by Steven K. Roberts Nomadic Research Labs Colorado & Florida November 3, 1995 Hello from Colorado… Ahhh, lemme tellya — it feels GREAT to be moving! For a confirmed technomad, periods of limbo are maddening (albeit relaxing). After the UCSD lab shutdown, we spent two months in Del Mar catching up on publication projects, taking…

Read More
Technomad of the High Seas - Popular Mechanics

This is just a short and almost content-free snippet, but I include it in the archive since it carries a rare photo of my Fulmar-19 trimaran… an early choice of substrate before a crazy adventure around the Salish Sea demonstrated that we needed something more robust and flexible. Popular Mechanics November, 1995 SAN DIEGO, CA…

Read More

Keynote Address by Steven K. Roberts Atlanta, Georgia October 18, 1995 Join high-tech Nomad Steven Roberts and see how far mobile computing can take you. This entertaining and educational session will feature Roberts and his BEHEMOTH (Big electronic human-energized machine… only too heavy). Roberts has traveled since 1983 on his $1.2 million, 105-speed recumbent bicycle equipped…

Read More

The UCSD Microship lab epoch has ended after 2 years, and in this report we embark on a sailing adventure to Catalina Island on Lonnie Gamble’s boat Harmony (above)… then return to focus on the new lab quest. The entire project is in limbo, but Faun and I manage to have a bit of fun. …

Read More

by Keith Manring Corvallis Gazette-Times August 5, 1995 Part spaceship, part sail boat, the self-sustaining 30-foot trimaran of Steve Roberts’ dreams is looking for a home at Oregon State University. Solar-powered. Internet link via satellite. Hydroponic garden. Computerized maintenance and security systems. Electronic backpacks to control the craft by remote through a Macintosh laptop. But right…

Read More

It has been a month and a half since my last update… and believe it or not, this is my first free moment to sit down and write. We are now halfway through the lab-relocation — we’ve moved out, but don’t know what we’re moving INTO just yet. Ahh, the nomadic life. (Photo above: Michael…

Read More

…ONLY TOO HEAVY (Google Lens translation from the original Dutch with corrections in 2021 by Thor Galle and PE4KH. The American Steven Roberts came up with the Behemoth: Big Electronic Human-Energized Machine… Only Too Heavy. A recumbent bicycle that costs more than a million dollars, but it also has a few nice extras. Such as…

Read More

This will be a quick update, folks — we’re on the eve of departure for a week-long cruise around Catalina with our friends Lonnie and Sarah in a Catalina 27 monomaran. True to form, we have not yet begun to pack… tomorrow will be devoted to provisioning and putting out all the fires I can…

Read More

The month since our last update has been a frenzy of control system design, casting about for lab space, publishing projects, Web site refinement, ongoing nautical research, and even a tiny bit of play. I think we’ve visited the boat, sitting bored in a storage yard just off campus, about twice… but Tuesday morning is…

Read More

A huge event took place in 1995 — the abrupt transition to Microship 3.0. I had already abandoned the original kayak-based system and its variants, and a Puget Sound adventure on a small commercial trimaran (Fulmar) revealed many deficiencies that called for a larger boat. This article was posted to my broad Nomadness distribution list,…

Read More