James Newton
@jamesmnewton.bsky.social
Lucky to know brilliant people. Tech generalist; sees how it fits together & often what's coming. Roboticist. Educator. Wrongologist / fascinated by (bad & good) failure. Collaborator. Asteroids are our future. Escondido, CA
https://github.com/JamesNewton
https://github.com/JamesNewton
Pinned
James Newton
@jamesmnewton.bsky.social
· Jan 18
10 years later
YouTube video by Andrey Rudenko
www.youtube.com
In 2013, Andrey had come up with a cement that could be extruded, and I made a powerful, but low cost, open source stepper driver that I showed could work with standard RAMPS Marlin 3D printers. With those, he built THE FIRST 3D Cement house printer in the USA!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=tD4J...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=tD4J...
Sometimes projects need a little LCD user interface, which can distract from the project. This is a dirt simple FOSS nextron with human readable commands. e.g.
`1i 10x 20y 40h 50w #f800C R`
Sets up a clickable red 50 by 40 rectangle at 10, 20. if clicked, a "1" is TXd.
github.com/JamesNewton/...
`1i 10x 20y 40h 50w #f800C R`
Sets up a clickable red 50 by 40 rectangle at 10, 20. if clicked, a "1" is TXd.
github.com/JamesNewton/...
November 13, 2025 at 6:56 AM
Sometimes projects need a little LCD user interface, which can distract from the project. This is a dirt simple FOSS nextron with human readable commands. e.g.
`1i 10x 20y 40h 50w #f800C R`
Sets up a clickable red 50 by 40 rectangle at 10, 20. if clicked, a "1" is TXd.
github.com/JamesNewton/...
`1i 10x 20y 40h 50w #f800C R`
Sets up a clickable red 50 by 40 rectangle at 10, 20. if clicked, a "1" is TXd.
github.com/JamesNewton/...
Stunningly funny
www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8C8...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8C8...
Who Founded Best Friends Animal Society?? #shorts #company #interesting #cult #BFAS #ryankelly #ypr
YouTube video by Youth Pastor Ryan
www.youtube.com
November 13, 2025 at 3:35 AM
Stunningly funny
www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8C8...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8C8...
I'm watching a video about "misshapen livestock paintings"
That's how bored I am. Help. Please. 😅
www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcNk...
That's how bored I am. Help. Please. 😅
www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcNk...
Why 19th century farm animals look so weird. | VICTORIAN LIVESTOCK ART
YouTube video by Peter Austin
www.youtube.com
November 13, 2025 at 2:49 AM
I'm watching a video about "misshapen livestock paintings"
That's how bored I am. Help. Please. 😅
www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcNk...
That's how bored I am. Help. Please. 😅
www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcNk...
I just backed Discrete Mechatronic | Delta Track on @kickstarter.com Moving robots can be easy. www.kickstarter.com/projects/del...
Discrete Mechatronic | Delta Track
Compact, low-cost, six-axis, passive leader arm.
www.kickstarter.com
October 23, 2025 at 10:40 PM
I just backed Discrete Mechatronic | Delta Track on @kickstarter.com Moving robots can be easy. www.kickstarter.com/projects/del...
Reposted by James Newton
![Comic. Two-column table. Column A lists planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune. Column B has checkmark boxes for whether the planets have rings: the outer planets’ boxes are checked, and Earth has a red check. [Earth with a ring with an array pf points around it. An arrow labeled “Geostationary Satellite Bel”t points to the ring.] [caption] Astronomy fact: A century ago, Earth didn’t have rings, but we have one now! It’s where all the satellite dishes are pointed.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cz73r7iyiqn26upot4jtjdhk/bafkreifauh76r3os5nnzjvkcz5sl2pgx5iz4sgkxebqjw3aogjn6e677aa@jpeg)
October 20, 2025 at 10:44 PM
Anyone I know going to Hackaday SuperCon Halloween weekend? I'm soooo excited!
October 23, 2025 at 12:44 AM
Anyone I know going to Hackaday SuperCon Halloween weekend? I'm soooo excited!
Reposted by James Newton
Smh gonna give ME a USB C without the CC resistors?!
October 21, 2025 at 9:12 AM
Smh gonna give ME a USB C without the CC resistors?!
Just a lovely feature. If you don't wokwi.com you really should check it out. Ultra fast proto sim and colab. And now you can more clearly copy that to reality via Jumperless. Obviously you would have physical components on the BB; this is just a wire color demo.
www.crowdsupply.com/architeuthis...
www.crowdsupply.com/architeuthis...
