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Mini-Robot Available For Wreaking Havoc At Home
Verteiron writes: "Diversified Enterprises is showing off a new mini-robot that can do a whole variety of cool stuff. Called Descartes, this little thing can roll around in total silence, follow people, hunt down evil light sources, run away from 'threats' and draw pictures as seen in the nifty movies. It's also got a speaker, temperature sensors, 'bumper' sensors, and a slew of gadgets to make Sojourner jealous. It's fully programmable via PBASIC to do anything you want, and what's more, it's relatively cheap. The evil possibilities of this device fill my heart with glee ..." "Relatively cheap" in this case translates into about $250, delivered. What I'd like to see, though, is an aquatic version!
What would be the advantage of buying this?
For $250 bucks, you could go out and buy yourself a some mindstorms and an add on kit (May I suggest the videocam addon?) and build this exact bot. And have a lot more fun doing it.
Diversified has been marking this bot for some time now. IMHO I think it pales in comparision to the Pocketbot which is marketed by Diversified and is much more upgradable. The only problem I have is that the components for these robots are extremely inexpensive and they have prices that are far to expensive respectively. The stamp chip is only $50 and the motors are literally pennies at surplus stores.
int func(int a);
func((b += 3, b));
Either you don't have enough spit, or your monitor is too dirty. It has to be *squeaky* clean. Works fine on my Philips Magnavox. Clean your monitor and get your finger really wet. Rub hard. Hold the outer frame of the monitor still (but only touch the CRT with your wet finger). If it still doesn't work, call Sony and ask for a replacement. Oh.. umm.. you are rubbing it accross the surface of the CRT, right? Rubbing accross the outer casing makes no music at all. Also, I can't overstress the importance of cleanliness. If there are any abrasive dust particles, it could damage the surface of your monitor. When done properly, it makes a pleasant sound akin to the ringing you get when you play a brandy snifter.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
Yeah, I got an Omnibot 2000, with the tray - but no base mat. I picked up a copy of the instructions from a dealer on EBay (he was selling a 2000, and for the cost of copying and postage, made a copy of the manual for me). I also own a Verbot, and a Chatbot - and a couple of Armatrons. I hope to get a regular Omnibot sometime. I would love a complete Tomy 'bot collection - but some of the 'bots are collectors items, and are tough to get, or expensive (two of the top of my head I can think of that meet this criteria are the 'bot that looks like an owl, and the one that can roam your desk vacuuming up bits of paper).
Anyhow, the cool thing about the Omnibot 2000 was the number of I/O ports on the back of the 'bot. According to my copy of the manual, these were meant for future expansion options (ultrasound sensors, and computer interfacing) that never materialized (AFAIK).
The Armatrons are also neat. One motor, two joysticks, and a helluva transmission to perform really complex tasks - there was an interfacing article in one of the summer issues of Radio-Electronics, in 1986 or so. Hooked up to a C=64...
Sadly, TOMY knows hardly anything of its past - Armatron was the height of TOMY in the 80's, and they sold the repro rights to Tandy - it is VERY difficult to find a TOMY Armatron - most are the Radio Shack branded ones (same tech - no prob there, but not the same if you collect 80's TOMY toys)...
I support the EFF - do you?
Reason is the Path to God - Anon
Maybe it was a Milton Bradley Big Trak (and your memory is fuzzy - 'cause I don't remember the red beam - blue beam yes, red - no). Or maybe it was another toy?
I am wondering if anyone remembers the Brain Buggy - made by some off-brand toy maker (can't remember the name). Came out at the same time as MB's Big Trak - looked almost like a Hummer.
I somehow got lucky enough to get both for Xmas - but I always liked my Big Trak more...
I support the EFF - do you?
Reason is the Path to God - Anon
Whatever happened to low cost bots? Does anybody remember Movits? These are real low cost kits. They use to sell one called the "Memocon Crawler", that could be hooked up to an Apple IIe or a PC - nowadays the WAO takes on that role.
I first got interested in these kits when I read an article about them in an old issue of Creative Computing - only a few of the original robots are still being sold in kit form (Medusa is one, Peppy is another - though the body style has changed over the years).
Sure, these aren't as sophisticated, but they are a lot less expensive, and fun nonetheless. They also sell a robotic arm kit that has an interface to a PC as well. If you want lower level building, they also sell a variety of gearbox kits. On top of all this, many of their kits are available at Frys Electronics...
I support the EFF - do you?
Reason is the Path to God - Anon
My only gripe would be the limited storage capacity and input/output channels, but since I've come nowhere near exhausting those on a standard RCX yet, I can't really complain too loudly. Still, I find myself feeling like Turing in the early days, musing about just what would be possible if I had a WHOLE MEG to play with.
So, has anybody published a hack for adding more memory to your RCX? How much can the Motorola chip address?
I don't know about you, but I'd pick the Lego Mindstorms over this kit anytime.
