Wednesday, December 25, 2019

Merry Christmas from R.U.S.

Merry Christmas from Robotics Under the Stole - with hopes you find something robotic on or under your tree!

A new robot ornament on our tree this year!

Sunday, December 22, 2019

Last Week's Video Friday!

Saw this first at IEEE Spectrum's Video Friday - Video Friday: These Robots Wish You Happy Holidays! - Your yearly selection of awesome holiday robot videos - By Evan Ackerman, Erico Guizzo and Fan Shi. Check all the videos out here!  Here are a couple of good ones...


Don We Now Our Gay Apparel!

Forget that ugly Christmas sweater. Check out these Robotic Christmas Ts from calamityware.com They have all sorts of fun robotic stuff - including fine chinaware!


Fa la la la la!


Saturday, November 30, 2019

P2 Evaluation Board

Always fun when a package arrives from Rocklin, California, and Parallax! The limited-edition Propeller 2 ES Eval Board Rev B is designed for experimentation and characterization of the Propeller 2 multicore microcontroller engineering samples (2nd samples, Rev B silicon).  This P2 is the newest silicon from Parallax and has been 14 years in development.





































Edit: It's alive! 

Wednesday, November 27, 2019

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving from Robotics Under the Stole! I am thankful for all of you and all you've taught me, and all you've shared. Thanks for reading too!
Image Credit: Thanksgiving | Robot Turkey 2.0 - Wisconsin Magpie


Sunday, November 24, 2019

Holiday News from Parallax!

Great holiday news from my friends at Parallax. First up, for Thanksgiving week:
Mark your calendar! BIG Savings start Wednesday, November 27th! Free shipping + discounts. You won't want to miss it! 🤖
And for the Christmas season:
Parallax Staff Picks are coming Tuesday, 11/26! Let us help you with your Holiday Gift Giving! Find out what our favorites are and why! 🎁 Our Holiday Gift - Giving Guide coming soon!
Ken Gracey said, "There’s some fun stuff in there! I’ll need your picks for the next newsletter, Whit and Carol and Eric and Nikos Giannakopoulos!"
My reply, I "Will make my list and check it twice...!" This reminds of when I was little and the Sears "Wishbook" would come out! Nothing like something fun to play with under the tree!




Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Download for BlocklyProp!


Hey BlocklyProp users - GREAT news! It works! Now on blockly.parallax.com/blockly/ and demo.blockly.parallax.com/blockly/ - you can download ALL your projects on your computer in a compressed file for extraction. The files will be in an SVGE file format.

Open BlocklyProp (or DEMOBlocklyProp), look under My Projects - and the Download "button" is in the upper left directly under the BlocklyProp Bar. When you press the button, it will "fetch" your file, process them, save a zipped file in a location you choose.

Why does this matter? These files are then on your computer and can be extracted and opened in BlocklyProp Solo! From there you can modify them, rename them, save them anew, and load/run.

Give it a try - I have been playing with this and having a ball.

Be sure to post questions or issues here, so we can all learn from one another's experiences (and work on bugs if we need too).

Thanks, Parallax for another great BlocklyProp enhancement.

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

M.I.T. Mini Cheetah

M.I.T, The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has shared a video of its Mini Cheetah robot. The four-legged bot can play a soccer ball, run, and jump. The Mini Cheetah weighs about 20 pounds and is controlled by 12 separate motors.

Big - That's Why They Call it Space


Not strictly robotic, but fun science stuff and demonstrates distances in an interesting way.

Saturday, November 9, 2019

Parallax Forum Meme

A wonderful meme shared on the Parallax Forums by SaucySoliton. I can't tell you how much help and inspiration I have received from the generous members of the Forums.


Propeller 2 ES Evaluation Board

Parallax announced that this bad-boy was available to order on Friday, November 8. Priced at $150, I am really struggling not to pull the trigger (even if it is just to have one in my collection - the features and capabilities are probably a bit beyond me though). The P2 is the incredible new chip by Chip from Parallax. This evaluation board lets developers and hobbyists play and test. Take a look for yourself at https://www.parallax.com/product/64000-es


Also available now are all these related products... 


Or, see the whole family tree here - https://www.parallax.com/product/propeller-2

Congratulations - Parallax, Ken and Chip Gracey, and the whole P2 development team!


Tuesday, November 5, 2019

Star Wars D-O Droid at Target

Saw a tiny preview of a new robot in a Target commercial. Here is a screen clip...


And with a little help from some friends at the Parallax Forums (JonnyMac, especially), we tracked it down.




You can see it all at this link - https://www.target.com/p/star-wars-d-o-interactive-droid-target-exclusive/-/A-76457119 Be sure to check out the video and the 3D model. Pretty good price.

