The Mobile Office

Building hardware and writing email from the road. In 1989.

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I had a fantastic conversation with Steven Roberts, the original Technomad a few days ago. We chatted about the new projects on his boat and I got to thank him for creating the original kayak GPS logger article that sparked a lot of interest in our logging products.

http://www.sparkfun.com/tutorial/news/beh-fullsystem-m.jpg


Who is Steven Roberts? He's the guy that built the BEHEMOTH bicycle and cycled across the US documenting his experiences.

http://www.sparkfun.com/tutorial/news/northbasin-guestdock-sm.jpg


Checkout the new projects on his 44-foot steel cutter.

http://www.sparkfun.com/tutorial/news/winphsm.jpg


Steven is working on new maritime applications for Arduino and other open-source type projects to replace what is currently very expensive boat electronics.


Comments 4 comments

  • RPCElectronics / about 16 years ago / 1

    I'm pround to say he has one of my RTrak APRS trackers installed on that boat! Steve is a great guy!

  • TheRegnirps / about 16 years ago / 1

    Very nice looking boat! Roberts made several stops at Information Appliance in Palo Alto in the 80's to make repairs and improvements and meet Jef Raskin. I recall his wire wrapped boards were the most robust. Not too surprising since a good wrap has 20 or more gas tight tin to gold connections and the whole board is flexible. No intermittents from cracked traces! The bike was more of a prototype compared to the picture. I wonder what he has been doing since 1990?

  • Lee Devlin / about 16 years ago / 1

    I met Steve Roberts on a cruise ship nearly 9 years ago in Alaska. He's a very interesting character. I created more than a few pile ups during that cruise while working a ham satellite off the Alaskan coast which is something Steve was able to relate to ;-). My exploits on that cruise became part of a Wired Magazine Article

  • What a blast from the past ... if I remember correctly, I met him once. Sort of. I chatted with him on Compuserv's CB Simulator. I was on at 1200 baud from my parents' TRS-80 Model III in Schenectady, NY ... I think it was something like $9/hour at that rate or about $20/megabyte in today's parlance. It was pretty exciting to download weather maps with sixel-graphics, even if it was monochrome!

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