It's Always Rainy in Korea-delphia

Things I've learned about South Korea:
1. Don't go outside during the month of August.  It's a bad sign when your glasses fog up from the humidity as you walk out the door.
2. Bread and butter pickles are a very popular pizza side-dish.

Project status as of 4 August 2013:
I'm working through some issues in the Beta DRC Hubo Solidworks model in order to make another export of the URDF model.  The entire mass of the Hubo is still larger than it should be (about 54 kg compared to around 47 kg) and I suspect that the density of the bolts may be greater than in reality.  Geometric issues with the parts have been fixed; the wrist poles are the correct length.  The majority of the electronics boards have been added to the model.

I'm waiting on Tae-Jin's instruction on how to assemble the rest of the hands to complete the build instructions, but it seems unlikely as the last batch of parts won't arrive until next week.  The shoulder assembly should be similar to the assembly of the Hubo2+, but I can't guarantee that the steps will be 100% accurate.

Notable photos:
Prof. Oh took Nick, Will and I out for dinner last Tuesday as a sort of welcome/farewell event.

Dinner with Prof. Oh and company.

I'm still not sure what is the difference between Korean style sashimi and Japanese style sashimi.  Maybe it's how it's cooked?

One fish, two fish, raw fish, why is the waitress bending over in the corner?

Moves in your mouth...

Om nom nom...

Alex was in Daejeon this weekend and I was instructed to bring the Hubo Lab crew out for a night of mandatory drinking.

Korean BBQ.

"Yes, call the bar 'THE THE THE'.  Did I stutter?"

Seeing that it was my last weekend in Daejeon, I decided to walk aroundthe city and check out some of the museums and Expo Park, the site of the 1993 International Science Exposition.  Unfortunately, the rain from earlier in the morning blocked off most of the bridges connecting the north and south parts of the city.

The Bridge Under the River Kwai.

Going to Korea to see fine American art.  I was also the only American there.  Awkward...

A sculpture made of La-z-boys was sitting next to this.

Some of the pieces on display were from the Philadelphia Art Museum.  I feel like it would be easier for me to see them in Philly any other time but I probably won't.

Here we have some... painting?  I'm an engineer, not an art historian.

I've seen people take pictures with cellphone cameras, but this is a little too much.

"What is this?  A museum for ants!"

Speaking of art, here's a sketch of Daenerys Targaryen from Game of Thrones (reference) I made as a gift to Nick and Will for putting up with me for the last 2 months.  I guess it turned out OK.

The only robot story I want to hear is how to assemble the Hubo.

Things I've learned about myself:
1. I'm still bad at pool but I'm 'meh' at darts.
2. Sashimi isn't too bad.

Non-Hubo Lab Koreans/non-Koreans I've met:
I met Alex's friends, Inae and Bora, at Yellow Taxi when walking around Dunsan.

I'm 24 Somewhere

Things I've learned about South Korea:
1. Your age in South Korea is one year older than your physical age (i.e. you are considered 1 year old when you are born).  Due to this fact and due to the time difference between South Korea and the US, I was briefly both 25 in South Korea and 23 in the US.

Project status as of 29 July 2013:
I was able to export another DRC Hubo URDF model which Rob added to the Git repository.  I'm working to update the mass properties and update some of the parts, such as the wrist poles.  I was shown how to assemble the DRC Hubo fingers, and I've created the build steps for the process in Solidworks.

Notable photos:
I decided I'd take a look around the National Museum of Korea in Yongsan-gu, Seoul.  I was there once before in Spring 2009, and I wanted to see what, if anything, was different (and also see how much of an upgrade my camera was).

National Museum of Korea (2013).

National Museum of Korea (2009).

Main floor (2013).

Main floor (2009).

Stone pagoda (2013).

Stone Pagoda (2009).

Buddha head (2013).

Buddha head (2009).

Top floor (2013).

Top floor (2009).

What did the Buddha say to the hotdog vendor?...

