We Want Rosie! But, We Will Have to Wait...

A great web-article over at engadget, by Mat Smith, about ASUS' Zenbo reminds us that "our robot butler dreams remain just that. We're still many years away getting our own Rosie Jetson."

You can read the whole thing here - http://www.engadget.com/2016/06/03/asus-zenbo-proves-our-robot-butler-dreams-remain-just-that/

The promotional video from ASUS shows the dream (sort of... and demonstrates the problem! Cheesy! ), but the video following from the most recent DARPA Robotics' Challenge shows the reality.

I guess I could title this post (as opposed to the previous post) Doing Little With So Much!
But, WE ARE WORKING ON IT! Hopefully the real thing will be much better.

Doing a Lot with a Little!

Mark Tilden explains doing a whole lot with just a little with a BEAM robot from 1995 made a Walkman motor. ;-) See the video below.

Solarbotics (see sidebar) is still "the" source for all things BEAM and lots of other fun stuff too. One of the ideas of BEAM robotics is doing a lot with a little - engineering at its heart!

Thanks to wikipedia for all the good info!

Astrobotic

This is really cool - can't remember if I have posted this info on RUS previously. Amazing stuff! Be sure to check out MoonMail - I would love to have something sent to the moon, especially something representing this blog. Love the video and the vision!

6 Things...

Thanks to Eric Ostendorff (erco) for posting this over on  the Parallax Forums! The motorcycling robot is my fav!

Return of the Twinkle Toes!

We have a bit of a Parallax Toddler revival going on at this thread over on the Parallax Forums. In thread, we began discussing bump sensors for the Toddler - that were nick-named "Twinkle Toes!" - Parallax Part #27312. As far as I know Carol Lynn Hazlett got the last set from Hobby Engineering. Above is a photo of the Blue Toddler. A pdf describing how they work is here (Chapter 8 from the Toddler Manual). See additional photos below including one to the the sensors, Gold Toddler, Toddler Control Board, and all the parts!

We also discussed recreating the Toddler Bump Sensors - which are no longer available. "Publison" at the Forums has recreated the design of the PCB and is getting them made. He says,

"I'm going to get them done with Solder Mask and Silkscreen so the would look finished. The difference was $3.00 per set with no mask or screen. I'm going with ExpressPCB right now. I will get 7 sets, (with one board left over). Looks like on set of Twinkle Toes boards, (right, left), will cost $11+ shipping. You will have to supply the two resistors. the Red/Green LED, and the headers. I'll send this order out Tuesday and get them back by Thursday. I'm taking two sets, erco gets one and Whit gets one. That leaves three. Should we make Ken buy a set? Also you will need 4-40 screws and nuts and the wire, available at most hardware stores and R/C outlets."

Here is Publison's recreation of the PCB. So excited to be even a small part of reviving this bit of Parallax history!

The Twinkle Toes installed from the pdf.

Post Script - we also have a great conversation going with Harry Lewis at Blue Bell Design - see note in the Forum thread.

Circuit Classics - Forrest Mims

Circuit Classics from Crowd Supply on Vimeo. Just plain cool! Check it out here - https://www.crowdsupply.com/star-simpson/circuit-classics

Puma's Training Bot

Puma's training Bot can keep up with the fastest man in the world and help improve performance. You can see the whole story here at element 14.