Anchorless winch

I've been busy doing a spring cleaning, weeding out my research files. In the hope that I won't discard anything of great value I've concentrated especially on my "X-files." Among other things Norman L. Dean thought he had invented an anchorless winch.* Hung as a pendulum the winch did not move as it pulled a load toward it. Dean thought that he had demonstrated new physics, the non simultaneity of action and reaction. In reality the load's contact with the ground serves as the anchor. Inside the winch an asymmetrically oscillating mass, M, first exerts a push on the load, F1, for a time period T1. The load doesn't move provided that F1 is less than the static frictional force needed to move the load across the ground. During this time an impulse F1T1 is delivered to the ground in the direction of F1. This serves as the "anchor." The mass, M, continues to oscillate, now pulling on the load with a force F2 for a time T2. Now the load moves provided that F2 is larger than the static frictional force needed to move it across the surface. F2>F1. F2 delivers an impulse F2T2 to the load and moves it in the direction of F2. The load is given a net momentum in the direction toward the winch while the winch itself remains stationary. (M is oscillating inside the winch.) Conservation of momentum is not violated since a net impulse has been delivered to the ground via frictional forces.

* One reference is Popular Mechanics magazine, September 1961, page 132.

Batteries and tethers

 Some of my early robots went through carbon-zinc, alkaline, or nickel-cadmium batteries quite quickly. This was one reason to operate tethered. Modern lithium ion batteries* have allowed me to untether most of my current robots. I have, however, lost one battery due to overcharging and several to undercharging.

* and small microcontrollers

Immortality

 "Memory theories" attempt to tie our personal identity to an enduring entity that is, ultimately, information.* But if quantum theory is correct quantum information is conserved, it is never destroyed.

* As opposed to "body theories" of personal identity. Early Christians, for example, expected people to be resurrected in the flesh.

Web search

 Over the years I have tried to keep some statistics on my* searching. I have, for instance, tried to see how many search terms are "needed." I found that the improvement in quality of the search result falls sharply after increasing beyond four terms. I am told that the average Google search is three words/terms long. 

Of course there may well be some dependence on subject matter and the search engine used.

* and to a lesser degree A.s.a.'s. 

Ugly robots

At a presentation on A.s.a. H. I was asked about symbol grounding and for pictures of my robots. I pulled up some pictures on my iPhone similar to the ones I've published here. It occurs to me that I may have shown fewer pictures because I feel that most of our robots are ugly, especially the ones that are more heavily instrumented. (Dangling lead wires also have resulted in occasional snaring and then electromechanical faults.)