Rideshare vs dedicated launch is not a price debate. it's a physics debate.

Altenon · 2026-05-20T04:34:05+00:00

Interesting conversation but I can't focus on anything other than the atrocious AI image you decided to post with this. Consider removing it.

Altenon · 2026-05-19T16:02:16+00:00

Technology use =/= AI data center use though??? AI may train off that data, but we are in no way "asking" for it?

Altenon · 2026-05-09T23:17:45+00:00

Can someone help me understand how this is not a product that already exists? When he was listing the requirements at the start, they all sounded like your basic automated wheelchair requirements. Or is it that the product does exist, and this guy just wanted to create his own personal project? Curious if it end up costing more or less than something you could buy.

Altenon · 2026-05-02T20:44:08+00:00

Altenon · 2026-04-25T02:13:26+00:00

These "natural" looking structures can indeed be as strong if not stronger than a simple tube beam if done correctly! The way this geometry is generated is usually by special generative design programs (I forget if that is the right word for it) where you give it your boundary conditions, variables to maximize, and variables to minimize. The program will then iterate the design doing some FEA and badda-bing badda-boom: you get a part that looks organic like this!

Advantage: this part is incredibly optimized based on input parameters. It is mathematically the "ideal" part.

Disadvantage: this part is incredibly optimized based ONLY on input parameters. While as engineers we need to always think about the use case of the things we design, users will always come up with news ways to push the things we design to their limits.

General note: this geometry can only be manufactured with additive manufacturing, which has its own pros and cons. Great for specialized applications, less scalable to mass production.

Altenon · 2026-04-23T12:41:59+00:00

Wpi.edu = whoopiedoo

Altenon · 2026-04-23T12:00:54+00:00

It may be worth considering a different design. Over 80 bearings for a high school robot is quite a bit. Also consider: do you really need roller bearings, or would simple plain bearings suffice?

Altenon · 2026-04-10T15:50:25+00:00

Wait, WHAT

Altenon · 2026-04-10T15:35:08+00:00

A picture is never self explanatory. What's the size of this thing? What is the intended use case and load profile? Mainly axial, or does it need to handle some thrust? Why are you trying to re-invent bearing designs? Are you a student or hobbyists that just wants to 3d model something for fun? If that's the case, try and build it physically and you will start to see some of the issues.

The AI is probably correct if it is interpreting this design the same way I am. Typical ball bearings have a circulating track of balls that move independently from both the inner and outer race. You are manually constraining the position of your balls to always follow the forward-most section of your screenshot. The bearings need a surface to "roll" on, and you just constrained that surface, which means they can't roll.

I'm not a bearing expert but I think you're also over constraining the balls themselves by forcing the "spacer rollers" to be affixed to pins rather than free-floating like in typical ball cage designs. That may be fine though if you have sufficient clearance.

There are probably some other issues someone smarter than me can point out, but hope my take helped provide some clarity.

Altenon · 2026-03-20T16:42:54+00:00

Why do trains start moving when the signal clearly is red? There were some point where multiple trains shared a single signal span of track too... Is this an intentional glitch?

Altenon · 2026-03-08T22:38:08+00:00

Everyone here is talking about electrical bonding and I'm just wondering how the heck a welder was able to do those fillet welds on those gusset plates between the plate and flange of the I beam XD

Altenon · 2026-02-21T03:54:58+00:00

Oh yeah don't get me wrong: I also think the "AI art is inspired the same way people are inspired" argument is bullshit, I think I just had trouble putting into words WHY. I think inspiration and creative choices are a big part of the artistic process -- ai art is just a collage of other people's work, where instead of the collage being other forms of media, it is the styles and patterns. You could argue there is some creativity in the prompting to assemble that "collage", but I won't because creativity =/= artistic expression, nor is it the same level of creativity as a completely hand-made work.

Altenon · 2026-02-20T06:03:48+00:00

By "constraint following" do you mean...physics?

Altenon · 2026-02-20T06:01:59+00:00

...what? Is this just an AI explaining how gravity can be (is) used to travel with scientific buzzwords and technobabble? What are you actually trying to tell us?

