Startup School

My name is Rob Lockhart. I'm a student at New York University and I work teaching robotics and designing robots here in NYC.

My Goals Are These:

1. To Create a Successful Tech Startup (more about that later)
2. To get into grad school for Robotics (despite the fact that I am earning a BFA in Film&TV production [with minors in Math and Computer Science, I must always add])
3. To solve the "hard problem."

At a glance, it might seem as if the first two are mutually exclusive. They are. If #1 doesn't work out, I'll do #2, and vice versa. Right now I'm pursuing both equally.

What is the "hard problem?" It is also called the mind-brain problem and also known as artificial intelligence. How close am I to this goal? Not in the same universe.

I just got back from Startup School in California, and I'm still a little high on the liquid optimism that flows 6 feet deep through Silicon Valley. Check out this talk by DHH: http://www.justin.tv/hackertv/97862/DHH_Talk__Startup_School_2008
He really brought the house down.

I'm sure I'll spend a lot of time talking about my own startup prospect- My First Fabber. We're working on it. I met a lot of talented developers out there and I'm sure a lot of their work is going to blow up pretty soon. Here are some of the folks I'm talking about:
http://www.biographicon.com/
http://www.noloh.com/
http://www.ijigg.com/
And many more...

As for myself, since I'm not really a software guy- not yet, anyway- a lot of what was talked about went over my head. I'm a hacker of a different sort, but I was treated well despite my ignorance.

I'm also trying to learn Mathematica in preparation fro NKS Summer school in Vermont, avidly missing my girlfriend in Wellesley, MA, and trying to get all my homework done AND pay rent. I've got a lot on my plate.

I hope that I will have enough to share with all of you folks as the months stretch on. I have a feeling that this blog will serve to distract me more I will like, but all the better for you readers. Well, I'm off to ask my friends on the NYU programming team to help me debug some Sun software, then to a dinner party.

Keep Thinking Robot,

-Rob
www.thinkroboteducation.com