"Make me one with everything."

Indian statue (2013).

Indian statue (2009).

This... thing (2013).

This... thing (2009).

The Gong Show (2013).

The Gong Show (2009).

Bell (2013).

Bell (2009).

Dan Lofaro's impression of the bell (2009).

After touring the museum, I went looking for gifts to bring back to the US.  My sister wanted some kind of band shirt, so I decided to go to Dongdaemun to go shopping.

Dongdaemun "Flea" market.

Pervert's number is either incredibly ironic or a stroke of genius.

*Clutches self*... "Phew.  That's a relief."

Retailers of fine and funny clothing.

War of nutrition...

I decided to take the subway from Daejeon Station to Wolpyeong (KAIST's stop) and ran into a few English/Americans who were headed to a bar in Dunsan-Dong called Cantina.  I'm surprised it wasn't run by Richard Pryor...

Who (drank) shot(s) first?

Things I've learned about myself:
1.I'm incredibly bad at billiards.

Non-Hubo Lab Koreans/non-Koreans I've met:
I don't know if this counts, but I met the brother of a Hubo Lab member by chance at Cantina.  One of the English guys was talking with a Korean guy, Guk-Jin, at the bar and somehow it was brought up that I work at KAIST.  Guk-Jin informed me that his brother, Tae-Jin worked at Hubo Lab.  Needless to say, he bought me plenty of drinks that night.

Tae-Jin's brother, Guk-Jin.

Take a Hike!

Things I've learned about South Korea:
1. The Jirisan mountain range is one of the tallest mountain ranges on the Korean peninsula.  It's also reportedly a haven of North Korean spies (this information coming from Inho, who might possibly be a North Korean spy himself).
2. Koreans LOVE hiking.  Many of the Korean hikers I saw looked like they had just come out of REI.
3. When hiking, be sure to take at least two 2 liter bottles of cold water with you (possibly Gatorade/Powerade) and bring food.  BRING FOOD!
4. Jjimjilbangs (saunas) and mountain climbing have the same cardinal rule: don't look down.
5. In Korea, hospital patients are perfectly fine walking around the streets in hospital linens and pulling IV poles to go to convenience stores.
6. GS25's sell soju mixers and... IV bags?

Project status as of 22 July 2013:
The exploded assembly drawings of the right leg, pelvis, and torso are complete.  I was able to export an URDF model of the right-side of the DRC Hubo last week.  The masses of the bodies still need to be verified.  The construction of the DRC Hubo arm is scheduled to take place tomorrow afternoon and I expect to have the arm build steps documented by the end of the week.

Notable photos: 

Road to Jungsan-ni trails.

Boo Boo: "Frankly, Yogi, I'm sick of your shortcomings!"
Yogi: "If I go down, I'm taking you with me!"

Do Androids Dream of Electric Bears?

Gotta collect 'em all!

"Now entering bear country.  Great..."

"Now leaving snake country... O_O"

Calen was trying to catch dragonflies throughout the hike.  This was his reaction immediately after one flew away.

Cannonball!

Everyone's so lively and I was on the verge of passing out.

Help keep Jirisan the the tallest mountain in Korea by stacking rocks.

It was creaking the whole way over...

We brought some spirits for the top.  Here we are approaching the summit of Mt. Makgeolli.

Cue Fleetwood Mac.

Picture of Jirisan from the bottom.

Cory was wiped out afterwards.  I was, too.

Dinner time with my three favorite guests: Sam, Gyup, and Sal.

*Mouth watering noises*

Things I've learned about myself:
1. It's possible for me to hike up a mountain with a 20% gradient for about 4.7 km but not without being congested, dehydrated, and overheated.
2. Just like the Grinch, my waistline shrank 3 sizes that day.

Non-Hubo Lab Koreans/non-Koreans I've met:
Over the weekend, I met Sophie Choi, who is the home-stay host of Emily (another EAPSI fellow).

Sophie and me.

Sophie and me again.