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