Ross Melbourne

Interests

What I do when I am not building robots.

Twenty races, six countries, and counting

Formula One

I have been to more than twenty F1 Grand Prix races in six countries. It is engineering as a spectator sport — the car that wins is the one whose team learned fastest between sessions, not just the one with the fastest driver.

I have been to races in the USA, UK, Monaco, Canada, Bahrain and China. Many more are on the list.

Formula One, Austin, Texas
Fig. 01 — Formula OneAustin, TX
Ross and Lois Melbourne at the base of Starship, Starbase, Texas
Fig. 02 — Ross and Lois, StarbaseTexas

The next space race

Space

I saw the Space Shuttle launch in 1996. Nearly thirty years later I stood at Starbase, Texas, and watched Starship — the largest rocket ever built — on the pad.

Same instinct that got me into robotics: watching people solve a hard physical problem in front of everyone, mistakes included.

Squash

6am, three mornings a week, at Lifetime. Still the best hour of exercise I know.

Pickleball

Usually right after squash, twice a week. I won a doubles tournament with my partner — the trophy has a paddle on it and I am not going to pretend I am not pleased about that.

Tennis is my go-to spectator racket sport — I just don’t play.

Ross Melbourne and his doubles partner holding a first-place pickleball trophy
Fig. 03 — Doubles winners

Travel

Not my jet 🙂

Ross Melbourne beside a private jet

AI and robotics

The interest that stopped being a hobby. See Innovations for where it went.