Work in progress is the end recipient of tasks queued in the Workshop area.

2005 line is closed. Current Work in Progress

Dec 2005: AC&CI Articles: Article 02 and Gadget 01 availables
Dec 2005: AC&CI Articles: moldings
Dec 2005: AC&CI contribution: Muriel donates a mechanical vacuum pump
Nov 2005: AC&CI Articles: Creature #8.02 progress and vacuum system
Nov 2005: AC&CI Articles: Creature #8 progress
Nov 2005: AC&CI Articles: fund rising initiative
Oct 2005: XMB About Will, Action and Masterblasters
Sep 2005: XMB hiccup
Jul 2005: XMB new line
Jul 2005: XMB CFD analysis progress
May-Jun 2005: XMB resolution from Commercial & Financements campaign
Mar-Apr 2005: XMB Commercial & Financements campaign
Mar-Apr 2005: XMB Carsic Works
08 Mar 2005: XMB MCE fix
01 Mar 2005: AS3 Meeting with Interconnekt LLC
26 Feb 2005: XMB Daniel and the MCE Training Program
09 Feb 2005: XMB Rapid Prototyping of the Masterblaster Control Exoskeleton (MCE) begins

XMB= Masterblaster; AS3= Aerodynamic Smart Skin System: get a brief on the Projects

I took a strategic break from Creature 8 and focalised in getting some simpler product done and available for sale as my economical situation is tragical. So here they are Article 02 and Gadget 01

Article 02 is a 1ft span / 2 gr stealth flexible embryo for the low Reynolds corner:

the amazing and magic Serial No 006 being hold on my right hand

See it in Articles

Gadget 01 are fashion gloves in broccato tissue:

Muriel is testing flight stability of Article 01 prototype 01, which didn't get on the train for this issue today

Under such a stressful situation, the focus and determination I placed in delivering these two products have been absolutely induced by Muriel, who provided fundamental logistics too. Current front page of the website is dedicated to her as a tribute.

I remark that I do not have the money TO EAT and i don't give up my mission: surely i'm kind of stupid and i've got a lot of psychological problems, but at least they coincide explicitly with my life, i don't HIDE. I want to do Aerial Creatures and Cognitive Integration, that's what i claim i want to do in life and that's what i do.

"Quando sei nato non puoi più nasconderti" (an italian movie: "Once you've born, you cannot hide anymore")

And with this last sentence, i leave you to Year 2006

Coming out with open molding techniques: extreme low cost molds, testing laminations, bagging Article 01 prototypes in fiberglass/epoxy

Here the first donation within the Shares & Contribution initiative: Muriel pays 15euro for a mechanical vacuum pump, serviced from a home freezer. The pump works beautifully and has already been used intensively for bagging Article 01 prototypes in fiberglass/epoxy and others unconventional lamination tests

And now a tribute to Muriel, the donor of the above vacuum pump :-))))

Muriel, flying silohuetted against the Pacific Ocean, in her typical "leg first" attitude, actually due to a terribly aching ladder, embedded in her harness under her knees. She's got another harness now btw

Muriel, our superheroine doing some uphill after a top landing performed on a 5x5 meters spot

Yes, flying!

Creature #8 prototype 02 being launched by Muriel right into the camera

Muriel schiouuhhhhhhauwwwwwwww

Tu vois l' oiseau la bas? vas-y coco

gniiiiiilkkkkkkkkkkkk

The beast flashing by (don't know what you think of this shot but i find it awesome)

la on est dans le domaine de l'epouvantable

Zen and the art of prototype launch

Muriel artwork: clay creature, come to tell us fairy tales from outer dimensions

Muriel: esprit de finesse

Muriel and her new Independence Dragon paraglider

Humming under the rain, no space in the workshop, head drilling noises from the workshop, no space in the world, head banging noises from the world, i'm ages away from this reality. Humming:

remember when you were young
you shone like the sun
shine on you crazy diamond
threatened by shadows at night
and exposed to the light
shine on you crazy diamond
you reached for the secret too soon
and cried for the moon
shine on you crazy diamond

anybody wishing to give me life lessons? just please fuck off

Et voilà, here it is, working at last. the amount of cuss needed to have a vacuum system working is exponentially proportional to (the amount of vacuum you want divided by the money you have): cuss=exp((1-p)/$). The budget for the system was 20E, i still have 5E left

