Shacktopus

The next step in technomadics.


Imagine trying to assemble a full suite of communication tools:
Those are not the times to start cobbling together a laptop, some batteries, a bag of wall-warts, an ethernet cable, random dongles, and whatever radios you have lying around.  When mobility is key (whether for adventure or survival) you need a grab-and-go toolset... not just camping gear and a Leatherman tool, but all the complex systems that have become essential to daily life. 

We are talking about extreme technomadics.  I have spent over two decades wandering the US on computer-laden bicycles, embedding systems into amphibian micro-trimarans and geeked-out kayaks, and otherwise building a career around the tools of high-tech adventure.  But all those systems, despite their utility in opening doors wherever I wandered and rendering my physical location irrelevant, had one fundamental flaw:  they physically incorporated the essential electronics.  It's not like there was a choice, of course... the BEHEMOTH bicycle weighed 580 pounds, about ten times more than I could imagine carrying around in a pack.  It was cool to have satellite email while pedaling across Iowa in 1991, but if I was more than a few hundred feet from the bike, that $1.2 million package of custom gizmology was essentially useless.

Things have changed.  Lithium-Ion batteries, power-miserly microprocessors with kick-ass performance, tiny Wi-Fi beam antennas with ten-mile range, ultraminiature all-mode DC-to-daylight transceivers, gigabytes on flash, Linux on a tiny PC board... suddenly, one can pack a LOT of communication systems, computing tools, and electrical power into a shockingly small enclosure.  The engineering problems are daunting, with a variety of protocols, signal levels, and serious noise issues, but with care, enough gear for open-ended untethered information survival can fit in a shoulder pack.

And that's what Shacktopus is all about.  Named in honor of its ham-radio roots coupled with its multi-pronged design, this is a complete Shack-to-Go with added Internet access, adaptable power system, remote control, environmental sniffing and data logging, tracking and telemetry, multiple audio options, on-board security system, robot-operator and logging capability, universal audio filter, synthesized speech response and event notification, and, well, the list goes on for quite a while.  It's BEHEMOTH in a pack, only more so.

So, why this website?  My traditional "business model" involved taking off on expeditions while making an ad-hoc living from writing and speaking gigs.  I often fantasized about marketing spin-offs, but those machines didn't scale well:  few folks would be interested in insanely overloaded bicycles or complicated $100K boatlets that can only hold one person.  Some of the parts might have made good products... handlebar chord keyboards, audio crossbar systems, video turrets, hydraulic rudder controls... but I was too busy working on my own crazy machines to even think about starting a company, not that I would have been very good at it if I had tried.  Now things have changed.

For one thing, this new system does scale well:  it incorporates tools that a lot of people need, are easy to carry, and which can be replicated reasonably now that we have affordable short-run PCB fabrication and other modern conveniences.  Also, my own priorities have morphed considerably... and we have a team.

At this moment, we are still building the first unit... though we have started taking orders for the RigNexus that runs the show (delivery in 2-3 months, depending on configuration).  As we gain experience with productizing, this site will presumably become streamlined into the kind of online storefront that folks have come to expect, with shipping from stock and maybe even a place to click for tech support if we're feeling charitable.  Eventually, we will be offering full Shacktopus clones.  But for now, it's half personal narrative, half project documentation, and maybe just a wee bit of market-speak.  If you find this concept grabbing you and you're starting to get that familiar gotta-have-it itch deep down in your soul, then please email me and we can talk about it.

Oh, and if you want a sneak preview, there is a block diagram of the system in the form of a big GIF image (opens in new window)

Cheers and 73,
Steve Roberts
N4RVE

News Updates from the Shacktopus Lab

Nov 15, 2008:  It took a while, but the set of concepts and tools related to Shacktopus has been re-shaped (again) to serve as a unifying interface layer between a user and a large and potentially complex system of communication and data collection tools.  The application here is no longer the backpack- and kayak-scale systems, but a 44-foot steel pilothouse cutter... and I have just blogged about Shacktopus in this context.

Mar 12, 2007:  I am very happy to report that after a long hiatus, this project is again alive.  I will be integrating the development system into my kayak named Number Nine, and will be reporting both here and over at the Kayaktopus page.  The new design is sleeker and better suited to integration, with more emphasis on remote user interface and autonomous behavior.

Sep 27, 2006:  Changes a-plenty!  I now have my new boat, and (after an initial 600-mile learning curve) am about to park her next to the lab to begin the systems integration. 

May 12, 2006:  Much of the focus at the moment is on the new nautical substrate - the vessel to be named Nomadness.  It's an exhausting quest, and I narrowly dodged a bullet with a 53' steel cutter that seductively presented a workboat patina while concealing a scary collection of expensive restoration projects.  Once the ship has been acquired, Shacktopus will be the core system... and the RigNexus begun last year will move to center stage.  In other news, a related portability issue has been addressed with the new docking pack - a trivial hack that fixed a persistent problem.  Also, this project was just featured in the ARRL Surfin' column by Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU... a big thank-you to Stan, and a welcome to fellow hams!

