live blogging you are here: The Institute for Applied Autonomy

Rich Pell from the The Institute for Applied Autonomy is talking about engineering and how the job of the engineer is more about solving problems for their funders then solving real problems. The ‘Institute’ is very interested in the design and evolution of technology, and is behind actions such as TXTmob, the GraffitiWriter robot, the Streetwriter vehicle, and the surveillance camera tracking I-See. Rich started the lecture with showing this amazing video and then went into an overview of several of the group’s projects. IAA does some pretty awesome stuff and i highly recommend watching the video and spending a little time on their website: http://www.appliedautonomy.com/index.html
After giving an over-view of IAA, Rich went on to talk about their new project Terminal Air, which looks at how amateur plane spotters using the internet have become the scourge of the CIA in noticing, mapping, and logging the flights of private aircraft run by companies that appear to be fronts for covert, and possibly illegal, activity. They make frequent flights to Gauntanamo Bay and the Middle East, yet have no publicly traceable data. IAA is creating a dense database of these planes and flights hoping to draw attention to this mystery and wonder who is running the secret CIA travel agency.

i also just learned that Bree Edwards is also live blogging the symposium here