When will we build Bender? Real Robots

[on:]

I did a topic search for "Robot" or "Robots" and found nothing, though I find it hart to believe there's never been one before... Decided to start one; this thread is for any discussion of, or news/links/pictures about, actual robots and related technologies.

Anyway, I saw a couple of cool robots today.

First, I don't know how I missed this one, which is from way back in 2005. A ballroom dancing robot. The cool thing about that is that it dances with a human partner, and follows your lead like a human partner. Pretty slick, if not exactly revolutionary.

Also saw this guy (there's a quicktime movie, look for the link from that page) which is the fastest moving legged robot ever built. Modeled after a cockroach, it's also incredibly simple compared to other six-legged robots, and they're talking about adapting it into a toy.

A remote-controll cockroach that actually scurries, rather than lumbering? I have got to get one of those.

And finally, the cockroach gave me an idea for a very simple robot (like, around $10 worth of parts and materials). I've already sketched out the basic mechanics, and I'm sure the idea is workable, just got to finish up the design this weekend.

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What in the hell? I've started 2 topics in the past 6 months, and both ended up in the TV/Movies forum instead of the intended forum.

[beg]Could the first mod to see this please move it to off-topic, please and thank you?[/beg]

:makes sacrifice of fruit and incense at his altar:

[Reply #1 on:]

 

[beg]Could the first mod to see this please move it to off-topic, please and thank you?[/beg]

:makes sacrifice of fruit and incense at his altar:

You dare bribe Nixorbo?!

[Reply #2 on:]

Close enough, for now.

[Reply #3 on:]

 

Originally posted by ~FazeShift~:
Close enough, for now.

Really nice idea and good work, but I miss the flame thrower for the fiery burps... ;-)

[Reply #4 on:]

I don't have a long enough attention span for that.

[Reply #5 on:]

Bah! if it can't drink beer, burp fire, or insult me, it's not a Bender. Those things are more important than the actual appearance of the robot.   


And it wasn't a bribe, it was a sacrifice. Subtle difference, but real. If I mailed a mod incense and a crate of oranges, that'd be a bribe. I'm merely sacrificing them in their names at my alter. Y'know, show respect, give power to mods.


Oh, and my little robot idea stood up to the first big test - I still think it's a good, workable idea in the morning.

[Reply #6 on:]

I'm not sure about a Bender, but I want a Replicator. Well, at least three of them. Because once they begin replicating, I'll have an army. An army of machines capable of reducing anything to goo with their spray. An army of machines that can also be commanded to form into many interesting things, such as a chair, a spaceship, a large killing machine for raining death upon the various people who have annoyed me this week....

Actually, I'd love a robot that can detect exactly when my cat is planning to pounce on small birds and mammals, capable of delivering a squirt of water at the crucial moment and making a loud noise to scare the prey off. Then perhaps the little bugger wouldn't get worms.

[Reply #7 on:]

Heh. Alternative idea: feed the birds and rodents anti-worm medication, so the cat can have it's fun.

Replicators are nice, but I'd rather have some programable nanoassemblers myself.

Oh, update on my roachbot: Decided to disect one of my Zipzaps to get at the motor. I couldn't believe how tiny it is! Shaped like a little thermos, it's about 1cm long and 3mm in diameter. Awesome. Just hope it's usable without the computer controller; it takes only two contacts. I'm assuming you just put positive in one end and negative in the other to make it run, and presumably reverse the power flow to make it run in reverse, but I haven't tested that yet.

[Reply #8 on:]

If your roachbot idea doesn't work, scale it up. Build one the size of a car. Then drive around in it after dark, scaring old ladies and teenage no-goodniks.

[Reply #9 on:]

That's the American dream.

[Reply #10 on:]

MrB: 

TNUK: if it doesn't work small, why would it work when scaled up to the size of a car? 

The coolest thing is that these motors are small enough that I could easily have more than one and still make them pretty tiny.

[Reply #11 on:]

 

Originally posted by Gopher:
TNUK: if it doesn't work small, why would it work when scaled up to the size of a car?   

If the motors aren't usable at that size, I meant. My fault. Forgot to make it clear what I was referring to.

New idea: Make a robot that is capable of dealing & shuffling cards. Now that'd require some fancy shit.

[Reply #12 on:]

A dealer-bot would be a bit beyond my ability; well, a humanoid dealerbot, I could probably come up with something simpler than that. But I'll stick with the roachbot.

The final version will be autonomous, and solar-powered. It will have one (or more) light sensors, 2 antenna to detect walls and ledges, and a mic. Simple two-state logic engine: Charging, where it looks for the best light and sits; and hiding, triggered by noise, where it searches for darkness.

[Reply #13 on:]

Are you going to build thousands of tiny roachbots and infest your home neighbourhood with them?

[Reply #14 on:]

Well, if they're not self-replicating, I hardly see the point... :sigh:

No, I just want one to live on my desk; opportunistically scurrying out to feed from my desk lamp, but running to hide under the monitor when it hears me coming... Will probably make a few, if it works out as well as I hope I might make a few dozen and see if anyone wants to buy 'em. Based on my design so far, the final version looks like it'll run at least US$20, possibly as much as $50, for parts; I could cut that by at least 30% if I bought the parts bulk, by the hundreds, but that'd still be $14 to $35 per unit. 
I dunno how many people would pay $50 for a tiny solar-powered robotic roach... but $30 is more plausible.

Besides, they're not intended to be rugged outdoors-bots. They'd die in no time left outdoors.

[Reply #15 on:]

Well I'm interested. How much to ship to the UK?

[Reply #16 on:]

I dunno, but there'll be a discount for bulk orders (a dozen or more) ...   

Let me see if I can finish making the little suckers first, it's a pretty involved project and I've got a lot to learn. I've gotten a thumbs up on practicality from some more experienced roboticists, though, so it can be done!

Plenty of time to set up a website and calculate international shipping later.   


[edit]
Had a thought: This could solve your cat problem, too... I'll make you a larger version that administers a mild electric shock when touched. You can put some feathers on it, maybe the scraps of a mouse your cat drags home. A little pavlovian conditioning and zap! Your cat is trained!

If the shock is too strong, I'll make a weaker one and you can try it on your next cat...

[Reply #17 on:]

This is the closest thing to Bender I've ever seen! its amazing and it was on Beyond tomorrow a while back.
Check this out:
 http://www.beyondtomorrow.com.au/stories/ep44/barbot.html

[Reply #18 on:]

That is too sweet. Now, if it was powered by the alcohol it drank, and wandered from bar to bar burping fire, we'd really be making progress.