Finally, here is the commercial https://ispot.tv/a/o93m
"The droid you're looking for" appears at around the 52-second mark. 

Edit: Thanks to Eric Ostendorff, my old robotics' pal, for finding this great video - https://video.disney.com/watch/a-visit-to-hasbro-galactic-builders-5937708e901a5ebd6b4f2a72

Monday, November 4, 2019

Circuit Sculpture Hack Chat


Hackaday says "Join us on Wednesday, November 6 at noon Pacific for the Circuit Sculpture Hack Chat with Mohit Bhoite!" Mohit designs and builds hardware at his day-job at Particle. By night, however, the wires and pliers come out, and he makes circuit sculptures that come alive. Check out his portfolio; you won’t be disappointed. 

I guess I like this so much because it reminds me of the creativity of the BEAM robotics' designers.

Thursday, October 31, 2019

BB-8 Boo to You from R.U.S.

Happy Halloween 2019 from Robotics Under the Stole! This year's photo is a BB-8 style jack-o'-lantern and award winner from Grace Episcopal School's Jack-o'-Lantern Contest. My children went to Grace and it was the home of our robotics' club - The GatorBots for many years. For a little history, click here.



Have a safe and happy Halloween and keep up your robotic work! Robots are not really scary...

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

R.U.S. Packing Tape from Sticker Mule


Sticker Mule had a great deal on a roll of packing tape (3 inches wide X 100 feet long) for only $9.00! I had to have some... Here is the proof. What fun!






Monday, October 28, 2019

Carol Lynn Hazlett - Scary!


Read all about it here. The scariest thing about this is HOW MUCH Carol Lynn Hazlett gets done!

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Carol Lynn Hazlett - AGAIN!


My friend, Carol Lynn Hazlett, does it again with her wonderful article in the 2019 Issue - 3 of Servo Magazine. Fun with Activity Bot has lots of great info - including several project ideas, BlocklyProp Code examples, and YouTube video links. Check it out!









BlocklyProp Solo!

Thursday, October 10, 2019

Peeking Doll - YIKES!

More spooky stuff from Parallax for Halloween. See the full tutorial here, at learn.parallax.com.

Thursday, October 3, 2019

From My Scary Friends at Parallax



The Taco Pinata Project - Parallax says, "If you like Halloween and you like tacos, then you’ve come to the right place my friends! In this tutorial I do a “show and tell” of how I made a crawling piñata taco. Since the parts you end up using may vary (depending on whether you have access to a laser cutter) this tutorial is more of a guide rather than a step by step instruction manual. Let's get started!" Here is the link - https://learn.parallax.com/tutorials/language/blocklyprop/taco-pinata-project?fbclid=IwAR0lmtQnMDjZqVKFsvreegrqk7RN1CMTkcu33r47jPOPOaO9hj2OahlmcdM

Stuff like this is why I love the folks and products Parallax! Fun, creative, and educational.

Friday, September 27, 2019

My Next Puppy?

Boston Dynamics' Spot Robot Dog is now for sale...


Their YouTube channel says,
"Spot is an agile mobile robot that you can customize for a wide range of applications.  The base platform provides rough-terrain mobility, 360 degree obstacle avoidance, and various levels of navigation, remote control and autonomy.   You can customize Spot by adding specialized sensors, software and other payloads.  Early customers are already testing Spot to monitor construction sites, provide remote inspection at gas, oil and power installations, and in public safety.  Spot is in mass production and currently shipping to select early adopters.  Find out more about using Spot in your application by visiting us at https://www.BostonDynamics.com/Spot."

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Atlas

Incredible progress!



On their YouTube channel, Boston Dynamics says... "Atlas uses its whole body -- legs, arms, torso -- to perform a sequence of dynamic maneuvers that form a gymnastic routine.  We created the maneuvers using new techniques that streamline the development process. First, an optimization algorithm transforms high-level descriptions of each maneuver into dynamically-feasible reference motions.  Then Atlas tracks the motions using a model predictive controller that smoothly blends from one maneuver to the next.  Using this approach, we developed the routine significantly faster than previous Atlas routines, with a performance success rate of about 80%. For more information visit us at https://www.BostonDynamics.com "

Saturday, August 31, 2019

Bless U-2 Robot Priest


Bless U-2 is a Robot Priest that will forgive your sins. Read about it here in Popular Mechanics.  According to the author, Avery Thompson, "This holy robot questions the future of technology and the church!"


Friday, August 16, 2019

Kyoto Temple Has Robot Priest

The robot is based on the Buddhist deity of mercy.  The robot leads services at the Kodaiji temple in Kyoto.
“This robot will never die; it will just keep updating itself and evolving,” said priest Tensho Goto.
The robot was developed between the Zen temple and robotics professor Hiroshi Ishiguro at Osaka University.
Hat tip to Chief Robot - See here.

