Short Circuit

Apparently since I have been gone from the States I have been incapable of typing the word pub. I have done this so consistently I had my Dad a little confused and Laura convinced that people here call pubs here pups I guess every one else has been kind enough to just not say anything. I'm a tad bit embarrassed but mostly amused. If only I had realized that I was doing this and kept it going only to claim later it was a big plot. Oh well. I hope this clears some things up, but I am leaving my posts the way they were because of the comedic factor. I apologize for any confusion that has ensued. From here on out I will be diligent in only using pup to mean pup.

Quick Project Update

So I've been spending quite a bit of time playing in Simulink trying to track the fish from pre-taken videos. What I have would work from a real time input as well, but we don't have continue access to the fish tank. There are still some random blobs that need to be filtered out, but this is off of a single video stream with some minor signal manipulation. The simulation runs much faster than my initial attempts as well (working on a net book can be a pain), and produces very similar results. At the beginning of the video there are a bunch of mistake blobs this is because of the webcams built in auto focus. I also have not yet figured out how to track the lighter fish. And the dark fish cross paths and become "one" fish for a little while. But we're definitely much further along than we were before. Prof. Lubos says he has some suggestions as well. But we've not yet had a chance to discuss these with him yet.

(The video is pretty highly compressed for the uploading sorry)

There is still a lot of work to be done, but I think what I have thus far is pretty cool, and has been quite fun to work on thus far. My friends have to drag me away from the computer to go do things.

The Dam

On Wednesday we were offered a surprise visit to a Slovakian dam on the Danube. Steve Kevin and I went. It was really awesome. Our Professor was preparing measurements to determine what was going on in the gate rooms where the water goes through. We got an explanation of how the were water proofing and preparing the set up for the large volumes of turbulent water passing through the room as well. We also got to see the locks in actions as well. This was also amazing considering the huge height difference in water. It was a fun unexpected trip.

Here we are 30m under the water level. The room is usually full of water. Also if anything went wrong where we were we would have been done for.

This side of the lock is under reconstruction but you can really see the height difference in the water level (look at the water lines on the cement).

The full set of pictures are here.

Brno, Skalica, and Kuty

Alright time for some big updates.

On Saturday this past week Kevin, Steve and I packed up our bags for four days and did a little traveling. We had arranged to stay with a couchsurfer in Brno. This was all done under the pretense of a Matlab conference in Brno on Tuesday. This was my first time couch surfing and our hosts first time as well. It was a really great experience one that I admit if it weren't for Steve and Kevin coming being there I probably would not have tried. Couch Surfing (CS) is a hospitality community and is orginized through this website. Basically willing hosts post information about their place and them selfs and you can contact them and see if they are willing to host you for a period of time.

Anyway our trip started leaving from Bratislava. We went to the train station via the tram and bought our tickets there. It was a little unclear if we were going to be able to get to Skalica the way we wanted to but we went for it anyway. The train from Bratislava goes through Kuty there is a transfer to continue to Brno but there is also a transfer to go to Skalica as well, however the ticket lady didn't speak very much English and it was hard to tell if she understood exactly what we wanted.

We got on the train only a few minutes before it departed found some seats and sat for a while. Steve pulled out his GPS and was telling us a little bit about some of the places we were passing as he had ridden through them on his bike before. It was cool, but it is amazing just how different it gets just right out side of the city; there are so many abandoned buildings and decrepit structures.

When we arrived in Kuty we found out we had an hour until our next train departed. Despite the actual town being a mile out from train station we decided to try and walk in and get some food. It was interesting to say the least. So many of the houses were just cement blocks with siding on them to try and disguise this fact. But there were some very nice looking ones. We stopped and asked a few people where we might get some food. Being so far from the city no one spoke English but some German was understood. We got directions into the town. But turned the wrong way. We were out side of a pup and this old semi toothless man beckoned for us to come join him and made drinking motions. We played charades and used a little German to say we were actually looking for food. He pointed us in the right direction but we decided to leave due to the time constraint. On the way back we managed to hitch hike the last 5-10 minutes of the walk which is good because we just caught our single car train. The guy offered to drive us to Skalica for 5 euro just for the petrol, but we turned him down because we already had tickets. (I'm glad too because he lit up in the car).

Our train car to Skalica was awesome. It was a single car, and the toilet just dumped right on to the track. It was a longer ride that I expected in the train but it was worth it. The town was quite beautiful. According to one our school mates this town was a capital of Slovakia after one of the world wars. However I did a quick search online and couldn't find anything about this and every one we have asked here looks a little confused. Either way the town had a number of really nice churches and a beautiful graveyard way up high on a hill that over looks the town. After wandering around for a little bit we grabbed some food and warmed up in a pup. We didn't spend too much time there was we still had to catch the train to Brno.