These are the shoulders -or alien face, if your mind is switching on it- that will wear the Masterblaster

Creature #8 prototype 01 being flown by Muriel right into the Pacific Ocean

A native flying the prototype

Fairy tale

A spy from Boeing Phantom Works, pretending to look nonchalancy to our surveillance system

Muriel spotting the guy

Muriel in ridge flying just round the corner

Vacuum pump for the vacuum bagging issue: failed temptative to use a very old cilinder+piston attached to a band saw. Lacking of vacuum meter, actual depression is measured by the enlarging of a rubber balloon closed inside a Pisco Sour bottle :-(

Creature #8 coming out on theCAD in one hour work time from basic sketch to actual geometry

Actual shadow of Creature #8, the prototype of a 5-line kite to be used for aerial choreographies. Model is built out of plain greenhouse plastic and PVC tubing, for a total amount of 4 US$ investment. That's the budget for R&D by now.

Yours truly with the prototype, before wiring it and going flight testing

The cardboard box outlined here has travelled more than 13500 km with me, has about 3 distinct addresses written on it and hasn't yet found a peaceful place where to be properly emptied out. It contains the total amount of hardware i piled up on the XMB project till now: 6+1 DOF control exoskeleton for the X-Plane simulator, data acquisition wirings from the Aerodynamic Smart Skin System and other crazy stuff.
I have payed 150 US$ through the customs of Argentina for this, representing the 25% of the total amount of money i had at that time.
it seems that Aerial Creatures & Cognitive Integration mission is worth nothing (read the results of more than one year of financement seeking) but oh yes as soon as i get something done it is good for being immediately sucked and drained by the system. I'm laughing at this absurdity.

I found this thing just outside where i live. Never dealt with such sort of things ever before in my life, haven't a clue if it is poisonous, mortal or what. Just blocked and grabbed it alive. Basic sensations :-)

This is a side note concerning general thoughts. They are induced by the troubled path this project is following.

Abstract: Reality works by itself and does things. Stop adding intellectual or social superstructures and tweak Reality itself to your will (no less no more!)

These last months I've spent my time living into "natural dynamics": how things are organized, structured and working in Nature, without any superstructure. South America features this explicitly, the wilderness is everywhere and man is more on its basics... and, as far as i was concerned in europe, i could not find or was able to tangle my project to any existing superstructure which could help me, so it's like i was in plain natural dynamics there too. These experiences washed most of the "european" and "old school" frame set to which i hanged to, both on the technical side and on the financing strategy.

Where does the energy come from, how shape and dynamics can be blended to your will without the need to code an entire artificial environment. Since primary school, you are grown up in a technical and social mind set which makes you think and act in the "human" fashion: you need artificial plugs and methods where your "human" way of thinking can actually do things. An example? The need to measure. You are building a warehouse in the wild and you need to measure, cut, level, join, lift any sort of wooden beams, force the them into your way of thinking. Why? Because you think space and matter as being completely uncoupled as a start, and you just populate the former with the latter following some delire or need. It is a by product of the so called "abstract" capacities of our mind... the capacity to isolate concepts, which is good as a starting point, but needs some further tweaking in order not to "rewire" an existing reality from tip to toe (what i call "the old school") in order to act. You must -instead- think in code. Look at your legs, they are more or less the same length, now tell me comme diable your body is knowing WHEN or HOW they must be equal length.... is it measuring them? It's you who sees them equal length, your body doesn't know, it just makes them like that. See the astonishing power of the subjacent dynamics. And look around, this thing is working by itself since the night of genetics and evolution, think how ridiculous is man trying to imitate nature without grabbing the ultimate essence of nature: there is NO (human) WILL in nature. Will is a human plug in.

So, as in nanotubes, the lesson i try to learn here is a sort of "zen and the art of archery": how to tweak reality to your will without insisting on the "old school", and without transforming yourself in a tibetan monk.

