About Me

«We need learning not only for erudition, but also because it improves our ability to generate effective behaviour»
-Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach

What I said about myself in 2016

You want to know more about me?
I am 18-year-old former Secondary school student who is taking a gap-year before University.
I am originally from Italy, however I have lived in the Netherlands since 2005.

I decided to take a gap for various reasons, which range from my desire to explore some of my hobbies (such as watch-making & falconry) for which I wouldn’t have time while studying for University.

I have always nourished a great interests in science; via this interest, and the privilege of taking part in scientific competitions such as the EUCYS (where I presented a project on computer vision), I developed a profound interest in Artificial Intelligence, the field in which I hope to study.

I am here at the Fab Academy to develop my ability to apply theoretical models, as well as get some hands on experience, which will prove invaluable in my research of A.I. for this reason I will most likely develop a robotics oriented final project. [More details about my prior experience with each of the weekly assignments can be found in the preamble on their respective pages.]

What I say about myself in 2019

Boy was I young and foolish :)
Well, jokes aside, I am currently studying Artificial Intelligence at the University of Manchester (at least that went according to plan - yay!).
However, since I’m back here something must have gone wrong along the way, right?

The TL;DR version of the story goes something like this:
I didn’t finish my final project.

The more expansive version:
I indeed pursued a final project in Robotics, specifically, self-assembling modular robots…
well at least there was a desire to do so.

As you might have guessed this never came to pass, partly due to bad planning
(back then I was only 18!), but majorly because the project was way too complex.

Throughout my Fab Academy course in 2016 I spent a lot of time trying the most esoteric and niche technologies at the time (Antimony, PSoC, Assembly programming, self-built electro-permanent magnets as actuators, etc.), which turns out to be a BadIdea™, since so many things can go wrong, and nobody knows how to help!

The Fab Academy, at least for me, should have been a place to pursue innovation in design, not a chance to test scientific boundaries.

Well, now I’m back. I’m sure I’ve become a cautionary tale at De Waag for new Fab Academy students, so I intend to redeem myself :)

As I work through re-uploading my past assignments, and making sure they are up-to-date with the latest requirements, I will add some extra-explanations and spelling corrections.

Admonition Block

Personal comments, revisions & extra-notes I added in 2019 will take the form of “Admonition blocks”