TKS Session 20: IoT and Robotics + Velocity Session 10
In today’s velocity session, we talked about the MotW, antifragility. Everyone had to do one thing this week where there was a big chance that they would fail at it. If you failed, you built the antifragility mindset, if you didn’t fail, then you succeeded and that’s good. To develop my antifragility mindset and put myself in a situation where I could fail, I played front row in volleyball during gym class this week. I’m not really good at volleyball, so I usually sit in the back and let the other people who are better play. But, I enjoy playing volleyball and staying in the back won’t give me any time to practice and get better. So, I put myself in a situation where I could fail and asked to play up front. And, I didn’t totally fail. Yes, there were times when I made a stupid pass or messed up a point, but there were also times when I did make a good assist or, on my own, scored a point for my team. So, I wouldn’t say I succeeded, but I wouldn’t say I failed either. With more practice, I can make more progress and succeed.
For the PotW, it was David Goggins. We had one video of his to watch, but it was really impactful. It was basically saying how you should stop looking for the next seminar to take or the next workshop to go to, but instead, actually look within yourself, find your motivation, and go do what you need to do. Because searching for motivation from places other than yourself won’t suddenly make you passionate about something or determined to reach a goal. You need to find the spark within yourself to turn it into a flame and make progress to reach your goals. His video was no fluff, so sugarcoating, straight up telling people what they need to hear rather than what they may want to hear, and it really makes you think more about what you’re doing and why you’re doing it, at least it did for me.
For the actual session, my intention was to get a better alignment on where I need to be by the end of this week in my focus. I chose this intention because at the beginning our director mentioned that he would be giving us time to work on our focus at the end of the session today. In the session, we looked at robots and IoT (internet of things, a network of interconnected devices). Instead of getting too much into the technical stuff, we looked more at the philosophical/ethical side of robotics.
Experts say that 2025 will be the year of robotics, and humanoid robots like Tesla’s Optimus or the Figure 02 robot are some of the reasons why. The things that these humanoid robots can currently do are impressive. And, while there is still a lot they can’t do, development will move quickly if time and resources stay tied to this field. As these robots continue to get more and more capable of different tasks, their applications are also being explored. Not only for businesses and for labour use, but for companionship. AI relationships have actually become a thing that people get involved in, and humanoid robots will make those relationships seem even more real and even more personal. What’s to stop people from actually pursuing these kinds of relationships rather than going into the world to meet new people? So, to talk more about this, we did brainpods, which is when we get into little groups and discuss really in-depth questions about the session’s focus. So, we did brainpods focusing on humanoid robots and AI relationships. Each topic had more in-depth questions, and we would talk about those, get philosophical, and share our opinions.
For a small activity portion, we had two options. If you weren’t familiar with Arduino, which is basically like a robot brain, you would get to work with it on Tinker CAD and create a flashing lights sequence. If you were familiar with Arduino, which I am, for example, because we have worked with it in school, then you would create a one-pager about an application of the Figure 02 humanoid robots. My idea was to use them as workers for very dangerous and hazardous settings like chemical/nuclear plants, where there are constant hazards and dangers for humans. Here is the one-pager I made for it:
For this week’s MotW, we looked at time management and goal setting. When goal setting, there are three things you want to take into consideration:
Flow time: How much time do you need to spend, when will you spend it in your day, and how will you get yourself in the zone?
Clarity on goal: What is your top goal, how can you be intentional with your time, how can you reevaluate and adjust your approach if necessary?
Execution: What are zero multipliers that would break your flow, what can you do to make your work meaningful?
Thinking in detail about your goals and what you need to get done can help you create real and meaningful progress in your work and tasks.
Then, we ended this session by getting to work on our focus. I’m close to finishing my review paper, and it will probably be published end of this week. So be on the lookout for that if you’re interested in genetically engineering phages! I know what I need to do for the next week, from finishing it and editing it, to having it reviewed before publishing. I have a plan and I can’t wait to get this paper done!
And that was the session. This may be our last emerging tech session for a while because the next ones are focused on big problems, focus work, and different challenges. So I’m excited to see what’s next for these months!