Space and matter (and many other physical concepts) are actually determined by the actions/interactions among them, rather then being absolute concepts (remember, i've never seen a concept flying through another one except that in my mind: but i have seen and i have been into aircrafts flying into the sky (yet not for enough time :-) ))
Actually in Physics there is a quantity which is called action and it is a good place where to mix interactions. I'd like to present you action as an equivalent of information... action is the product of energy and time (but also of space and momentum,... etc: it is measured in kg * m^2 * s^-1) . Action has a volume described in energy and time coordinates, information as i can understand it is actually possible thanks to an energy "holding" it and a time at which it is "given", forget about interpretation of information by now. Quantum mechanics enlighten aspects of this, and i began to develop a personal understanding and extrapolation of this in my memory work in cognitive science here (Do not miss the "Heisenberg reloaded" chapter and the cognitive Planck constant :-) )
Now, whatever we try to feel, do or understand, we are going through information: as far as information is concerned, you can apply this to whatever discipline and "scaling" you like. So the job is learning to tweak reality to your will by understanding where the action is and how to swing it :-)
Nothing new under the sun, except that we have a tendency to forget the working! dynamics subjacent to our human "superstructures".

About Will, Action and Masterblasters, i will write this book one day, be sure it will be a best seller.

Swinging in a moment of total despair in Chile, Oct 2005

(p.s. photos you see in this page are taken with digital cameras from people i ask to. I don't have the money to buy one. 70 Euro and 10000 chilean pesos it's all i have today)

"It looks you are in an adventure" (Skip Stewart, SkipStewartAirshows) (see Jul 2005)

The adventure is really on. Location and logistics at 12000 km from "home"(there is no more home for this project and me too) were an aeroclub in Argentina -actual location i prefer to keep untold- where i was supposed to develop contacts, help and then actual solid geometry of the masterblaster, by working in an Experimental Aircraft/amateur building method mind set. I faced a friendly atmosphere upfront, but behind my shoulders all sorts of mixture among distrust, aging contrasts among aeroclub sections, good will of the president, and finally the unproper formulation of a formal act which authorized me to stay there (sorry for travelling 12000 km to discover this), ended up in an officially -out of the blue- resolution to make me leave the facilities. I managed to talk to the aeroclub board and realized that those folks had no idea on how to tackle a personality like mine, didn't even understand the project itself and the opportunity handed to them too (this is no news, read the former story of this project) and just ended up in "shooting because i was moving". Things could have improved but i elected not to deal with such a mentality any more. What saturates me more in people is the inability to see the big target and hang on the details of the everyday lousy life, to which they keep hanging on with no absolute or even relative vision.

I met a couple of personalities there which (as Skip Stewart says) i'm proud to call my friends. South America mentalities, people whose story you could write romances about (the "ultratuerca" has surely escaped from "Cien anos de soledad" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and has come among us). Hey anybody out there interested in writing my biography? i sell the rights.

So i crossed the Andes and came to Chile where some of my relatives live, the Pacific Ocean and the Andes are providing a challenging natural environment (Argentinian pampa drained hopes). Basically i glided with no more money in my pockets and here i am rebuilding the basic economy of everyday's life in its most basic form, as the Argentinian connection was the ultimate card i was playing. Enough stress and despair to drive yourself crazy, it looks i'm fitting perfectly the "inventor" picture, who ends up in ruin while holding an intellectual property sufficient enough to build an hyperspace drive :-)

No clue what is my definite explicit fault in all this since i boarded on the Masterblaster project, except that i was shooting for the big target from the start. It looks everybody loves dead determined people but they love to watch them struggling instead than joining efforts with them. Funny people.

Early morning in Argentina, Creature #7 for the Haute Voltige RC connection appears by magic amidst all sorts of troubles with the aeroclub. In the background, a chapter apart: Cote'. Photo layout by Luis

Chapter apart: Cote' and i

Event horizon on leaving the aeroclub facilities

Thanks to the Carsic Works mind set and work, Masterblaster will be developed as an experimental aircraft in an EAA fashion. Location and logistics have been granted. Marco is travelling "there" on 18th July 2005. I'm not keen into delivering details now. Will see later on.

"It looks you are in an adventure" (Skip Stewart, SkipStewartAirshows)

"Selection and maintenance of aim" (K. von Clausewitz)

Thanks to the super Giorgio Travostino, actually the ONLY person being constantly active in the program beside me, knowledge of the Masterblaster flight stability hydiosyncrasia has improved a lot. Panel method CFD analysis are being cross checked by "Georg/Georgesky" and confiance on the results of the analysis is established ("Georg, you know that through the numbers you're giving me NOW i will actually build and FLY the Masterblaster"). I wish to remember you all that Georg worked on the CFD analysis of this thing here

All things summed up, the financements campaign started in Oct 2004 produced a net value of:

- a LOT of talkings, smiles, congratulations, and people being fashioned by the idea
- a LOT of travelling
- ZERO people understanding what a partnership is, understanding they need to roll up their shirtsleeves and start working

- a collection / a list of people i'm proud to call "mezze seghe", a very vulgar italian term standing for people with little human value and absolutely no dorsal spine, typically speaking from high tones and ranks

The campaign is over.