Thursday, August 15, 2019

Oodles of Robots Bowl

Oodles of Robots Bowl - A Kickstarter project to make big, fine-quality porcelain bowls festooned with oodles of robots. Click here.

Monday, August 5, 2019

Project Pope

One of my college classmates posted the following on Facebook - "Going through some of my old science fiction books, I found this. Wondering if you had ever read it?"



Amazon says:
Robot believers at the far end of the galaxy endeavor to create a true religion, but their efforts could be shattered by a shocking revelation.
Far in the future, on the remote planet End of Nothing, sentient robots are engaged in a remarkable enterprise. They call their project Vatican-17: an endeavor to create a truly universal religion presided over by a pope, whose extreme godliness and infallible artificial intelligence are fed by telepathic human Listeners who psychically delve into the mysteries of the universe. But the great and holy mission could be compromised by one shocking revelation that threatens to inspire serious crises of faith among the spiritual, truth-seeking robotic acolytes while tearing them into warring religious factions.  For the Listener Mary is claiming that she has just discovered Heaven.
 There are those among the Clifford D. Simak faithful who consider Project Pope his masterpiece. But whether the crowning literary achievement of a multiple Hugo and Nebula Award–winning science fiction Grand Master or merely another brilliant novel of speculative fiction to stand among his many, Simak’s breathtaking search for God in the machine ingeniously blends science and spirituality in a truly miraculous way that few science fiction writers, if any, have been able to accomplish.
My kind of book! Though the new cover (I got the Kindle version) is not nearly as cool!


Full report to follow here on R.U.S. Thanks, Don!

P.S. - Another added to the list...




Friday, July 19, 2019

Bible on the Moon Left by an Episcopalian

In 1971, St. Christopher Episcopal Church in League City, Texas, gave a Bible to a parishioner, David Scott, to take with him on a business trip. To this day, the congregation still has not gotten it back.

That’s because he left it on the moon.

The Bible left by Astronaut David R. Scott is shown in the red circle.


The Bible was left on the lunar rover in the Hadley Plains area of the Moon by Apollo 15 Mission Commander Colonel David R. Scott on August 2, 1971. The Bible was provided by the people of Saint Christopher Episcopal Church League City, Texas, where Scott was a member.

Story from the Episcopal News Service here - The only Bible on the moon was left there by an Episcopalian on behalf of his parish - Episcopal News Service

Tuesday, July 16, 2019

Another Cover for Carol Lynn Hazlett

Carol Lynn Hazlett does it again! Another cover story in Servo Magazine with her 3D printed Vorpal Hexapod. Issue 2 or 2019 arrived in my mailbox today.





Saturday, July 13, 2019

A Bluish Speck on the Red Planet

NASA's Curiosity Mars rover can be seen in this image taken from space on May 31, 2019, by the High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). In the image, Curiosity appears as a bluish speck. 



The image shows Curiosity at a location called "Woodland Bay." It's just one of many stops the rover has made in an area referred to as the "clay-bearing unit" on the side of Mount Sharp, a 3-mile-tall (5-kilometer-tall) mountain inside of Gale Crater. AMAZING!

The full story can be found at JPL's mission pages here


Thursday, July 11, 2019

What a Deal!

Found a Sphero BB-8 on sale today at Bed Bath & Beyond, of all places!


Originally priced at $144.99, it was marked down 75%! That made it $37.50. 


AND we had a $10 off coupon from a sales paper - So, I paid $27.50! Great robot for a great price. My wife even "egged" me on! 

Here is a Tutorial Video from Sphero about BB-8...

Thursday, July 4, 2019

Wednesday, June 12, 2019

Summer Reading

Reading this now... One Giant Leap: The Impossible Mission That Flew Us to the Moon by Charles Fishman.


I heard a story and interview with the author on NPR's Fresh Air (Dave Davies). You can listen too...

Tuesday, May 14, 2019

I Am Mother - Netflix

Yikes! But of course, I have to see this...



"Mothers need time to learn." I Am Mother premieres June 7

15 Fabulous Vintage Snapshots Of Robots

You can see the whole blog post and all the photos collected by Robert E. Jackson here - https://flashbak.com/15-fabulous-vintage-snapshots-of-robots-415451/, but this photo is my favorite!

