Flying Robots! A little bit about what I do

So, this summer I'm doing a research project with robotics.  Some people have told me that this sounds really cool.  Now it's time for your disillusionment!

I'm working with flying robots called AR.drones.  You may have seen ads for them; they're marketed as a real-life flying/fighting video game that you can control with an iPhone/iPod/iPad.  But we want to do useful things with them.  My part in this so far is to configure them so that multiple can be controlled from one computer and to integrate a GPS, so that they know where they are.

So this was my day yesterday:  The new router just came in.  Step one: disable all auto-configuration and security features.  I'm t3h 1337 haxx0r, not some n00b, lol lol kok.  I connect to it wirelessly.  Already a step ahead of the old routers.  So then I disconnect and go to do my haxx0rz, logging onto it manually with iwconfig on Linux (man I wish I were wearing glasses so I could push them up my nose every time I mention Linux).  No good.  In fact, now I can't get on the wireless at all.  I give it to my professor.  By the end of the day, she gave it back to me, hopefully fixed.  I'll work on it today.

In the meantime, I also have GPS's to figure out.  They use a TTL output, and nothing in the world has TTL input.  So I get a TTL-USB adapter, and solder the GPS output wires onto a connector.  Yes!  I love soldering! (pronounced saw-der).  I plug that into my computer, power the thing with an external power supply, and it tells me... it's at latitude 0, longitude 0, and it's location fix is invalid.  Well, actually it told me $GPGGA,195018.000,0000.0000,N,00000.0000,E,0,,,,whatever, but I'm translating for your benefit.

Well, the thing's tiny and puny; it's not going to work inside.  So I grab my computer, (including wireless mouse; I hate the built-in thing) the GPS, the adapter, and throw a few batteries together to make a portable power supply, and head outside.  Now I'm in the middle of a courtyard, setting on a concrete bench in 100 degree heat, with freezing cold computer labs all around me, playing with my computer and a tiny chip.

Sometimes I wonder what people around me are thinking about me.  This was one of those times.  I hope I looked like I was doing something important.  It looks like I'm getting something, but I can't read the computer monitor because IT'S TOO BRIGHT OUTSIDE.  I save the data and go back inside.  Guess what?  Location data!  Google says it's about a mile off, but that's totally because I was in the middle of a courtyard, surrounded by buildings, and didn't move at all.  Please let that be the problem.

Next step: hack into the robot and reprogram it to interface with a GPS.  Oh yeah, and it runs on Linux.  *push up glasses*

I barely touch the actual flying robots.  Sometimes I log onto one with my iphone and play around.  They're actually really cool.