Back on BIRD, I’m trying to fuse visual odometry and accelerometer data to get reasonably accurate state information for tracking the quadrotor outdoors. The folks out at Zurich have done a pretty neat job doing just that and I set about trying to reimplement that. For visual odometry they use a modified version of PTAM that uses a fixed number of maximum keyframes that are used to generate a local map. Whenever the camera moves out of the currently fully defined map enough to warrant the inclusion of an additional keyframe the oldest keyframe is popped. This gives a very nice trade-off between robust pose estimation and fast execution on board. They have also released an EKF implementation that uses the pose estimate provided by PTAM as an external update to the filter.

As is always the case, for the life of me I haven’t been able to replicate their results with our 3DM GX3 IMU. Turns out that their coordinate frames are inverted (Gravity supposedly points up) and may be left handed (:?) Net result being that although PTAM seems to give sensible updates, the state drifts away very quickly. However, since PTAM performs so admirably (it’s the first purely vision based system in my experience that works SO well), I decided to test out tracking using only PTAM in VICON just to see how good it is quantitatively. But getting it to run on the Pandaboard led me (as usual) to a whole host of issues, the highlight being a bug in ROS’ serialization library for ARM based processors X(

Anyway, on to the tips!
- Set the use_ros_time to be true for camera1394 drone to avoid Time is out of dual 32-bit range errors.
- For bus fault error code -7 use the patch from https://github.com/ros/roscpp_core/pull/8
- To automatically set up the ROS_MASTER_URI to point to the pandaboard and ROS_HOSTNAME to point to the IP address assigned to the laptop whenever the laptop connects to the pandaboard’s WiFi hotspot, add this nifty little bash script to the end of the ~/.bashrc

#Check if we're connected to the flyingpanda SSID
SSID=$(iwconfig wlan0|grep "ESSID:" | sed "s/.*ESSID:\"\(.*\)\".*/\1/") 2>/dev/null
case "$SSID" in
flyingpanda)
export ROS_HOSTNAME=$(ip addr show dev wlan0 | sed -e's/^.*inet \([^ ]*\)\/.*$/\1/;t;d')
export ROS_MASTER_URI=http://192.168.2.1:11311
echo "Detected connection to $SSID, setting ROS_HOSTNAME to $ROS_HOSTNAME and master to $ROS_MASTER_URI"$
*)
echo 'Set ROS MASTER to be the default'
#For visibility of nodes run from this system when I use an external ros server
#export ROS_HOSTNAME=my.ip.address.goes.here;;
esac

Essentially, I first check to see if I’m connected to the flyingpanda SSID, and then extract the IP address assigned to my laptop, and then export the required variables. Fun stuff. There is a lot to be said about sed. I found this page pretty helpful – http://www.grymoire.com/Unix/Sed.html

GAO is at its smallest staffing level since 1935 and if sequestration continues, the agency won’t be able to issue all the reports needed to deal with the federal government’s fiscal challenges and agency issues, he said.

Staffing is down 14 percent from the 2010 level at GAO, Dodaro said, and a smaller GAO means fewer reports.

If sequestration continues, GAO would only be able to focus only on critical replacement hires, as it did in fiscal years 2010 to 2013, Dodaro said.

About 81 percent of GAO’s money goes to funding staff, he said.

GAO hasn’t been able to fill empty senior and mid-level management positions due to sequestration cuts, he said.

Around 40 percent of senior executives and 26 percent mid-level managers are set to retire in 2014.

“I feel like college coach with seniors leaving but no freshman or sophomores coming in,” Dodaro said.

Reducing staff even more, if sequestration continues, would hamper GAO’s ability to identify cost savings and improvements in government operations and initiate government-wide reforms, he said. GAO would also not be able to effectively assist the Congress in addressing a broad array of social, economic and security challenges, which is at the core of the agency’s mission, Dodaro said.

Sequestration cuts hit the Government Printing Office as well.

MORE

The first night in the apartment was uneventful and I even slept in today, staying in bed until 5:15.  I really feel like a slacker.  The mutt was fairly well behaved though she’ll need to develop an “apartment bark” soon or I expect the neighbors to take out the torches and pitchforks.

We stopped by the house this evening and had the mutt with us.  It was her first trip back since the day of the fire.  As far as I can tell it didn’t faze her at all.  It had been a couple days since I was there and the changes were dramatic.

First, on the outside, material for the new roof has been delivered:

If I interpret the markings correctly they’re planning to install it on May 33rd.  (Or perhaps those numbers mean something else…)  Inside the house there’s almost no drywall left at all.  Here’s a view looking up from the entrance to the second floor:

This is a view from the hallway to what used to be our bedroom:

One of the few areas with drywall remaining and so reasonably recognizable is the philosophy room where I used to ponder the mysteries of the universe:

This is the wall my computer was up against and where I saw the first crack in the drywall that let me know something wasn’t right.  There’s a random burnt spot in the lower right — not sure what that’s all about:

The basement is also pretty much cleared out.  This is a view of what used to be the bar:

The place is still very, very wet (the heavy rain today definitely didn’t help that).  The next few days are forecast to be fairly cool and not very sunny so the drying will probably proceed slowly.  There even was water dripping down into the basement through two floors (though certainly no longer as robust as they used to be).  Here’s a puddle of water on top of the bar counter:

One interesting thing:  The smoke detectors finally stopped chirping, but while I was in there they went off for a few seconds.  I swear it had nothing to do with lunch at La Fiesta yesterday…

The first game-changer for me was first time I met a bona-fide “goth” in person. I’d seen the stuff in movies up to that point, and heard a bit about it, but I’d never actually seen anyone that dressed and acted like they just stepped out of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. I was awestruck. People can do that all black thing? In like, real life? Wow, that’s cool. Having been a bit of a devil’s advocate regarding “bad guys” already, I slowly began my own personal transformation. I spent years shifting away from the colored clothing I had, and focused more and more on the dark colors. I was still fairly young at the time, so all I really could do was wear my black sports teams shirts and eventually get more black jeans and some less gaudy sneakers. These days, that look is what I call trailer park goth. You’ve seen it around. It’s someone who wears “sports” sneakers that are about 95 to 100 percent black, faded black jeans, and a pop-culture related black t-shirt. Trailer park goths have the basic idea down, but it’s the poor man’s version of dressing like the world hates you and you hate it right back. If you’re going to do it, do it right, dammit.

