For That Frankenstein Feeling, Builder Tries Robotics

George Achenbach has some well-thought-out reasons for leaving his small but financially rewarding construction business to study robotics.

For one: “In robotics, you make something that makes something else. In construction, you make something and it stops there.”

And for another: “Robotics makes me feel a little like Frankenstein. You make something that is not alive but moves and does what you want it to do.”

The construction business was financially rewarding, but not “high-tech” enough for Achenbach, 30, who 10 years ago interrupted his schooling at UC Irvine to make a living.

Now the academic world and robots are more to his liking.

“Robotics is a very big deal and I wanted to do something more current,” said the licensed building contractor. “Building has been the same for centuries.”

The first-year Orange Coast College engineering student has already shown his propensity for high-tech equipment by developing a robotic arm that not only earned him an “A” in his engineering graphics class and accolades from instructors, but a potential commercial success as well.

The robotic arm was made with a toy crane driven by a computer, which allows the device to repeat a specific motion or task accurately.

The Santa Ana resident believes the commercial value may be in the form of an affordable educational device that can be programmed to do a number of motions, such as stacking blocks.

“I think it will sell,” said Achenbach, who plans to manufacture and market the device. “I’m not betting the farm on it,” he said, but he believes students and hobbyists may like it enough to buy one.

The robotic arm will be sent to trade shows this spring to get a feeling of interest from potential buyers, said Achenbach, whose preliminary estimate sets the price at $350.

No matter the results, “I eventually want to major in engineering and programming at UC Irvine or Caltech,” he said.

The one-time aspiring actor, who stands 6 feet, 6-inches tall, once worked as a film extra at the American Film Institute in Beverly Hills.

Achenbach never really believed he could make it in Hollywood.

“I guess I was like any other young person who had dreams,” he said. “Besides, I trust engineering more than I trust Hollywood.”

For Achenbach, there is more to robotics than designing, manufacturing and selling educational toys.

“I can say it in one word. Space.”

When man explores the solar system, he explained, robots will be operating the spaceships and doing the work.

“Robots can do it faster, better and more easily than humans,” said Achenbach, who admits that his thoughts have been swayed by reading science fiction since he was very young. “The idea of electronics and robots is the ultimate for me. It satisfies my interest in using space exploration to go forward.”

And his years-ahead thinking has given him a distinct image.

“People think I’m a little weird because my mind works differently than most people I know,” he said.

As a matter of fact, Achenbach noted, he may write science fiction some day.

And as a tennis player, he just might design a robot to play him.

Maureen Smith is looking forward to tonight’s romantic Valentine’s Day dinner and a dozen long-stemmed roses. She has already received a diamond appraised at $3,600. It is a full carat.

She’s paying for the whole party, sort of.

Smith, a San Clemente resident and a computer professor at Saddleback College, won the diamond, dinner for two and the roses at a drawing held at Zia Jewelry in San Juan Capistrano.

Smith, who is single, said she “was really excited winning the valentine night party and the diamond, but I’d rather some man had given it to me.”