We took the train back from Skalica to Kuty and waited in the freezing cold for the train to Brno which was late. Once on board we were in a nice cabin with a heater and we relaxed for a bit. There was a bit of delay after we crossed the border. Once we got into Brno we headed to a pup/club that was recommended to us by some one who is Studying in Brno. It was alright we were there quite some time waiting for our CS host. When our host picked us up he took us to this awesome medieval pup. You would never know the pup is there if it were not for the a guy sometimes standing in the alley way wearing medieval attire. To get in you go down a set of stairs into a brick wine cellar that looks ancient. There are skins hanging on the wall and all the light is provided by candles or very well disguised lamps. The seating was wooden benches with sheep skins draped over them. And occasionally there are men in armor that really go at it through the walk ways in the pup and out in the street outside the pup. We missed this unfortunately. All of the drinks were served in pottery type mugs and cups, the plates and bowls were similar. They also had things like Grog and Mead on the drink list. All in all it was just a really cool place. After the pup for the first time we went back to Ondrej's place and dropped off our stuff. And went out to a near by pup from a beer and some foosball. After a couple of hours we headed back to find Ondrej's roomate and girlfriend in the Kitchen not doing PG things. Because of this Ondrej slept in the same room as us. The next day Ondrej took us to see the Castle and some of old town Brno. There is a great church where a disgruntled Mason carved a little statue of a man bearing his butt to the world (thanks lonely planet).We also climbed up this tall cathedral and got some nice views of the city. After freezing our rear ends off we went back to the medieval pup around 3pm and ordered some hot mead. Let me just say it is a bad idea in a jug. It is sweet and warming and you have no idea how strong it is until you try and get up after 3/4 of liter. After the pup we went for wonderful ribs unlike any others I have ever had before and another pup. I wasn't feeling to great after all the foreign food and drinks and was dropped off at the apartment (this time we made plenty of noise before coming into the kitchen). While Steve Kevin and Ondrej went for more drinks.

On Monday Ondrej took us to see his School. He is a second year med student. The university was huge and attached to the hospital. It was quite nice if not a little dead inside. Brno his a huge college town. I think the student population is on the order of 100,000 students, so it was surprising there seemed to be so few students there. We got to see the schools private collection of medical anomalies and specimens. It was a bit like the bodies exhibit, but also quite different. There were a lot of pieced preserved in alcohol and whatever else is used for that. But it was very very interesting and later we found out we weren't actually supposed to be there it is only for students and researchers. I'm glad we got to go anyway. We grabbed lunch at the what could be compared to the student union at the U of A which was good, and we headed back into town.

We had a home cooked meal that night that consisted of stuffed mushrooms and corn. It was quite tasty.

Later we met up with some of his former roommates / friends at a wine bar. It was fun. There was a huge dog in there which was kind of odd to see in a food establishment. My only complaint was it was quite smoky in there. I felt like a chain smoker after we left. But despite that we had a good time. Apparently here engineers have the very think glasses and high sock stereotype and his friends were quite surprised to learn that we were engineering students. It was a little weird I'm much more used to wow it is cool you're putting your self through that rather than oh your an engineer... Being out with them reminded me a lot of hanging out with friends back home and despite there wasn't a lot of English spoken between them it was pretty easy to follow various conversations. After they left we headed back to the apartment.

On Tuesday we had the conference and Ondrej had class. We went to the conference it was kind of long and not to pertainable to what we were doing. A lot of it was about autonomous code generation into C/C++ and HDL. It was interesting and really important things for down the line but not enough of the lecture was dedicated to how to do it but just that it was available. We got some good documentation that I still need to look through. For example there is a package that lets you take your matlab / simulink code and package it into sand alone software. After the conference we traumatized Laura Ann by taking her to the Medieval pup. Afterwards she instisted in going to some store so we parted ways and did a little geo cashing. And then we caught the bus back to Bratislava.

All in all it was a great experience and it was really great to be able to stay with some one who is so knowledgeable about the town and was willing to show us around and give us a place to stay. Ondrej is originally from Bratislava and Usually comes home on the weekend so we hope to hang out with him more next time he is in town.

The rest of the are pictures here.

Slovak Language

Dobrý deň

Or good day. The Slovak lesson was interesting to say the least. We got a few basic words greetings, I like / I don't like, I want / I do not want, yes and no etc.. The conjugation of the verb to be and I have. The numbers 1 - 10 and then at the very end the alphabet. It was a little shy of two hours and most of it it was here is how to ask the question here are some answers then she'd ask and we'd have to answer. I am having a hard time telling how in depth the class is going to go just because a lot of things were oh this language is very complicated, to complicated to learn in just a semester. Which is a shame. I love language and would be happy to get the full brunt of it.

