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Palm Powered Robots, Again
Okay, we give up. Even though we ran this story a few months ago, it seems that Reuters has picked it up and slathered it all over the world, and now everyone is submitting this New! Improved! Palm Pilot Robot. Read the current story anywhere that has a Reuters feed. The design was purchased by a company called Acroname, which has a few neat pictures on their website. Personally, I'm putting in my application to be Goodlife as soon as possible.
Good point...I just kind of quick glanced over the list. I guess the $40 off if you get the bare bones isn't too bad of a deal =/ That's what I get for slacking off at work and reading Slashdot.
Hmm, sounds good to me. But I'm not sure the Palm has the processor power necessary for the calculations you need in, say, your car. A cool way to do it would be to have a dedicated machine of some sort in your car which must interface with the palm for input-output but which handles all the processing internally.
Right now, you can get clamps and stand and such for handhelds to be mounted in a car so you can keep for hands (mnostly) on the wheel.
-J
Karma: T-rexcellent.
Yah, the Palm would work especially well for data portability. Sort of a multipurpose disk with an interface.
-J
Karma: T-rexcellent.
A ``barebones'' kit is available for $40 less, but requires such actions as gluing connectors and wiring a cable.
Sounds like someone's catering to the PHBs. Imagine selling them an OS:
Me: Well, Linux is available if you want, but it requires such actions as reading text files and editing them.
PHB: You make a good point. Windows it is, then.
(Yah, I know, -1 MS-Bashing...)
Carousel is a lie!
Screw soldering torches...gimme a propane blow torch any day!
So there I was. Naked. In a refrigerator. With a potroast on my knees. Smokin a cigar. That's when it got REALLY weird.
Acroname makes some interesting robotic stuff. Here's a palm-pilot robot kit that they produce.
could be fun. and at the rate they are improving ....
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
Then I could program in a set of directions etc, with appropriate feedback, maybe through beeps, or whatever.
heck, it would be cool for programming other elements of my car as well (cd mixes, etc), and then it could walk with me when I leave the car....
but this would be a bit more advanced compared to simple kit for a palm robot.
The possibilities stagger the imagination.
hey, there might even be money in it, somehow.
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
So what? Ignore the submissions. Isn't that what the system is for? It's not "news" if it's not new.
--
-- Geof F. Morris
I'll just stick with a few Mindstorms robots, instead of the Palm.
That way, I won't wince when my 4 year old daughter gets rough with them.
A little off topic but..
/.'r about how they feel about the cybiko.
I've been finding out all sorta info on this little bugger, for 99 bucks you pretty much get a toy as powerful as a 386, problem is the platform is not fully open sourced as of yet, we're still trying to get a bunch of info out of the damn thing (like HTF does the serial port work?) At least there is a free SDK for it.
I'd really recomend you slashdot readers take a look at this thing, big deal, its not a palm and your other geek freinds will probably tell you its gay, but isn't that a little like the pot calling the kettle black?
There are a lot of little projects going on with the thing right now, people have allready gotten stuff like a offline web page reader going for it, a linux synchronizer, me is working on getting an atari emulator working on it. From what I do know of the hardware, these are much better canidates for making robots. The built in 900mhz RF on the thing is instant remote. The cartridge port on the bottom is a bus connection so you can add whatever CPU you want to the thing (only cybiko has done this so far with the MP3 player)
I'd like to get some feedback from other
--toq
Lets see.... I could add some armor plating, and a saw blade, bigger motors. Maybe the next generation battle bots could be semi-autonomous, and sense when it is about to go over the kill saws, or rammed into the wall. I wish battle bots were a little more technical, not just remote controlled cars with weapons. I can just imagine the algorithms.
int kill() { sense_moving_object(); while(chase_and_kill()!=OPPONENT_DEAD); do_victory_dance(); }
I want my rights back. I was actually using them when our government stole them after 9/11.
- Skatebot - A Cheap Fun Development Platform
- "Build Your Own Robot!" (book), by Karl Lunt
- FirstBot
Basically you cant build much of anything under $100, and the Acroname bot is much better (more sophisticated, more professional-looking, more $) than the others -- it all depends on what you want to do with it. The Palm offers a small display and input device, plus a bit of memory. For debugging, this is a big deal! Alas it cant control motors etc directly, that's why you need a PIC or Atmel or the special-purpose SV203 chip.Robert Jordan hacks up a toy to use as a robot base.
excellent book discusses mid-level robotics. Practical robots made from everyday components are featured in a realistic manner.
Good discussion, with in-depth instructions on building a few robots from simple materials.
Wow, $300. That's unbelievable, when you consider if you check out this page it's got the part's list and the prices the guy got them for. You get a whole $40 off if you buy the "bare bones" kit from this company. You'd be better off building your own from scratch with the plans that you can find at the site of the guy who originally built it.
It's kind of pathetic that reuters never mentions who created this monster.
...'
Greg Reshko made this when i was still in high school with him. He wasn't even a cmu student then, although he was working with the robotics department. This kid deserves more credit than the blurb '...developed at Carnegie Mellon University
Give greg another pat on the back, and if you are a cute girl in pittsburgh give him a call, i think he is still lonely.
JustinC
-- note: greg: it's now official, you owe me lunch.