The second game-changer for me was the first Crow movie. Yeah, yeah, it’s cliché now, but I was mesmerized by the idea of coming back from the dead to exact revenge on those who wronged you. And looking cool while doing it, of course. I mortified a teacher once when I pointed out that was why I was obsessed with the movie, not the love story aspect. And after this heavy hitting life altering combo, something in me finally snapped, and I went full on Satanist for a while. I was good at it too. Grew my hair out, dyed it black, wore all black with boots and a trenchcoat, everything. Pretended I knew magic, (I actually started researching magic, but that’s another topic for another day) made up stories about sacrificing animals at my house, and rebelled pretty hardcore at the private catholic high school I went to at the time. That whole thing culminated when I finally started threatening people. Girls, specifically, if you must know. Came up with elaborate stories about how I was going to sacrifice them and everything.

To be honest I kept at it because I had finally turned the tables. Of course I’m pretty sure some people just played along with me in a funny ha-ha sort of way. But I know for a fact some people believed every single word I was saying at the time. People were finally afraid of ME. And I loved it. Ever have a crowd part for you as you walked? Ever have someone see you, promptly turn tail and run? Or start crying merely because you walked into the room? Seriously, it’s an ego trip like you wouldn’t believe. And considering that I had no ego prior to my trying to become Mister Evil, I couldn’t get enough.

But while I never physically hurt or touched anyone, I finally went a little too far, and got suspended from high school. Twice. The second time was the straw that broke the camel’s back and sent me to the local public high school during my senior year. Fun times, that.

So a stint with a psychiatrist and some doctor approved better living through chemistry later, I mellowed out. Sort of. See, I’ll tell you a little secret. Psychiatry is pure bullshit. “Psychiatrists” spend so much time studying to be called a doctor that they end up getting grossly out of touch with what the common person knows and thinks. All shrinks do know about YOU is what other people vaguely like you have done. So instead of being treated like an individual case, you become a statistic who gets the same schtick the last guy got, regardless of the details of why you’re doing what you’re doing or why they did what they did.

Oh you and the guy that came before you both have issues with your, say, sibling. But maybe the other guy was physically abused by his brother, but your sister is a mommy’s girl and it annoys the hell out of you. But as far as that doctor is concerned, 75% of people who have issues with their siblings were abused by their parents. So he’ll treat you like you were molested by your father, regardless of whether or not you actually were.

Maybe there’s an element specific to the last guy that the doctor didn’t catch but was able to “treat” with some random comment he made that the patient interpreted in some warped way as the answer they were looking for. But that same element won’t apply to you, never mind that the doctor thinks it was something else they said during the other guy’s therapy. And then they give you drugs that really only make you tired. See, can’t be harmful to yourself or anyone else if all you want to do is sleep. Or you’re so confused by psychobabble you don’t know which way is up. Success! Next patient!

At least that’s how it’s “worked” in the case of anyone I’ve ever known to have to go through it, myself included. In my case, I decided to leave the wacky ward because it wasn’t playing out how I thought it would. See, I had it in my head at the time that being locked in a padded room and only ever occasionally seeing a nurse or a doctor was a better alternative to my life. To my dismay, the local mental ward was nowhere near as peaceful as Hollywood lead me to believe it would be. So I changed my tune and stared telling the doctors what they wanted to hear.

So yeah, I laid off the destructive urges for a couple years to keep out of hospitals, and tried to make do. I also hate hospitals now. Tried college. Long story short, that didn’t work out, and lead to another stay in the mental ward. I hate colleges now too. Skip ahead many moons and past my previous lighter hearted entries here, and we’re up to now-ish. It was couple months ago that I noticed I’ve kind of regressed to being as depressed and angry than I used to be.

-Same writer, thinking about a new nickname

Read “American Standardbred Love Story – Life Lessons from a Horse” by Sarah Foisy

Listen to Sarah on Driving Horse Radio.

I’ve begun my summer break, which means I should post more (in theory)! I’m going to post about more various things going on in my life than just social media and technology from here on out (that’s the direction this blog seems headed?) I’ll go with my original idea of posting about college experiences.

Stay tuned. I plan on revamping this site and making it spiffy, beautiful, and neat.

Hope you’re enjoying it so far!

-Losa

BUT, but, but… something good did come out from all this today. I did manage to get my schedule changed. I now go in from 7:00 am til 9:00 am for my physical fitness, cardiac workout. I’m hoping that early morning schedule works better for me. (I’m an early morning person. Or at least, I used to be an “early person.”)

And, of course that means that I probably won’t be able to post anything very early to the blog because my new time starts TOMORROW — in the morning. I have to be over at the Center at 6:45 am in order to get screened in. My gracious, what was I thinking? Or not thinking?

Anyway, so don’t look for me early tomorrow — 5-23-13.

I’m off to Tylenoland…