JD (@TheEmptyCrown) header
JD (@TheEmptyCrown) profile picture

Software builder learning to build in the physical world. Currently: a small autonomous robot that runs and thinks offline.

USA
Joined May 2026
Photo by JD (@TheEmptyCrown)Photo by JD (@TheEmptyCrown)Photo by JD (@TheEmptyCrown)Photo by JD (@TheEmptyCrown)Photo by JD (@TheEmptyCrown)
Apparently, building a small robot eventually turns into designing its autobiography.
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MK-1 can now store dated observations from selected images and compare them later. The tricky part, “I don’t see the key” doesn’t establish that someone moved it. Live camera integration is still ahead, but the memory groundwork is there.
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WALL-E is partly to blame for this project. MK-1 now has a first pass at gradual personality changes. small, reversible shifts in conversational style based on repeated feedback. Whether that feels coherent over weeks/time is the next question. Will see.
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Building MK-1’s memory made “forget that” surprisingly interesting. Deleting a memory also needs to remove the conclusions that depended on it. Everything stays local, and the memory store keeps selected summaries instead of entire recordings.
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Robotic update: MK-1 now remembers selected experiences across conversations we have. what I tried, how it went, and what seemed to help. It can revisit unfinished topics and revise earlier conclusions. Small steps toward a robot with some continuity.
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1/5 🧵 I just watched WALL·E, and one uncomfortable question stuck with me: What if the real danger of AI isn't robots taking over, but humans slowly giving up control? The movie came out almost 20 years ago. Somehow, it feels more relevant than ever.
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5/5 The most powerful moment isn't defeating the autopilot. It's watching humans stand up, look around, and start making their own decisions again. Maybe that's how we should measure AI progress: Does it make us more capable and free, or just more dependent?
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4/5 The most brilliant irony in WALL·E? A robot shows curiosity, affection, and a desire to explore, while humans live on autopilot. Maybe the real danger isn't machines becoming more like humans. It's humans becoming more like machines.
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3/5 AI can already write for us, summarize things we never read, and recommend what decisions to make. That can save us incredible amounts of time. But if we stop questioning its answers, we risk losing something much more important: our own judgment.
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2/5 In WALL·E, humans aren't terrified of machines. They're comfortable. Screens tell them what to watch, what to consume, and where to go. Control doesn't always arrive through force. Sometimes, it arrives disguised as convenience.
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This is one of the coolest things happening right now
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This will be life changing for so many people.
Neuralink’s first product is called Telepathy. It enables high-speed communication with computers or humans simply by thinking. Output bandwidth will vastly exceed the fastest human speech or typing in a few years. Read that sentence again.
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That would be awesome.
Our second product is called Blindsight and it will, as the name suggests, enable even those who are completely blind or have never seen to see. It is ready from an engineering standpoint. Just waiting on regulatory approval.
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MK-1 has been moving in simulation. The next step involves real encoders, wheel calibration, sensor placement and mapping my home. We have software to reuse, plus integration work ahead. I’m looking forward to debugging something with actual wheels.
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Found a rover kit for $391. Then came the Raspberry Pi, LiDAR, batteries and mounting details. Robotics has a special talent for turning “that seems affordable” into a spreadsheet. Still planning the build; nothing ordered yet.
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Tested a more natural local speech pipeline for MK-1. Sounded much better. Then memory pressure ended the conversation. Voice, transcription, the language model and navigation all share a hardware budget. That budget is now getting measured.
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Gate 5 for MK-1: turning the simulation into a hardware plan. First target is a rover that moves between rooms, avoids obstacles and responds to voice commands. Starting indoors, with manual charging and later with its own dock maybe using april tag. The park adventures can wait.
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I'm gonna blast this banger in the gym today for two straight hours!
At this moment in history, when France is at risk of disappearing, my friend @Erga3x and I decided to perform a 19th-century hymn to Saint Joan of Arc, who led French troops during the Hundred Years’ War and reclaimed the throne.⚜️ More than six centuries after her trafic death, Joan remains a symbol of courage and love for one’s country. She reminds us that even when everything seems lost, a single person driven by faith and determination can awaken an entire nation. (Find the link to our folk music channel in the description.)
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PEAK COMEDY
Whoever wrote this script is genius 😂
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Friend: “Why not just buy a turtle robot and add/sync your AI?” Me: "$2,884 to skip the fun?" No thanks. Im building MK-1 my way. By “my way,” I mean the hard way, because I dont know shit about robotics yet. The bugs come included at no extra charge.
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