2016: Year in Preview

I have mentioned before that I don't make New Year's Resolutions, but the start of a new year is a good point to take stock, before exams and term hit. So in this post, I wanted to take a look at what's on my horizon in 2016, and what I hope to have achieved by the year end. Let's break that down into three strands: research, making and the blog.

Research: There are a few strands going on here. First and foremost, there's an obvious one: deliver WHISPER successfully. That stands to reason: we've taken the King's Shilling (well, the DfT's permission to bill them for the cost of the project), and now we have to make good on our promises. It's not trivial, it won't be easy, but it will be interesting.

Then there are research proposals. I'm aiming to get five submitted this year. Last year, I had set myself the challenge of working on more collaborative grants, and it really paid off. This year, I've got five grants earmarked for submission (including one submitted in the time it took me to write this post - so I'm on my way!).

Then there are research publications. Let's go with two high quality journal papers (the 3*/4* REF type, not just the basic science). I've got one on in draft - and an idea for another, if the data goes our way. That's a big if, of course: but such is the way of science. Refuting your hunches is important, but you only get the real attention when they pay off. But that's out of my hands: let's just focus on getting this published.

Finally, there's FATKAT. This is going to be a big year for FATKAT, and that means I'm currently foot to the floor making the new hardware and polishing up the software ready for data gathering at the end of the month. Real data gathering - not just pilot data or validation studies. If 2014 was the year FATKAT was born, 2015 was the year of putting it through its paces: and 2016 will be the year of actually doing research with it.

Making: 2015 was a good year on the making front, I think. I didn't really make anything outside work (unless you count assembling kits!), but I got myself signed up with Leeds Hackspace, I got my Raspberry Pi setup finalised, and PiCam working, and I played around with Onion Omegas, Arduinos, CodeBugs, Soldering  Kit a Month and Flotilla. All good fun, and a good way of sharpening up the old skills. This year, though I definitely want to get some projects actually worked through - so let's set three goals. Firstly, I'd like to get hands on with the laser cutter and the 3D printer at the Hackspace. So far, everything I've done has been assembly and programming, and this year I want to explore these processes more. Secondly, I want to get OpenCV running in conjunction with my PiCam - at the bare minimum I want to have the PiCam setup self contained and portable enough that I can do a time lapse video without it plugged into the mains. Finally, I'd like to have a go at making my own interactive Christmas decoration. I know it's not much, but I figure it gives me a whole year to actually design something fancy (not just a paper chain, or cardboard cutouts...).

Blog: Finally, I'd like to get the blog up and running rather better. Weekly updates are good (even if they don't end up being exactly weekly), because they show I'm still here and the blog is alive, even when I'm busy. But few people are that interested in my day-to-day activities, and I originally intended this to be a place for thinking out loud, which I do very little of here. So, this year, I'd like firstly to keep up the regular updates, but also try to get back to putting in some additional posts on issues around the Engineering Imagination, my making experiences, and the papers I read - a chance to draw my thoughts together. We'll see how that goes. Finally, I want to make better use of tags and images on this blog - walls of text aren't very inviting.

So to summarise, in 2016 I would like to:

1. Complete WHISPER;

2. Submit five research proposals;

3. Get research results from FATKAT;

4. Validate or refute my grip model;

5. Get two high-quality journal papers submitted;

6. Use the laser cutter and 3D printer down at Leeds Hackspace;

7. Get OpenCV and timelapse video working on my PiCAM;

8. Continue weekly(ish) updates on the blog;

9. Include some non-weekly update posts; and

10. Use tags and images more on the blog.

I mean, how hard can it be? Stay tuned!