October 17, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Just a lovely feature. If you don't wokwi.com you really should check it out. Ultra fast proto sim and colab. And now you can more clearly copy that to reality via Jumperless. Obviously you would have physical components on the BB; this is just a wire color demo.
www.crowdsupply.com/architeuthis...
www.crowdsupply.com/architeuthis...
Found a really lovely article about 3D house printer I provided the electronics for back in 2013/14 (Andrey started printing in his garage in 13, finished the castle in 14). Now we just need to get the industry to take another leap (cables, hyperadobe, etc...)
3dprint.com/12933/3d-pri...
3dprint.com/12933/3d-pri...
World's First 3D Printed Castle is Complete - Andrey Rudenko Now to Print a Full-size House - 3DPrint.com | Additive Manufacturing Business
When building a home, there are usually two choices for building materials; wood and/or concrete block. The construction industry has been using these building blocks for centuries when constructing h...
3dprint.com
October 15, 2025 at 9:27 PM
Found a really lovely article about 3D house printer I provided the electronics for back in 2013/14 (Andrey started printing in his garage in 13, finished the castle in 14). Now we just need to get the industry to take another leap (cables, hyperadobe, etc...)
3dprint.com/12933/3d-pri...
3dprint.com/12933/3d-pri...
Alan Kay's part of this (ques up for you) is smashing. So very well said. Really worth hearing and thinking about.
Alan Kay (invented personal computers) on AI. We love theater as system 1 (Kahneman) fires and fools, but we know it's not real due to system 2, logical reasoning. Exposed to LLMs sys 1 fires wildly but we have no sys 2 understanding of it to control our love of it. www.youtube.com/live/GmnBTCK...
Celebrating the 75th Anniversary of the Turing Test
YouTube video by The Royal Society
www.youtube.com
October 13, 2025 at 4:47 PM
Alan Kay's part of this (ques up for you) is smashing. So very well said. Really worth hearing and thinking about.
Steve Mould is legend
youtu.be/NtZaP8VMv0c
youtu.be/NtZaP8VMv0c
NASA let me test my weird chain theory in space
YouTube video by Steve Mould
youtu.be
October 11, 2025 at 5:07 AM
Steve Mould is legend
youtu.be/NtZaP8VMv0c
youtu.be/NtZaP8VMv0c
I just found out that the podunk "Williams General Store" (Williams, OR) where I grew up has a payphone inside still. These are ALL modern pictures. It looked /exactly/ like that when I was 11 years old (50 years go). Just wow. Somethings really do not change.
October 11, 2025 at 3:20 AM
I just found out that the podunk "Williams General Store" (Williams, OR) where I grew up has a payphone inside still. These are ALL modern pictures. It looked /exactly/ like that when I was 11 years old (50 years go). Just wow. Somethings really do not change.
For some strange reason, I've been invited to speak at the Las Vegas Robotics Meetup on the 23rd, on the topic of Robots in Space. I've tossed this outline together and would welcome feedback on it:
docs.google.com/presentation...
docs.google.com/presentation...
Robots in Spaaaace!
Robots in Spaaaace! "We aren't in Kansas anymore" edition With James Newton
docs.google.com
October 9, 2025 at 9:59 PM
For some strange reason, I've been invited to speak at the Las Vegas Robotics Meetup on the 23rd, on the topic of Robots in Space. I've tossed this outline together and would welcome feedback on it:
docs.google.com/presentation...
docs.google.com/presentation...
October 9, 2025 at 1:29 PM
Not sure how many people will know this name, but Robert Murray Smith ended his misery. His wife Patty had passed a year and a half ago and he was living in pain. I will deeply miss looking forward to his next crazy device or idea or example. He was an inspiration.
October 8, 2025 at 1:58 AM
Not sure how many people will know this name, but Robert Murray Smith ended his misery. His wife Patty had passed a year and a half ago and he was living in pain. I will deeply miss looking forward to his next crazy device or idea or example. He was an inspiration.
A very impressive accomplishment, especially for the time. Sadly safe and slow is not what big customers want. And so UR, et all, reigns. Individuals should have purchased these. Small companies.
From my previous company. This Sawyer ran for 35,236 hours in a factory in Oregon. You can move within its workspace, and grab it as it is operating. This is what real robots, real deployments, and real ROI are all about; productive, reliable, and safe operation. www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...
So proud of Sawyer, from my previous company. We designed them to run for 30,000 hours. That is 15 years (= 15 x 50wks x 40 hrs) of human work. This one provided 17.5 years of productivity. And… |...
So proud of Sawyer, from my previous company. We designed them to run for 30,000 hours. That is 15 years (= 15 x 50wks x 40 hrs) of human work. This one provided 17.5 years of productivity. And Sawyer...
www.linkedin.com
October 7, 2025 at 4:20 PM
A very impressive accomplishment, especially for the time. Sadly safe and slow is not what big customers want. And so UR, et all, reigns. Individuals should have purchased these. Small companies.