Most of Mar and Apr has seen Marco travelling all over the north of Italy, presenting and discussing the project to potential composite manufacturers, design companies, rapid prototypers, aerotechnical designers/manufacturers and a couple of university depts (bioengineering and numerical analysis). The harvest is:

• A financement plan may be set up in partnership with the numerical analysis dept. I liked the guy there, and he was enthusiast with the project and with me too (i liked his smile :-). He looks a guy that understands how to steer away the usual crap/asynergies polluting university environments, and his dept has already had experience in dealing with the industry and financements. GOOD. Now will see what he will come up with
• Another form of financing may come out from a major european designer firm: they would be dealing with the commercial/financements/venture capitalist stuff, they will raise surely a lot of money in a short time. The only inconvenient is that they were a bit too much loose about the contract terms and -nonetheless the masterblaster is "a good design already as you've done it" (!!! it's their words!)) - "it will of course come out with our name". HMMMMMMMMM. So there's some hard legal stuff to be careful here and i'm organizing this front. Did i like their smile? Not impressive.
• A rapid prototyping foundry/molding company had a NICE smile about the project but unfortunately didn't provide an integrated environment for the whole thing. I'm considering linking the whole environment around them though i know it will result in less synergy along the prototyping process..... OWHHHHHHHHH I want MY SKUNK WORKS where are you Kelly oh my!
• The bioengineering guys looked interested in attaching some studies on the physiology of masterblaster flying and the masterblaster control interface, but let's see how they will be kicking in the next weeks.... hmmmmm
• Established contacts with a newfounded composite material association, let's see how I develop this one now
• The usual dose of crap people wearing a tie or not you find around. In the past i would have related here about these guys, but i don't have time to loose telling you how poor minded you too could be when a partnership in such a beast is offered you.
• Got some linking and publications across the web related to Aerial Creatures & Cognitive Integration

The final trick is that the program features ONE MONTH delay from nominal schedule right now :-[

Carsic works.... sounds nice. Kelly had skunks, I have carsism stuff, rivers flowing beneath the earth, eroding their way through carbonated rocks. In Masterblaster terms, it means "My Way": the project goes on no matter what all the other people are pretending to delay their own decisions, or my finances are (0 net right now)

So i've begun to anticipate a method for building control surface articulations without the use of explicit hinges... something i'd like to develop on the XMB with these "structural" engineers i'm supposed to find somewhere (i've seen just plain people around since now, where are THEM? (They who understand what's the game and therefore INVENT)).
I'm building a proof-of-concept model "creature" aircraft with this method, that will also be a product for "Aerial Creatures & Cognitive Integration". Cannot say more, I'm rather satisfied with her since now ;-)

After 4 weeks of rapid prototyping and short simulated flight trials at Logoslab facilities -kindly hosting this part of the venture-, the Masterblaster Control Exoskeleton (MCE) is ready to undergo a functional evaluation, fixing and standardisation of flight procedures under the X-Plane simulator

MCE as is now features 6 DOF + 1 DOF, a maximum of 4 can be functionally monitored by the X-Plane simulator to actually drive control surfaces (Austin Meyer -the X-Plane developer- will hopefully clear this in release 8.10, thanks Austin)

MCE features a conformal body interface and a passive force system, capable of delivering the pilot a range of +200N -200N to simulate actual control forces

MCE allows to:

• perfectionate actual control design in the Masterblaster CAD model by giving functional and hands on experience
• practice the motorial coordination needed to fly the Masterblaster
• execute flight maneuvres which were impossible to fly under the standard joystick control interface and therefore prove the spectacularity and choreographical richness intrinsic in the control concept
• show the Masterblaster capabilities to potential investors both visually and on a hands on perspective, as the full MCE is extremely lightweight, can be dismantled and carried in a couple of bags

Up to date, the following has been simulated via the MCE:

• coordinated lined up approaches and landings to a full stop
• coordinated high alpha flight and flat skydiving attitude, rolls
• an "on the spot" but focused training program (see MCE Training Program issue on this page) to a 16 years old novice masterblaster pilot, my cousin Daniel. This excellent subject flared and landed the 4DOF@30% masterblaster in less than half an hour total time starting from no knowledge at all of the masterblaster physics and control philosophy. This is the first experimental evidence on how the control concept is received by a subject different than me.