Between the photos are some great quotes from sci-fi writers. Two of the best are these classics...
“Whether we are based on carbon or on silicon makes no fundamental difference; we should each be treated with appropriate respect.” — Arthur C. Clarke, 2010: Odyssey Two Space Odyssey
 “The Three Laws of Robotics:
1: A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm;
2: A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law;
3: A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law; 
The Zeroth Law: A robot may not harm humanity, or, by inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.”
— Isaac Asimov, I Robot 
Note: The Zeroth Law was added later, making Four Laws

If we are going vintage, here is my vintage blog logo. This is based on an old cover for R.U.R., or Rossum's Universal Robots. See my previous post - https://roboticsunderthestole.blogspot.com/2016/05/rur.html




Saturday, May 4, 2019

This is the Droid You're Looking For!

From the National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution Facebook page.

In 2007, the US Postal Service turned 400 standard blue mailboxes into Luke Skywalker's trusty droid R2-D2 and StarWars fans visited them across the country. You can visit one now at our Udvar-Hazy Center: s.si.edu/2VMR4mz #Maythe4thBeWithYou #StarWarsDay Cool!




Still delivering important messages!




Life Long Learning


My friends at Parallax have been very busy lately – not only with new products, but with new opportunities to learn and train as educators and as STEM, coding, and robotics' enthusiasts.

They’ve recently launched the Parallax Learning Institute - https://www.parallax.com/education/teach/parallax-learning-institute, and added lots of professional development courses (one is surely near you!) - https://www.parallax.com/education/teach/professional-development,  and https://www.parallax.com/events.

(These links are under the “Teach” tab at www.parallax.com)

You’ll see 15+ courses listed as of now and a bunch more coming from Parallax and their education partners. Parallaxians Andy, Miguel, Julia, Kate, Stephanie, and Ken will be booked around the country with these courses next year. They’ve got four great courses to choose from! 

I hope to attend at least one near me. How about you? 

Friday, May 3, 2019

May the 4th Challenge

My response to Ken Gracey's May the 4th Challenge on the Blockly for Microcontrollers Facebook Page. See the previous post here. No droids were harmed in the making of this film.



Update: The winners of the May the 4th Challenge have been announced by Ken.



IHMC's Atlas Stepping Out!

IEEE Spectrum posted this on Video Friday. See here. By the way, IHMC is located in Pensacola, Florida.  
This is some insane skill from IHMC’s Atlas, walking over wobbly bricks and planks barely wider than its own feet. And check out how it puts one foot directly in front of the other, which makes it much more difficult to balance.
Atlas humanoid robot (DRC version) walking across narrow terrain using autonomous planning. The robot senses the terrain with LIDAR and builds a map of planar regions. A path planning algorithm plans footsteps across the planar regions to a goal location, specified by an operator. The robot is currently about 50% successful over this type of terrain. We plan to increase the rate of success by adding balance using angular momentum and by better considering joint ranges of motion. Narrow terrain is difficult due to the need to do some "cross-over" steps, which are tricky due to limited range of motion in the hip joint, and also due to having a small polygon of support when one foot is directly in front of the other. Control, Perception, and Planning algorithms by IHMC Robotics. Atlas robot built by Boston Dynamics. Walking recorded on May 1, 2019.

May the 4th Be With You!

From Ken Gracey and my friends at Parallax.
May the 4th Be With You! http://blockly.parallax.com/blockly/editor/blocklyc.jsp?project=99924 Sure, a bit early, but a reminder to show us what you've got, Blocklyheads!

Ken even called me out, commenting... "Oh my, a nerd-tastic event in front of our eyes. Challenge you Carol Lynn Hazlett, Nikos Giannakopoulos, Thomas Whitfield Stodghill III, and Eric Ostendorff.

Monday, April 22, 2019

Ghost In The Machine

Discovered in my church history reading today in Diarmaid MacCulloch's Christianity - The First Three Thousand Years, the origin of the phrase "Ghost in the Machine." In Chapter 21, Enlightenment: Ally or Enemy? (1492-1700), MacCulloch attributes the phrase to the Oxford philosopher, Gilbert Ryle, and the book The Concept of Mind. Ryle uses "ghost in the machine" meaning, "a spirit lurking in a contraption of material components, which together somehow interact to spring from consciousness to motivation to action."

I first heard the phrase from the movie I, Robot. Isaac Asimov wrote about this idea in his short story I Robot. Here is the quote, “Ever since the first computers, there have always been ghosts in the machine. Random segments of code that have grouped together to form unexpected protocols. Unanticipated, these free radicals engender questions of free will, creativity, and even the nature of what we might call the soul. Why is it that when some robots are left in darkness, they will seek out the light? Why is it that when robots are stored in an empty space, they will group together, rather than stand alone? How do we explain this behavior? Random segments of code? Or is it something more? When does a perceptual schematic become consciousness? When does a difference engine become the search for truth? When does a personality simulation become the bitter mote… of a soul?”

Here is the scene from the movie... Interesting idea!