Improve and automate bread
palmbread.com/open_researc...
palmbread.com/open_researc...
October 6, 2025 at 10:42 PM
Improve and automate bread
palmbread.com/open_researc...
palmbread.com/open_researc...
The Netflix series"Love, Death and Robots" is always a mixed bag. But season 4 episode 4 "The other large thing" is a fun watch. Cats and robots ... What could go wrong?
October 6, 2025 at 12:29 AM
The Netflix series"Love, Death and Robots" is always a mixed bag. But season 4 episode 4 "The other large thing" is a fun watch. Cats and robots ... What could go wrong?
Headline 'AI attempts murder to avoid shutdown'.
Duh. Our current AI 'strategy': "Here is everything we've done or imagined, try to be just like us ... Um.. no... Wait... Not like that!"
Duh. Our current AI 'strategy': "Here is everything we've done or imagined, try to be just like us ... Um.. no... Wait... Not like that!"
October 2, 2025 at 11:53 PM
Headline 'AI attempts murder to avoid shutdown'.
Duh. Our current AI 'strategy': "Here is everything we've done or imagined, try to be just like us ... Um.. no... Wait... Not like that!"
Duh. Our current AI 'strategy': "Here is everything we've done or imagined, try to be just like us ... Um.. no... Wait... Not like that!"
Explains WHY social media is bad. Amazing!
youtu.be/CYlon2tvywA
youtu.be/CYlon2tvywA
Something Strange Happens When You Trace How Connected We Are
YouTube video by Veritasium
youtu.be
October 1, 2025 at 5:58 AM
Explains WHY social media is bad. Amazing!
youtu.be/CYlon2tvywA
youtu.be/CYlon2tvywA
Bay Area Maker Faire 2025
photos.app.goo.gl/oScmP7gsKnn6...
photos.app.goo.gl/oScmP7gsKnn6...
BAMF 2025 · Saturday, Sep 27 📸
Shared album · Tap to view!
photos.app.goo.gl
September 28, 2025 at 2:06 AM
Bay Area Maker Faire 2025
photos.app.goo.gl/oScmP7gsKnn6...
photos.app.goo.gl/oScmP7gsKnn6...
Has a better chance of working than most. Headstart with Aloha. Now working at all levels, not just "end to end" pixels to motion. Recognizing objects, segmenting, LLM in the mix, pre thinking, planning, all of that. And collecting the data and learning.
developers.googleblog.com/en/building-...
developers.googleblog.com/en/building-...
Building the Next Generation of Physical Agents with Gemini Robotics-ER 1.5- Google Developers Blog
Gemini Robotics-ER 1.5, now available to developers, is a state-of-the-art embodied reasoning model for robots.
developers.googleblog.com
September 26, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Has a better chance of working than most. Headstart with Aloha. Now working at all levels, not just "end to end" pixels to motion. Recognizing objects, segmenting, LLM in the mix, pre thinking, planning, all of that. And collecting the data and learning.
developers.googleblog.com/en/building-...
developers.googleblog.com/en/building-...
That can't really work, can it?
spectrum.ieee.org/hyperspectra...
spectrum.ieee.org/hyperspectra...
Smartphones Can Now See Beyond RGB With Simple Card Trick
Transform your phone into a pocket spectrometer with just a card and an algorithm.
spectrum.ieee.org
September 24, 2025 at 9:39 PM
That can't really work, can it?
spectrum.ieee.org/hyperspectra...
spectrum.ieee.org/hyperspectra...
Random factoids:
- There are 2 different headlight types for the 2005 prius. One has a brain.
- Rubber plug in tab on brake pedal pushes button when released. Rubber hardens / shatters. Brake lights never go off.
- Cities raise water pressure to support new development. Your sprinklers burst.
- There are 2 different headlight types for the 2005 prius. One has a brain.
- Rubber plug in tab on brake pedal pushes button when released. Rubber hardens / shatters. Brake lights never go off.
- Cities raise water pressure to support new development. Your sprinklers burst.
September 24, 2025 at 4:58 AM
Random factoids:
- There are 2 different headlight types for the 2005 prius. One has a brain.
- Rubber plug in tab on brake pedal pushes button when released. Rubber hardens / shatters. Brake lights never go off.
- Cities raise water pressure to support new development. Your sprinklers burst.
- There are 2 different headlight types for the 2005 prius. One has a brain.
- Rubber plug in tab on brake pedal pushes button when released. Rubber hardens / shatters. Brake lights never go off.
- Cities raise water pressure to support new development. Your sprinklers burst.