Hello and welcome to another Wednesday update, after the Speed Edition last week, this one is a little more academic.

Introduction to Machine Learning

So this Wednesday I focused on trying to complete the 4-week course on Machine Learning. I have done ML courses in the past but fancied a refresher. What I was most impressed with is how far the tools have come along to lower the bar to entry for people to use them.
Machine Learning For Kids was a great way for kids to start thinking about ML and it was super easy to use, had templates to get you going and you could even see how the ML had built its model

I also enjoyed using Teachable Machines by Google. This allowed me to make a vision-based model really quickly to play the game Paper, Scissors Rock.

MakeBlock

As mentioned 2 weeks ago I had a great call with MakeBlock, this has resulted in me being sent 3 of their latest products to have a play with. It’s really interesting to see how far they have come since their original Kickstarter back in 2012.

Burf.co

So at the weekend, I started working on making Burf.co a bit more useful. I have now added back the chatbot based on AIML which I hope to develop further. I have also cleaned up the code and added a Web Directory. I can now easily deploy it and have fixed a few proxy issues.

Reviewing the Plan

Below are the items I wanted to achieve, I am now 5-6 weeks in so it’s a good opportunity to see how I have done

• Begin Robotics : Done
• Math : Not really started
• Python course : Done
• Introducing Robotics : Awaiting Maths
• Do some practical : Ongoing via Robot head and Gwiz project
• Burf.co : Started

Redefining the plan

So I think I did alright, I think I have achieved more than is above but at the same point, that shows that I have maybe missed the point in having a plan and not sticking to it. I want to raise the bar a bit and set some harder goals to help me focus. These are part of the end-of-year goals.

• Math : Learn Algebra and kinematic
• Finish Introducing Robotics : Requires MatLab knowledge
• Start and Finish Robotic Vision: Principles of Vision : Requires MatLab knowledge
• Finish Artificial Intelligence for Robotics : This is the self driving course I really want to do but needs maths.
• Give a good shot to Machine Learning by Andrew NG : A very famous ML course
• Get Robotic head talking and listenering : Not far from this now
• Do something useful with Gwiz : Its more working out what.
• Finish Electronics course
• Start and finish Self driving course using deep learning
• Build/use already built little robot to do maze solving work (inspired by the Begin Robotics course)

I think that’s a rather challenging list but this is for the end of the year.