The Soul of Solo Is a Droid

Star Wars’ first woke* robot, L3-37, speaks to the film’s revolutionary themes—and to pop culture’s anxiety around artificial intelligence. Read all about L3 here - but warning - the article contains spoilers.

Solo is a great movie in many ways! 

*Woke is a political term of African American origin that refers to a perceived awareness of issues concerning social justice and racial justice - in case the word is new to you.

A Present from my Sister

The whole family got together at my Dad's house today to rest, eat, and play. My sister, Stephanie, gave a late birthday present. I told her that my real present was her help in cutting the platform decks for the mArlo robot using the CNC router at Louisiana Tech's shop. Photos are in the previous post.

But, I guess she knows that I'm nuts about robots!

mArlo Debut - Build Photos and Video

mArlo, my mid-size Arlo robot platform, is complete and running as of today - Memorial Day, May28, 2018. mArlo uses the components of the Parallax Arlo Complete Robot System in more compact configuration - just under 12" in diameter. Many of my parts are from previous versions of the current Arlo.

Below are build photos of the final assembly and a quickly shot video of the mArlo running some BlocklyProp Code written for the Arlo using Ping))) ultrasonic detectors for obstacle avoidance. It is called Arlo Roaming with Ping))) Obstacle Detection. The code is at this link -  http://blockly.parallax.com/blockly/editor/blocklyc.jsp?project=15424 Notice the addition of an additional breadboard area in the final photo.

Mighty Mayhem.com

mightymayhem.com - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFxNnl_Gz4nRbv2RGxgfNQw

Fun stuff here.

NASA JPL's RoboSimian Robot

NASA JPL's RoboSimian robot stood out at the DARPA Robotics Challenge as one of the few non-humanoid designs. The use of four versatile limbs allows it to adapt to the test scenario in ways that would be difficult for a bipedal robot. Katie Byl of the UC Santa Barbara Robotics talks about the design.

Aluminum Stand Kit for LaserPING Rangefinder

Parallax just introduced an Aluminum Stand for the LaserPING! Looks great and a bargain at $8.99! Father's day?

Robo-Pop

Robo-Pop: How Robots Came to Dominate Popular Culture: Robots have captured our imagination since Leonardo da Vinci’s medieval sketches, but humanity’s mania with humanoid mechanical beings—friend or foe—has only intensified. The last century saw robots becoming a cornerstone of pop culture, showing up everywhere from books to films, TV shows, and songs, continuing the takeover of human entertainment.

Source: Generation Robot | Mouser

mArlo Progress

More progress on the mArlo mid-size robot. Need to recut all the decks now that the kinks are mostly worked out, and then assemble. I have all the hardware collected (what is shown is temporary) and ready to go. It is looking good and I like the size! I routed the “m” on the power distribution panel with a Dremel tool. It will be a BlocklyProp programmed beast. Stay tuned! Here are some photos of my mockup, using the temporary hardware with the control board just sitting on the top deck showing the basic design.

Today, my sister helped me use the CNC router at the Louisiana Tech shop to cut the decks. Assembly should begin soon! See the video below...

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day from Robotics Under the Stole.

A robot nanny is nothing knew: Tinker was created by Yorkshire inventor David Weston in the 1960s. Source: Photo Credit: David Weston, Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2016-05-mother-day-youve-born-machine.html#jCp

Running Robot

BostonDynamics' Atlas just keeps getting better and better.

Ευχαριστώ!

Ευχαριστώ, Thanks, sounds good in any language! Got this great thank you note from my friend, mathematician, and robotic's educator,  Nikos Giannkopoulos. I sent him a set of U.S.P.S. - S.T.E.M. stamps - for more info about these stamps see my previous post, here.

Note: The Greek word for thanks is where the Church gets the word Eucharist. The Eucharistic Prayer is called The Great Thanksgiving!

More Cool Stuff from NASA

NASA Langley researchers are experts in modeling and simulations for entry, descent, and landing, working on missions since the Viking lander in 1976. In this episode, they explore the challenges of guiding landers like Mars InSight through the Martian atmosphere for a safe landing.

More Blockly Fun!

Blockly for Microcontrollers is a Facebook group hosted by Parallax, Inc. - learn.parallax.com, and this is group are the best places to learn about BlocklyProp. Lots of great ideas and example shared by enthusiasts, educators, and Parallax staff. Come join us!

History Repeats Itself with BlocklyProp

In 1961, an IBM 704 at Bell Labs was programmed to 'sing' "Daisy Bell" in the earliest demonstration of computer speech synthesis. Here’s a video of the 704 (model name and year are not correctly attributed in the video).

Science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke witnessed the IBM 704 demonstration and referenced it in the 1968 novel and film 2001: A Space Odyssey, in which the HAL 9000 computer sings "Daisy Bell" during its gradual deactivation. Here is the full scene from the movie!

So, this has become a classic computer/robotic challenge and an allusion to the field's rich history. My pal, Eric Ostendorff (erco), made his homage with a Parallax Boe-Bot using a RoboVoice chip in 2012. Here is his video.

Therefore, standing on the shoulders of giants, here is the Parallax S3 playing Daisy Bell. BlocklyProp code is here - http://blockly.parallax.com/blockly/editor/blocklyc.jsp?project=28082

Sometimes, a simple experiment or programming challenge is way more than it appears. Not only is it fun, it pays tribute to those who traveled this way before (a lesson in the lesson). It is a hat-tip to our heroes.

Sources:

• Daisy Bell - Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daisy_Bell
• Why Did Hal Sing ‘Daisy’?, by Nicholos Wethington - Universe Today - https://www.universetoday.com/44482/why-did-hal-sing-daisy/