Beyond that there is not much else to say, about the first class. What we learned wasn't to difficult a lot of the gramatical structure seemed similar to Greek and Spanish with some minor differences but it was the first class. We'll see what the semester has in store.

I will write more again soon.

Wimp for Cold

This will be short, but I can not remember being some where where there was such a quick transition from nice weather to it being freezing. About two days ago it rained and everything cooled way down and it has not warmed back up. After walking to school today I could barely feel my hands. It has also been hailing on and off today. But literally three days ago I was out and a little warm in my jeans and t-shirt and now I'm bundled up even inside.

I'm about to have my first Slovak language class today I will write about it afterwards.

Class and Project Update

So it is probably about time I write about my classes and our project here.

We just finished our third week of classes here. Currently I am enrolled in 5 classes here. Intelligent Mechanics, System Models in Mechatronics, Introduction to Finite Element Analysis, Semester Project, and Slovak Language. Thus far we have yet to have our Slovak Language class. It should be starting next week. I am looking forward to it. I think we have all picked up on a few things here and there, but still we're more or less in the dark when it comes to the language.

Intelligent Mechanics is being taught by our liaison here, Prof Lubos Magdolen. The course is all about using Matlab and Simulink to model at this stage mechanical systems. It has been pretty interesting and really opens ones eyes to the power of the Matlab / Simulink software. As the semester progresses Prof. Magdolen wants to show us how to model systems using both mechanical and electrical components, as well as possibly program a prefabricated robot, using the modeling system. It is a very interesting course and Prof Magdolen has been very accommodating in trying to tailor the course to our specific interests.

System Models in Mechatronics seems like an introduction course to mechatronics which is the combination of different systems into a single product to improve its function. The class is a bit intimidating during the last lecture he would call us up to the board and ask us to write the equation for a system down and if you got one thing wrong he would say no that is an awful mistake. I think he was sightly frustrated with his English, but as the class has revolved more around mechanical systems and I have only had a intro physics course on mechanics I feel a little ignorant at times. Prof Musil has been very helpful thought he won't continue until he is convinced you understand and he always comes to us american students after class and ask's each one of us if we have any questions. Either way robotics is embodies the combination of electrical and mechanical systems and this seems to be what a good portion of mechatronics is and I think it will be a great class to have taken.

Introduction to Finite Element Analysis, has been pretty interesting. We just had our first lab in the class yesterday. Our lab instructor has been out of the country until now so we have only had lectures. Conceptually Finite Element Analysis seems pretty simple. It is a matter of breaking down a structure or structures into small elements that resemble something we already know how to solve and then put it all back together to get a solution for the whole system. That said though the theory we have been getting is a bit more complex and I'm not sure I have followed it in its entirety. The lab was pretty cool though. We built a structure in Ansys gave it material properties and then subjected it to loads and saw how to pull up the numerical solutions. It was just an introduction to the Ansys software but it was interesting and I think was helpful in understanding a little bit better what Finite Element Analysis is. There is a class at the U of A in the AME department which this sounds identical too, so I am sure that there will be no trouble transferring it.

We haven't had our language class yet so I can not say much about it. We should be starting it next week assuming that the teacher as the appropriate time slots free.

We have now had a couple of meetings about our semester project. They have consisted in some basic theory of image processing and then some instruction on the various functions available to us in matlab and simulink. Next week we should be getting a fish tank and attempting to track one fish. It is very exciting. I also was today to use my built in web camera to manipulate live video. I was able to save some of the video although my computer crashed at one point; I guess yrunning matlab on a netbook is a bit silly. It has worked for most things so I think it will be fine for the semester.

Well that is were everything stands. I think we are planning on going to Budapest either this weekend or next weekend. Weather isn't great. When we do go I'll make sure to get pictures from the team to post here.

New Computer

So after trying to deal with newegg unsuccessfully I have broken down and gotten a new netbook here. To my surprise it was about the same cost as if I had managed to ship the one from the States. However, it helps significantly that Prof. Magdolen used is connections to allow me to purchase it through a distributer rather than from a normal retail store. I am slowly going through the process of acquiring all of my lost software again and figuring out how to install and English version of windows onto a computer without having an optical drive. This is not particularly difficult but mildly annoying especially without having internet at our dorm. Anyway I should be able to post more frequently now and actually put up some pictures albeit not ones I have taken but from the other students here.

I am excited to be able to use a computer consistently again and finally get to work on my software oriented projects and classes. Matlab is incredibly powerful. I had no idea.

I will post a more project / Bratislava related post soon.