Either you program it using the 'blocks' or NQC, or you choose to install LegOS and hack away on it as a real embedded programmer would. Not to mention the 'reusability' and the fact that it has infrared...
Dave
I think it would suck...
Tongue-tied and twisted, just an earth-bound misfit, I
Learning to fly, Pink Floyd.
Basic? Hmm...
10 DETECT Cat
20 ANNOY Cat
30 GOTO 10
Tongue-tied and twisted, just an earth-bound misfit, I
Learning to fly, Pink Floyd.
Decartes has been shipping for a year or two, and robots with similar or greater capabilities have been available commercially for 5 years. Some are programmable in C and have roughly the computing power of an apple ][ or an atari 2600. Try robotstore or arrick.
Thank you for that information - I put in a question asking if he knew how the ports worked. If I could get a schematic it would be clear - I have given some thought on RE'ing the thing, but I haven't had much time to do such a thing yet...
I support the EFF - do you?
Reason is the Path to God - Anon
Surely one of these lil' bastards that will seek out prey would be much more fun... and keep the pets entertained. oh well - it is programable.
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"Almost isn't good enough - but it's almost good enough."
-Me
It has an optional RF controller (Google Mirror) that they claim permits multiple Descartes to communicate with each other.
If the powers of PBASIC are too limited, why not have the robot transmit its sensor readings to, and receive its commands from, another full-sized PC with an RF module attached to it. Basically (no pun intended) move the computing power over to a platform that can readily support it. Then, you can program in whatever language you like, with however much computing power you desire.
Caveat: I don't know if this particular RF controller is supposed to be able to be connected to a PC. I'm more of a software dude, so I'd appreciate any input from someone who is more hardware-savy. (Hmmm, maybe even a wireless ethernet or bluetooth transceiver? Don't know about power consumption, size, weight.)
Bluefin Robotics makes underwater autonomous robots. You may not like the pricing or availability, though. UT Applied Research Labs makes a version that lives on the surface of the ocean and listens for missle impacts in ICBM tests.
Just about any robot you want is out there if you look hard enough.
Want an aquatic robot? Check out the MicroSeeker. It's not commercially available, but it seems like it will be someday. What makes this robot interesting is that it runs Smalltalk, as opposed to a crappier language like the variants of C and BASIC most robos run. There's PIC/Smalltalk for the motor control, a Handspring Visor running PocketSmalltalk for high-level control, and the simulator is written in Squeak. A veritable cornacopia of Robotics and Smalltalk.
Working toward a usable PDA environment in the spirit of Newton OS: Dynapad
Alas, the days when a nerd could be identified by his solder burns are long past. Aside from a few overclocking fanatics ($1000 worth of helium to squeeze out $100 worth of performance!), everybody seems to prefer to use off the shelf logic. Even MIT's famous robot-building competition seems to rely largely on pre-built components.
Nowadays "nerd" is more or less synonymous with "software nerd".
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look like a mildly improved version of those kits you can get at a electronics store for $20.
c'mon, you're supposed to be nerds! get out your frickin toolkit and start hackin' -- must be a bunch of old printers laying around at the swap meet. just add some hours wiring up the boards and away you go. hint : google search for "steve ciarcia circuit cellar"
those basic stamps are kinda cool, though.
Treatment, not tyranny. End the drug war and free our American POWs.
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Whoop, Logo
--Giving to trolls for the benefit of us all
I'd like to see some larger scale consumer robotic products
Would you like to spend some larger scale money for them?
Right now, a robot like you describe is a tough mass market sell. At least with the PC, we could convince the parents that you could balance the checkbook with it. Junior knew what it was really for.
With the robot, "it'll annoy the pets" won't justify much of an outlay. It will have to be able to do something useful that would otherwise consume a lot of time, and it will have to do it reliably.
Right now, there are no general purpose robots in the consumer price range that can be trusted to take out the garbage, load the dishwasher, mow the lawn, pick up dirty clothes, water the plants and vaccuum the rugs on a weekly basis. Are there even any research 'bots that can do that?
I agree though, BASIC is lame. Maybe the underlying machine code is open so that gcc can be ported.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
The nicest thing I can say about smalltalk is: "at least it isn't BASIC or PERL" Then there's a good chance you've never actually used it, outside of some poorly-taught OO design class.
Working toward a usable PDA environment in the spirit of Newton OS: Dynapad
to please provide me a detailed comparison of this bad boy to the lego mindstorms set? i'm really lacking a hobby, and i've been thinking about picking up a mindstorms kit... so please, compare away...
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Peace,
Lord Omlette
ICQ# 77863057
[o]_O
I look forward to the day when I can have a robot with true AI.
Why would that be much different from having, say, a brother?
Trees can't go dancing
So do them a big favor
Pretend dancing stinks!
"Relatively cheap" in this case translates into about $250, delivered. What I'd like to see, though, is an aquatic version!
And I thought I was spoiled! It's a ROBOT!!!! We FINALLY get them, and you complain that it's not AQUATIC?!?
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