Dec 22, 2005:  Good news... back in the lab on Camano Island!  And the Shacktopus project is evolving to meld itself into mobile lab and nautical environments... lots of brainstorming while driving cross-country, and it's time to start building again.  Thanks for your patience during the unexpected hiatus!

Nov 30, 2005:  At last, the shut-down of the old homestead is at an end.  As of this week, we are enroute back to the lab, anxious to get back to the project!  I will continue with the prototype shown in the photos here, but will also begin immediately on  two "mobile edition" systems, one for the new mothership and the other for our first customer who has been patiently waiting for me throughout this epic estate project.  Things are about to get lively again.

Oct 1, 2005:  Still in Kentucky, believe it or not... dealing with an estate is practically a career!  The Shacktopus-related news is that I have just acquired a new mothership that is going to become a mobile lab and development system for this project. This will not only be a portable workspace for the manpack-scaled system, but also a test bed for the vehicular one.  Sure would have been handy to have these during the recent events on the Gulf Coast...

Jul 20, 2005:  I'm still in Kentucky, and will be here for about another month with very little progress on the project.  I am slowly catching up on email from the Slashdotting, and working now and again on software design.  Please stay tuned.

Jul 9, 2005:  I am in Kentucky at the moment, dealing with the unexpected death of my father.  Fine time to be slashdotted <wry grin>, out here in the techno-boonies with my temporary DSL yet a week away and only opportunistic moments of connection. If you are trying to contact me, please be patient... I have a lot to deal with at the moment, but will respond.

Jul 1, 2005:  The new Shacktopus Hacks section is now live, with short technical articles about a variety of little pieces of this project.  The first two cover the mounting of the FT-817 and the retrofit of a Senao Wi-Fi card into the Linksys WET11.

Jun 29, 2005:   Another deadline looms... I'm planning a run to California in mid-August.  Shacktopus has had two adventures so far; after the jaunt to Seaside, Oregon, we did Amateur Radio Field Day with a group of friends in Skagit County.  Of course, the box was little more than a packaging substrate for the Yaesu rig, but it was still a pleasure to use the system in the field and imagine the additional functionality that will be available once the RigNexus exists.  So now we're back to it, defining the boundaries of the new board, finishing up some packaging and cabling jobs, and applying power to a few items for the first time.  This afternoon, the Senao Wi-Fi card was mated with the Linksys WET-11 and brought online...

Jun 23, 2005:   We are back from the Sea-Pac convention, which was the first public showing of Shacktopus.  It went very well, and we learned a lot from the questions and comments of the hams who stopped by our booth (many of whom instantly grasped applications in other areas, such as search & rescue or marine installations).  Now that we've passed that hurdle, with all its distractions like banner and flyer printing, we're back to design work on the RigNexus and power system.  Last night, we connected the Li-Ion smart battery to its charger board and observed the SMBUS communication on the logic analyzer... the battery said "give me 4 amps at 16.8 volts, please," and the charger attempted to do just that (although we have it current-limited to 2 amps).

Jun 13, 2005:  Yarrrh!  'Twas an epic battle, but the FT-817 is now installed, with the Technologic TS-7200 Linux board on top.   Check out the photo section for the arcane clamping scheme that won out over Velcro, zip ties, and little brackets attached to the case screws.

Jun 12, 2005:  Just added a photos section to this site; first up is a shot of the "battery stack."  The Linksys WET11 on top is about to have its WLAN card replaced by a more powerful and sensitive Senao, which will drive not only an internal rubber duckie as shown but also an external 2.4 GHz yagi.  The battery is the Inspired Energy 95 watt-hour Lithium-Ion with associated SMBUS-enabled charging circuitry, and the TNC at the bottom is the Kantronics KPC-3+ for packet and APRS.

Jun 10, 2005:  Currently mounting components in the box, leaving a 5x6-inch hole where the RigNexus will go.  I've piggybacked the Tenna-Dipper atop the Elecraft T1 autotuner, routed them both through a little BNC header that can take repeated antenna-connection stress, and nestled it all behind the Yaesu FT-817 with a second layer of boards mounted above them on the lid.  Today I'm removing the polycarbonate baseplate and drilling the mounting holes for that stuff, as well as the TNC/battery/Wi-Fi stack, VX-2R platform over the power entry area, speaker, and CW key. 

Jun 8, 2005:  I'm in a mad last-minute crunch to get the machine ready to show next week at Sea-Pac... the first public appearance.  It's not done yet; we decided to hold off on RigNexus board fabrication to give us more time to properly finalize the design (a trade-show deadline is one thing, but we didn't want to compromise quality... especially in an environment where EMI suppression and signal conditioning are critical!).  Besides, there's a ton of code to be written:  active-object state machines in the AVR environment, handling a surprisingly large number of asynchronous events as well as three SPI chains, 8 analog inputs, 7 serial ports, local UI, DTMF commands via ham radio, speech synthesizer, audio switching matrix, environmental datalogging, local security, SMBUS power management, and an ARM Linux board that might pop up at any time and seize control while adding another layer of capability.  Oh yeah, software for that too.  This is not a quick hack.

In the meantime, there is a bit of general commentary on my blog and live page; more will appear here when I have the time to sit down and do some proper writing and site design.