I don't know about you, but I would get very worried if my power tools started running around wearing women's clothing. Or any clothing at all, for that matter. Spooky.
-- We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
I took my sabersaw onto the train the other day, and people looked at me funny and called me mean names. I think they were offended by the nude power tool...
So then I dressed my sabersaw in a sundress, and now none of the other riders bothers me any more. In fact, I have a whole train car to myself...
-- "Can of worms? The can is open... the worms are everywhere."
How much AI in these?
by
Gortbusters.org
·
· Score: 4, Funny
The Robot Wars phenomenon, begun in San Francisco, gave rise to Comedy Central's "Battlebots" and a similar new show on Tech TV.
I always found Battlebots to be more like remote control cars on steroids. What I want is something with a little more AI, like Honda's ASIMO (or whatever its called), give those guys a sword, shield, and we'll have Light Ages of Camelot - Live!
I remember there were a article a few weeks ago in slashdot that talks about the encouragement these shows receive when they are to do with fuzzy robots- thought to be cool.
Efforts towards building truly intelligent systems dont get as much coverage or encouragement - thats truly sad.
I love this sort of stuff. Unlike drag racing, which is expensive and takes up lots of space, these gizmos are things that just about anyone can do... Add to that the 'art' aspect and it makes it truly fun. I wish there was an outlet for this in Southern California.
Not the real thing
by
srmalloy
·
· Score: 3, Informative
You should go look at the places where they really race power tools:
And yes, it's what it sounds like. Ever used a belt sander and had the sander get away from you because you weren't holding it tightly enough? Well, get a bunch of people sitting around in a bar drunkenly arguing about whose belt sander can get away from them the fastest, and belt-sander racing is born.
Re:Not the real thing
by
srmalloy
·
· Score: 4, Informative
Shockwave belt sander races...
by
John3
·
· Score: 3, Informative
here at the Do It Best web site. These belt sander races are great promotional events for small town hardware stores. Kind of like a pinewood derby for adults.
-- "We make our world significant
by the courage of our questions
and by the depth of our answers." Carl Sagan
I can see it now...
by
kurosawdust
·
· Score: 2, Funny
Competitor #1: Go Lawnmower! Competitor #2: Go Circular Saw! Me: Go banana!
If anyone wants a mirror site, I found some good ones with Google.
-- Bad boys rape our young girls but Violet gives willingly.
Love the irony!
by
John+Zebedee
·
· Score: 2, Funny
From the article:
This year, he plans on building a 20-foot action monkey -- cymbals and all - - and mount it on an art car to bring to Burning Man. With any luck, it will make a splash.
Hard to imagine where the monkey might not be noticed, but I suppose Burning Man would be there, possibly racing power tools.
-- The future is here. It's just not evenly distributed yet.
-- William Gibson
they say that this current inspired the Robot Wars, etc - which, incidentally, I have something to say.
Why oh why does nobody builds bepedal (or quadrapedal) robots? you get *TWICE* the weight limit! For that kind of mass, I'd get a robot that has two non-functional legs that will sit and peg the other guy with a retractable harpoon.
I've seen fuzzy robots! Woe unto man.
by
flyneye
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
I've never heard anyone here discuss SURVIVAL RESEARCH LABS. I've seen fuzzy robots in their videos.Of course it was usually a robot clothed in a dead rotting animal carcass. SRL was probably the great grandfather precursor to battlebots(which I've always found to be waaaay wimpy compared to SRL) The difference being many of SRLs robots are industrial size,insanely dangerous and operate under much less stringent rules of conduct than battlebots. Mark Pauline the founder is a fantastic gearhead-artist-geek.Check out the SRL site at http://www.srl.org/
-- *Repent!Quit Your Job!Slack Off!The World Ends Tomorrow and You May Die!
other odd things that get raced
by
UnixRevolution
·
· Score: 4, Funny
besides the lawnmower races mentioned by someone else (i've actually seen these on tv, they're pretty funny), people also race:
FIRST's (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) annual robotics competition has been supplying high school-based teams from all over the United States, Canada, Brazil, and the UK, with motors from power drills, car window mechanisms, powered van doors, and motorized camper jacks for years, now.
It's not BattleBots or Robot Wars. The goals are never to destroy an opponent. The program is focused on education.
