Steve, Author at Nomadic Research Labs

Computing Across America presentation by Steven K. Roberts March 18-19, 1989 First, here is a 3-minute clip of the Channel 7 News (KGO-TV, San Francisco), showing the Winnebiko II and pulling back to comment on how the Faire has changed over the years… with comments on the Apple vs Microsoft “Look and Feel” lawsuit that…

This is a little video treasure from the beginning of the BEHEMOTH project (while I was still calling it Winnebiko III). I had the amazing opportunity to present the bike to a room full of brilliant geeks at Xerox PARC… a relaxed setting, with people sprawled in beanbag chairs. It was captured on VHS by the folks…

I displayed the bike at a flurry of events during what has since become known as “The BEHEMOTH Epoch” – I was based in Silicon Valley for about 3 years, building the new machine, taking breaks to exhibit at trade shows, companies, and special events. This one was rather fun, sponsored by the San Francisco…

This piece in the news supplement to the IEEE Spectrum (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) came at the beginning of the long Silicon Valley BEHEMOTH-building layover. Such publicity helped immensely during the team-building phase… without my übergeek volunteers, that final version of the bike would never have reached escape velocity. A Japanese translation of…

This was published as Chapter 49 in the Miles With Maggie series on GEnie. The Winnebiko III was not yet named BEHEMOTH, and I had just settled on Nomadic Research Labs as a proper formal name for my business (which had been Computing Across America for a few years). The story below is the first…

This is just a quick little photo/caption piece from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. My father had been a member for his entire GE career, and I recall that he was delighted by this… especially with the photo from my visit to GEnie. Though I never followed in his corporate footsteps as I think…

In 1989 I was diving full time into the “Winnebiko III” project, which would soon be named BEHEMOTH. I had wrapped up 16,000 miles on the earlier versions, as well as a year of wandering the US in an old school bus to promote the Computing Across America book. At this point, I was actively…

Computing Across America – Join Author Steve Roberts and his 275 lb. electronic cottage on wheels — the only machine of its kind in the world. This computerized recumbent bicycle, custom built from the frame up with the latest technology, has been Steve’s home and office since 1983 — yielding 16,000 miles of high adventure.…

Transceiver from a spectrum analyzer and tracking generator? Here’s a glimpse of a hacker’s shack before SDR. by Steven K. Roberts N4RVE 73 Magazine January, 1989 This is an interim of sorts — a time of misleading stability between bouts of nomadness. It’s a respite from tire itch, a chance to develop a pot belly…

an intimate glimpse of the passion driving the technomadic quest for freedom. by Steven K. Roberts Palo Alto, California December 7, 1988 Maybe it’s the Pink Floyd. Wordless memories overtake the present, obscuring it, confusing it, rendering the computer puzzling even while practiced fingers perform their familiar little dance. Perhaps madness lurks herein: time is…

Posts by Steve

West Coast Computer Faire 1989

Video – 1989 Winnebiko II Presentation at Xerox PARC

Winnebiko III at SF Chronicle Great Outdoors Adventure Fair

Steve Roberts: technobiker – IEEE Institute

Designing the Winnebiko III

Reading, Writing, and Writing High-Tech Nomad – ASME News

Winnebiko II at Autodesk

Winnebiko II at REI – Carson

The Hacker’s Shack

Dangerous Influences