No geometry, video, photo and other related explicit information can be released here because of intellectual and industrial property issues. If you are interested, visit the partnership section of this program and write me your thoughts about it

An informal meeting with the CEO of Interconnekt LLC, NV has been carried in order to discuss the terms of the contract for the exploitation and development of the AS3 patent

Daniel is 16, flies on conventional simulators and drives "quads" motor vehicles for real in some competitions. Daniel is my cousin who happened to drop a visit here from Chile.
Experience with Daniel allowed me to prove the validity of a Training Program consisting in

Step 1: 2DOF@20%

• user is released a 2 DOF (Degrees-Of-Freedom) machine with limited command effectiveness (20% of full design effectiveness). This machine is called 2DOF@20% and is operated as a glider (engine is off)
• user body is strapped on the full exoskeleton with mechanical locks on the DOFs not used by the current machine
• user is dropped from 45000' and let familiarize with relationships among control movements, forces and "behavioural" flight effects. The user is NOT given any explanations concerning the mechanics and aerodynamics of control relationships, or other clues which may induce doubtful beliefs a priori on the control strategy
• when the user shows an understanding and a capability to control the flight and execute basic manoeuvers asked by the trainer (level flight, bank turn, slow flight, stall and recovery), some physical and mechanical informations are released in order to reinforce the acquired control experience. in addition, an external "chase plane" view is allowed, in order to let the user see the actual surfaces moved on the vehicle and their effects
• the user is then dropped from 5000' AGL over an airport and asked to line up with geographical features and runways
• the user is asked to line up, approach and land over a runway of his choice. when a barely passable landing is achieved, the user is upgraded to the next step. landing technique is not stressed on the 2DOF machine, as the 2DOF machine landing technique bears little relation to the actual machine: landing task is given more as a visual and emotional "hook up" task

Step 2: 4DOF@20%

• the user is released a 4 DOF machine with the same command effectiveness of the 2DOF machine, mechanical locks are removed from the 2 additional DOFs
• the user is passed through the whole previous program. some differences apply:
  • 45000' dropouts feature a shocking start, as the machine is typically spinning due to the uncoordinated 4 DOF control position: the user is asked to fix the original 2 DOF on the neutral position acquired on the previous step, and then work his way out of the remaining 2
  • user experiences redundancy in control effects as far as the pitch and roll axis are concerned: this is natural as the 4 DOF masterblaster is a variable angle of attack versus constant attitude machine (and vs). the user is given a few hints to barely get himself oriented, as the mastering of this feature is where one of the innovative control tricks is all about
  • the user is given a hint on how to coordinate a proper landing flare in terms of "leading DOFs" and "trailing DOFs" on the force chain felt across his body. this is a technical issue difficult to figure out in abstract but much more practical to be felt and carried out when strapped on the MCE.
    this technical issue was developed by my experience in test flying the machine via the MCE, integrating my experience in sports like swording and gymnastics (where a highly degree of coordination is seeked for and technically builded), studies in classical piano touch control and in cognitive science.

Step 3: 4DOF@30%

• a 4DOF but 30% control effectiveness machine is released and the user is let free to do whatever he likes

on step 3, Daniel showed natural coordination, no control reversals of any sort, some basic aerobatics, and flawless glided landings (even if a bit hot)

all this was achieved in less than 30' total time from the beginning of the training program (!!!)

i think i must release him a patch as the first masterblaster evaluation pilot :-)

Schedule calls for making a Masterblaster Control Exoskeleton to be used on ground for simulation, iron bed and fixings. Logoslab (Andrea Laschi and his Wife) will provide the necessary environment, tooling and logistics. Thanks a lot Andrea and Marzia.

Reasons for making the MCE include:

• perfectionate actual control design in the Masterblaster CAD model by giving functional and hands on experience
• practice the motorial coordination needed to fly the Masterblaster
• execute flight maneuvres which were impossible to fly under the standard joystick control interface and therefore prove the spectacularity and choreographical richness intrinsic in the control concept
• show the Masterblaster capabilities to potential investors both visually and on a hands on perspective