The Library of Technomadics
BEHEMOTH
In 1983, I left Ohio on a "computerized recumbent bicycle" named Winnebiko to begin a career of technomadic publishing, then after the first 10,000 miles built a new machine that would let me write while riding. After another 6,000 miles, it was time for the mega-cycle... a 580-pound monster named BEHEMOTH. All three bike versions are described here.
Microship
After 9 years of pedaling around the US on geeky bicycles, it was time to port the whole adventure to water. The Microship project spanned a decade, with three different labs and multiple design revisions... at last yielding an amphibian pedal/solar/sail micro-trimaran. This massive project was fueled by about 160 corporate sponsors and a team of brilliant geeks...
Nomadness
By the time the Microship was "done" in 2003, I wanted something more practical... large enough to live aboard with crew, piano, and lab. After a year with a rocketship 36-foot trimaran, I bought an Amazon 44 — a steel pilothouse cutter. With the intent of preparing for open-ended global voyaging, I cruised and lived aboard for 6 years while immersed in nautical geekery.
Datawake
In my sixties, it was time to move to the Dark Side... so I found a new owner for Nomadness and acquired a Vic Franck Delta 50. I now live aboard this floating lab in the San Juan Islands, with communications, virtual reality, underwater vehicle, piano, audio studio, data collection, machine shop, and deployable micro-trimaran for local exploration.
New Posts
This column showcases new activity, and may include articles about the Datawake boat project, dives with the ROV, photography, and other real-time content.
Back on August 24, I welcomed aboard a delightful visitor named Kristen Clark from IEEE Spectrum, and she spent the afternoon asking good questions… getting me to show her around the boat while the camera rolled. The article just appeared on the IEEE site yesterday, and the video is embedded below… a fun 3-minute snippet of the Datawake project, complete with…
by Steven K. RobertsNomadic Research Labs For the first few months aboard, every attempt to fabricate a part involved clearing a tiny space on the bench, plugging in a funky desk light, and trying to find tools that I had just seen only minutes before. This was demoralizing, so I finally fixed it. This post is…
News from No Pressure (formerly Nomadness) Saturday, Nov 12 – 3:00 PM Friday Harbor to San Diego transit complete! NOTE: this was live-blogged during their voyage, and is in reverse sequence with the most recent posts at the top. Saturday, Nov 12 – 12:45 PM – Arriving San Diego Saturday, Nov 12 – 10:30 AM Final approach…
by Steven K. RobertsOctober 2, 2016 I catch myself doing it again: waiting for closure on some project before writing about it, an old magazine-freelancing habit. Something should actually be done before you publish the details, right? Of course, this isn’t a single-threaded project. Subsystems and components are interleaved and interdependent, the objectives evolve with technological…
Vic Franck Delta 50 (The Chief) in her early years One of the little treasures I found aboard the boat now known as Datawake was a binder of photos from her youth. I think these are from the late 1970s (she was designed by Lynn Senour and built in 1974), and they are quite a contrast…
Witnessing an inter-species encounter photo ©2016 by Steven K. Roberts(All rights reserved – please contact for usage info) Every now and then, a photographer gets lucky… the right palette of colors, a self-organizing composition, and a sweet vignette all align at the moment of shutter-release. This was one of those, caught through the 83X zoom of the wonderful Nikon P900,…
Recent Archive News
Changes to the library are automatically shown here... whether newly scanned articles, digitized videos and movies, historical documents, or edits to existing material. July 25, 2021 item count: 951
The project was seriously in gear at UCSD, and this page carries the posts during the last month of 1993. They were growing, taking on a life of their own, and finding more and more subscribers… and after March each will be its own post. Microship Status 12/12/93 In This Issue: Still Alive! General Updates…
Computing Across America, chapter 37 by Steven K. Roberts Santa Fe, New Mexico August 10, 1984 You came saying “show me who you are”; the tourists came saying “show us what you got.” Steve Northup, Time Magazine The shape of the northern horizon kept changing, the storms and mountains sparring with lightning punches as I…
As the 1993-94 school year got underway, the Microship project at last had a home… in the engineering building at UCSD. In exchange for teaching a projects class around the boat as unpaid adjunct faculty, I had a lab and teams of students. This was perfect, and was the beginning of a 2-year epoch. Perspectives…
I spent a couple of years traveling around the US in the mobile lab, hauling BEHEMOTH, giving talks, and questing for lab space to begin the Microship project. I was in Connecticut to visit the headquarters of ARRL (American Radio Relay League), and it was the perfect opportunity to connect with one of my long-time…
In these early months of the project, updates to the team were frequent. Until they settle down and become more polished in early 1994, we are presenting theme here in month-long batches. Microship Status – 11/1/93 ! — R.s.v.p. — ! IF you are here at UCSD, please send me a quick note right away…
The Nomadness Notes #24 by Steven K. RobertsSan Diego, CaliforniaNovember 24, 1993 (Nomadness trivia: Hey, issue #24 is actually Chapter #127 if you count the Computing Across America and Miles With Maggie series. Sounds like I’ve been busier that way… actually averages one a month since I started in 1983!) Skankin’ Pickle A university is probably…
Harbor Digitizing and other Services
I live aboard in Friday Harbor, and offer a variety of services using some of the tools that have become part of the ship: 8mm & 16mm film digitizing, thermal imaging, 360 photography, ROV exploration, 3D printing, and system design...
Microship Store
I have an online store for my technomadic publications, along with a few special items of historical interest. (This is in addition to the Microship eBay store offering an eclectic mix of gizmology, collectibles, and antiquities.)
1974 Homebrew 8008 System
In 1974, six months of geek obsession led to one of the first personal computers... a homebrew 8008 that is now on display in the Computer History Museum. The story of that machine is here, including complete schematics. This predated the computer kits that kicked off the personal computer revolution, and it was in daily use for years.
The Polaris Mobile Lab
I have occasionally needed a capable laboratory that is not constrained to a fixed location, so I built one into a 24-foot utility trailer. Featured in MAKE: Magazine, this is a detailed description that includes preparing the space, inventory storage, furniture, fixturing, and power.
Isabelle
I live aboard Datawake with this magical being, and have a massive backlog of photos and stories. In the meantime, this is just a teaser... this 7-year-old Russian Blue has a lot to do with my quality of life. Here's her high-tech litter box, with carbon filter and webcam:
The Shacktopus Power Cart
A universal power system, built into a collapsible hand truck for use in emergencies.
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