After the second lesson of fastai’s “Practical Deep Learning For Coders 2022” we’re encouraged to try to build our own deep learning classifier using transfer learning. So without getting to far into the deep learning weeds, can I train a model to recognize my prescription medication in photos taken with my laptop’s webcam or my phone? If you don’t want to read...
RGB Langton’s Ant(s)
A quick prototype of a modified Langton's Ant simulation with multiple ants that can blend colours. It was originally written as an attempted entry for ProcJam in 2021
Tick Tock It’s Funan O’Clock!
I used to walk past the Funan mall almost nightly. The kinetic wall art clock outside it is really cool. I took some inspiration from it while adding my own twist: spatial audio with the Web Audio API.
How the f*ck can I be so tired?! I literally just woke up!
It’s World IBD Day 2022. This year I’ve been working on integrating activity tracker information into my on going home robotics project to highlight issues with managing chronic fatigue. Fatigue can affect up to 80% of people with active Crohn’s Disease and between 40 to 50% of those who are in remission. This is the 5th part of my social robotics project investigating ways to...
That time I thought I’d cured my Crohn’s
A standard thing for any Crohnie on a long term medicine like Infliximab (or Remicade depending on where you call home) is the “level check”. How much of the drug is still in your system after a scheduled dose and have any antibodies developed that are fighting the drug making it less effective? So I was having a follow up appointment after getting my own “level check”. I...
Animation, Personality and Social Robots
Over the last several years top character artists and animators have worked with various social robotics companies. I was intrigued to know more about what the field of animation and character design might have to offer social robotics.
“Deep Medicine” by Eric Topol
I read “Deep Medicine” around this time last year. Topol’s views on what’s wrong with healthcare align very much with my own. I’ve personally experienced much of what he details in terms of decreasing appointment times, doctors wedged in behind desks half-typing and half-listening to me, poorly managed hospitals forcing extra duties on medical staff and the...
I did a podcast!
I was a guest on Episode 132 “AI For Good” of the Cynical Developer Podcast near the end of 2019. We talked about my robotics project, social robots in general and Crohn’s Disease. The Cynical Developer is where I first heard about the Vector robot so the whole thing coming full circle was wonderful! Talking about what I was working on and how I think social / socially assistive...
Medication Adherence
When I first started my social robotics project last year I had never heard of the phrase “medication adherence”. At the time I had something I wanted to build and launched into it. It wasn’t until a conversation I had with my doctor about what I was working on that he asked if I was forgetting to take my medication or if I had any “adherence” problems. After reassuring him that...
Mozilla’s Common Voice
Common Voice is Mozilla’s campaign to build an open-source voice dataset filled with diverse voice data (over 40 different languages and counting) that’s accessible to everyone. The hope is that with easy access to better data, better voice related technology can be built. Mozilla currently use the Common Voice dataset to help train the language models for their open-source Speech-To...