Computer-Assisted Dry Stone Wall Construction (with optional Augmented Reality)

Making the ancient art of dry stone wall construction accessible to anyone with arms and legs

Why?

Anyone for Tetris?

Why not?

Ingredients

• Pile of rocks
• Two cameras
• A laser, computer controlled
• A computer
• Some clever software
• A bunch of hippies
• Head-up display (optional)

Recipe

1. Fix the two cameras overlooking the pile of rocks from two different perspectives, e.g. at 60 degrees to each other
2. Set the laser somewhere between the two cameras
3. The laser should pan to create a horizontal line across the pile of rocks
4. The cameras should capture an image for each horizontal line - this provides a contour line as if slicing through the pile
5. Repeat to complete a contour map of the pile of rocks, a partial 3D model
6. Computer calculates best fitting rock to place, and laser (or head-up display) points it out
7. Hippie collects it, turns it upside down, and places it onto wall, with assistance from head-up display or laser /voice guidance
8. The laser and camera are also scanning the wall as it's being built, tracking rocks as they move, and updating next optimal rock selection & placement
9. Repeat from step 3
10. Feed hippie spinach until robots take over and put us in the zoo (those of us who aren't there already)

How to turn an idea into a business

Ok here's the definitive guide based on years of study and experience, well ok 5 minutes of Googling at least....

1. Necesity is the mother of invention
Or, as I like to say, dissatisfaction is the father of capability.

There needs to be a need. And for a need, someone needs to be dissatisfied with how things are now. In short, a problem. People will flock to your product with money in hand if they think it'll solve a problem they have, or think they have, or if the product is just plain sexy.

2. Who are the needy ones?
Who needs your product? i.e. what's your market? Is it a person, or a collective mass of disillusioned people formed into a company, government, or other organisation? Maybe even it's a thing, or an alien requiring human PR services. Whatever, whoever, do they have money or something to barter with?

3. Get help
You're a nutter for even having such a nutty idea, consider therapy or else get some other nutters to back you up, or pay some normal people to humour you. A good start is to join a group of nutters like this one.

4. Reality check
So you're seriously thinking to build something and sell it? How are you going to do that and what's it going to cost? Then how much will a needy punter pay you? And are there enough of them to make a profit?

The blurb also says: "map out your mission, objective, keys to success, target market, competitive advantage, and basic strategies"

I say: see step 3.

5. Imagine you're in the Dragon's Den
Find someone with a wad of cash, decide how much you can clean them out for, and what you need to promise them in return. Apart from wetting your pants, what are the risks? And the rewards?

6. Build it shit, but not too shit
hmm not sure about this, apparently it's called MVP, or minimal viable product. I think it means you should allow for bells and whistles to be added later, don't worry too much about them at first, just get the thing out, but get it out working.

7. Realise you got it all wrong
Flog it, see what happens, ask lots of questions. Maybe you should have built something completely different? No problem, you can build something completely different. You can do it all again. You can do the funky chicken dance.

8. Have a cigarette
Maybe you don't smoke, but you deserve one. Hey, take a holiday too, why not?
Now go back to step 1.

Good luck & enjoy!


References: 
* 8 steps plagarised from here
* Free business advice available here, from the government of booming Austrarrgghlia. Seek the bushy southern triangle famous for seafood.
* I didn't read this but it looks like it might be handy
* if you need a boring picture for a business presentation, here's one
* need some ideas? Don't look here

How to build vertical storage for timber, pipe, duct, or any off-cut lengths

Keeping a building site tidy and safe, whilst reducing waste, is a challenge this post aims to help address. It describes a quick and simple construction for building a mobile store for timber lengths, pipe etc.

This mobile store has the advantage of reducing waste and increasing productivity by keeping useful offcut material ready to hand, and is particularly suitable where space is at a premium, as it has a small footprint and can be wheeled out of the way to keep the site clear for work to progress.



This example is deliberately rough & ready, such as might be done for a temporary store on a building site using whatever scrap materials are available. e.g a keen labourer could make one to help tidy up, but may need some further guidance as these instructions assume some basic skills and knowledge.

Step 1: determine what is the range of length of timber to store. The maximum is about double the minimum. For this example we'll use length range 30"-60". Adjust the figures in the other steps if making a store for other lengths.

Materials needed are:
6 lengths of 30" timber
6 lengths of 15" timber
3 castering wheels 
some board adding upto about 30" square
suitable fixing screws

Step 2: take 3 lengths of scrap timber about 30" long, and screw onto them any scrap board (thin ply shown here) to form a triangle.



Step 3: Add wheels to the three corners:



Step 4: turn the unit over and to the middle of each side of the triangle screw 3 more 30" lengths of timber vertically, slanting them slighting inwards. They will flap around looking silly for a while but this will sort itself out in the following step.



Step 5: cut 3 lengths of timber about 15" long. To each length fix 2 screws - one at the end and one in the middle. Then fix these screws through to the top ends of the timber from the previous step



Reinforce with extra screws if needed:


Step 6: cut 3 more lengths around 15", and screw these to the ends of the lengths from the previous step, setting them roughly parallel to the base triangle




Ok that's it, ready to use! The store provides 4 compartments which can be used to organise offcuts.

Feel free to comment feedback below, as this is a prototype so tweaks and improvements are expected.


 Ok it may look a bit like a 3-pronged swastika, but apparently that was a good luck symbol before it took on bad connotations.