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Windows-based Robot and Development Platform
Monsieur La Vigne writes "I found this Robot running Windows, based on a STM 486 chip, and 802.11 connectivity. Apparently, the critter has a C++ , Matlab (?) based SDK and some proprietary bus for extension. Not sure what it does, but it looks cool. Has anyone ever heard of these guys or seen the SDK? Seems ripe for a linux port!" It's a little bit expensive.
From the home page, it seems that the development environment runs on Windows, but nowhere does it imply that the actual thing runs on Windows.
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Now you can literally watch windows crash
Right out the box it's got a camera, wireless networking and an SDK. Probably wouldn't last 30 seconds against Rocky Botboa, but sure would make a cool roaming security camera in a paved area. And all prices in Euro!
A vacuum cleaner running windows. Wonderful.
Where's the robotic arm (for fetching beer), and the catapult, the bowel loosening sonic alarm?
Wake up, people, and give us what we want!
It says...
"Wany Robotic Software Lab for writing custom applications and
3-D simulation in Microsoft Windows.
It does not say that it runs on Microsoft Windows.
From excellent karma to terible karma with a single +5 funny post...
At first I was invisioning swarms of evil robots run by Windows XP (xterminate People edition). Chasing the poor children and trying to run them down, only to tell them that Open source is illegal (well if they had thier way...). They would be the ears and the eyes of big brother. Then I realised that a bunch of script kiddies would just take them over for the obvious pornographic potential (locker rooms). On a side note, ignore me I confused my paxil with vicadin again...
Sigs? We don't need no stinking sigs!
The article says, that the development was done on Windows. not that the robot itself is running on Windows.
Combine this with the fact, that they're using Matlab and C/C++ and this means that they're using the great API Matlab has, for tuning Matlab code in C++ and vice versa. They're also using Matlab for the reason that it's _the_ application for simulation and generally scientific computing from a whole range of sciences.
What I don't get is, why don't they use Matlab in Unix? A Unix version exists, costs the same, but I've never seen a simple copy of it ever. And I've been using Matlab for 6 years now...
/. Where the truth
All "windows crashing" or BSOD -jokes are declared "not funny"!
You slashdotters are gonna have a field day with this one..
I'd rather go for the Pino and the GPLd Open Pino Platform Pino
The platform is far more impressive.
"Between strong and weak, between rich and poor [...], it is freedom which oppresses and the law which sets free"
A small add.
The term robot came from RUR - Rossum's Universal Robots. It was a play very popular in the beginning of the 20th Century created by Czech writer Karel Capek. In the majority, if not all, slavic languages, the term "robota", "rabota" means either "work" or "job". Many consider that Capek was meaning exactly this. However his play goes about machines that are factually slaves and which rise up against their tyranic human masters. So many people consider that robot is an evolution of the word "rab" - "slave".
Which one is the true meaning is hard to know. Capek was highly influenced by the turmoil of his time and his ideas were clearly pro-communist. Some may shudder at this, but I highly recomend to read his works before thinking. I only read a few excerpts from RUR. So I can only consider its quality for the popularity it had then. However, his "War with the Newts" ("War of the Salamanders" in some languages) is one of the best pieces of SF I ever read.
- only cost a few hundred bucks to build
- doesn't look like an insect
- RUNS LINUX.
see it here