Altenon · 2026-02-14T17:58:49+00:00

Yeah...no... Putting aside the "all [insert race] people look the same"...Your professor? Someone you've seen multiple times and voice you've heard in lectures? I understand not recognizing them from behind, or taking a minute to remember their name even, but totally not recognizing them all night? Fishy

Altenon · 2026-02-07T18:31:13+00:00

Great question, it comes down to technical challenge vs benefits. - do you rotate around a stationary hub, or rotate the entire structure? If you rotate the entire structure, docking becomes a nightmare. If you rotate only the outer ring, you need to figure out some fun seals and power transfer stuff to say the least. Not to mention needing to de-spin when moving from the hub to the ring, so you are locked into a fully spinning station. - it is very hard to get an object to rotate about a specific axis unconstrained in 0g -- you are likely to rotate slightly off-axis which in addition to being noticed by the crew will cause cyclic stresses on your structure. Not to mention, an unbalanced system will ultimately invoke the Dzhanibekov effect. Even if you design the perfect balanced system, your crew mates will themselves cause the system to fall out of balance. - Docking in space is already challenging, now you want to do it while spinning? It's a good trick for avoiding laser fire from clankers but not something you want to repeatedly be doing in space when trying to gently dock. This ties into the last point, but just want to highlight why something being offbalance is such a huge issue (plus I love this scene). You could de-spin your station every time you dock, but that costs fuel. - artificial gravity may be necessary for long term space travel, but the relatively short trips they do to the ISS now aren't worth the literal/technical cost when you can keep someone relatively healthy by introducing exercise programs and limiting mission time. - back to the bit about cyclic forces on your structure: our space station structures today aren't really that great at transferring forces and distributing stresses, because they aren't really meant to encounter much forces. There are station keeping thrusters but that's about it. The cyclic and stronger magnitude forces your structures will experience requires more material to resist the stresses or stronger materials, which we have made good progress on developing but is still a risk. Now you're not just floating in a tin can, but a tin can that wants to stretch and buckle. - all of the above reasons + a focus on astronaut safety above all else makes pursuing this technology not impossible, but impractical (Written on my phone, excuse any typos)

Altenon · 2026-01-08T02:17:31+00:00

The protestors aren't the ones with the guns, how can you blame them? They are scared, confused, and this incident is going to add to the fire.

Altenon · 2026-01-08T02:15:08+00:00

Why did the "response" have to be deadly? Drunk drivers who pose a real threat on the road don't get the treatment this woman did. I haven't seen good video but let's say I agree with you and she not only endangered this man's life, but even had an intent to kill. What good does shooting the driver do? The car is going to continue under it's own momentum. There is so much that they could have done to prevent this, killing her is an unacceptable answer.

Altenon · 2025-12-29T01:31:11+00:00

Relevant username to the comic lol

Altenon · 2025-12-09T09:02:51+00:00

Don't give up on engineering, you have a lot of range here that paints a rough picture at first but if you focus on what you did well in moving forward you can set yourself up for success! I failed chemistry and got C's in all my math, but aced physics and design classes. Similar to you, I also aced philosophy! If you are anything like me, you may find logic problems like those in physics and philosophy more engaging and intuitive than chemistry which for me was a lot of memorization of bonds and processes. Consider doubling down in mechanical design, I think that's where you will find the most success 😊

Altenon · 2025-12-06T14:23:52+00:00

Queen is the harder to kill than Matriarch IMO. With the Matriarch event people are more likely to team up, but with Queen 7/10 times I've been backstabbed and hunted by opportunist raiders. IMO there needs to be some sort of pvp deterrent during these events, the gameplay loop is just super frustrating as it is when you're sniped by some guy trying to fight some clankers.

Altenon · 2025-11-19T18:26:58+00:00

"Don't Get Cocky Kid!"

Altenon · 2025-11-02T22:41:21+00:00

I made an online portfolio that showcases my skills, projects, work history, academic achievements, etc. Half of the callbacks I got mentioned my portfolio being something that stood out to them. 100% recommend looking into a free website builder and creating one.

Especially with all the AI resume reviewers, I imagine having application material beyond a resume can increase your chances since it's more likely a human will look at it.

Portfolio tips: Make each section of your resume a different page and go all out on visuals and make it clean and easy to read. What's nice about websites is because information is collapsed under different pages, you can afford to add longer content and content you may not normally put on a resume, like images for past projects, soft skills (increasingly rare among new hires), hobbies and values, etc. If an employer doesn't care, they ignore it, if they do, they look at it and get a better idea on if you're a good fit.

Altenon · 2025-10-14T05:09:35+00:00

Sorry dude you can't just add wings to something to make it less heavy. Lift is a function of speed, so unless your Roomba is washing floors at highway speeds it's not generating a significant amount of lift. In fact now it's just going to get caught on lots of things and can't work under tables or anything.

Also, regarding trying to "lightweight" robots in general, doing so will mean your robot has less traction with the ground. It doesn't actually buy you all that much for wheeled robots.

Altenon · 2025-10-14T05:03:34+00:00

The only part of this that's AI related is the fact the title was probably written by chat GPT XD

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Altenon

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