always attempt to build some combination that turns out to be too complex or just impractical. I often try to change my design in midstream, which doesn't help matters either. I'm getting better at building a prototype first and then working on the real thing, but still need more discipline.

I sometimes forget to test the reality of my bots - for example, the lift arms on the front of my sumo bot were unable to lift anything weighing more than a few ounces. Better testing would have caught that.

Question 4: Out of all of your creations, which made you feel the most satisfaction when it was complete and why?

I don't know if I've been completely satisfied with any of my recent bots. They've all had some pretty significant flaws. I think my item gathering bot was pretty clever, although better programming would have helped it a lot.

In general, though, I have two goals when I build: compactness and solidness. I like smaller models; it's a personal goal of mine to cram as much functionality as I can into the smallest possible space. As for solidness. I'm a firm believer in overbuilding. Most of my bots are twice as strong (and twice as heavy) as they really need to be. My stair climber, for example, was by far the slowest bot. But I'm quite certain it was the only one that could have survived a fall from the top step.

Question 5: What if any inspiration do you use when it comes to starting a new robot?

That depends on the problem. Sometimes I just try to come up with an original approach. Other times I surf the web, looking at what's been done before

It's amazing what's been built using just Legos.