Words can't do it justice.
</shameless plug>
YES! I was there!
by
rMortyH
·
· Score: 3, Informative
This rules. It was a great day, and not only sfgate, but SLASHDOT? I'm shocked!
Although the whole place was packed with robot people these weren't really robots. It was awesome, and Jim Mason's fire extinguisher rocket broke 100mph at the end of the track. He builds the giant fire cannons for burningman. He's brilliant but he smells awful.
Kimric Smythe (who's in SRL and runs an accordion shop and gallery in Oakland) made a propane jet powered vacuum cleaner. It made a HUGE flame but went nowhere. He got 'most pathetic engineering'. It looked incredibly cool but he burned the hell out of some photographer's leg and there was some skin falling off.. In addition to incinerating the track...
Remember the name of that junkyard, kids! It's the most wonderful place around. All your favorite robot parts, and all the obsolete computers you can crush with a forklift! A few weeks back there was a whole PDP-11. You can get dual 133 pentiums, apple ][e's, there was an Osbourne once. I got a magnatherm, a big medical thing that they used to use to microwave your body parts for therapudic reasons before they found out that was... um... Bad... It's got nixies and a built-in O-scope! Lights up a bulb with no cord. You can put a bag of popcorn on one of the paddles and it will make microwave popcorn right there in the middle of the room. I'm pretty sure it's illegal.
Anyway, if you're into geek stuff you need to crawl around that place for a while. It's greasy geek heaven. Stay away from the old army crane, it's kinda radioactive. Don't pet the hairless squirrels. They're not nice.
=mortimer
(First my job, then my favorite junkyard and the technology art group I'm a member of (q-box) have been slashdotted. I feel shiny.)
Slashdot Mirror
Happy, bouncy, fuzzy robots stay in the bedroom...
Lame.
0110100100100000011000010110110100100000011000100
"There are very few happy, bouncy, fuzzy robots."
Bah, who wants those kind... bring on the terminator!
--------
Free your mind.
I'm sure they must have covered this in a few episodes. I saw a show on TLC about racing riding lawn mowers at speeds up to 50 mph.
I don't know about you, but I would get very worried if my power tools started running around wearing women's clothing. Or any clothing at all, for that matter. Spooky.
We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
The Robot Wars phenomenon, begun in San Francisco, gave rise to Comedy Central's "Battlebots" and a similar new show on Tech TV.
I always found Battlebots to be more like remote control cars on steroids. What I want is something with a little more AI, like Honda's ASIMO (or whatever its called), give those guys a sword, shield, and we'll have Light Ages of Camelot - Live!
--------
Free your mind.
So if these are like drag races, would walking disk drives be the equivalent of a tractor pull/monster truck event?
derigiderbils? (or happy furry party gerbiloons?)
If good things come to those who wait...why work now? Procrastinate!
I remember there were a article a few weeks ago in slashdot that talks about the encouragement these shows receive when they are to do with fuzzy robots- thought to be cool.
Efforts towards building truly intelligent systems dont get as much coverage or encouragement - thats truly sad.
Siggy Say, Siggy Do
I think I know who took the Segway.
This is where it all started. The International Belt Sander Drag Race Association.
"Want in one hand and spit in the other and see which one fills up first." - My Dad
I love this sort of stuff. Unlike drag racing, which is expensive and takes up lots of space, these gizmos are things that just about anyone can do... Add to that the 'art' aspect and it makes it truly fun. I wish there was an outlet for this in Southern California.
You should go look at the places where they really race power tools:
National Belt Sander Racing Association International Belt Sander Drag Race Association Tyrol Basin Belt Sander Races North Liberty Belt Sander Races
And yes, it's what it sounds like. Ever used a belt sander and had the sander get away from you because you weren't holding it tightly enough? Well, get a bunch of people sitting around in a bar drunkenly arguing about whose belt sander can get away from them the fastest, and belt-sander racing is born.
here at the Do It Best web site. These belt sander races are great promotional events for small town hardware stores. Kind of like a pinewood derby for adults.
"We make our world significant by the courage of our questions and by the depth of our answers." Carl Sagan
Competitor #2: Go Circular Saw!
Me: Go banana!
If anyone wants a mirror site, I found some
good ones with Google.
Bad boys rape our young girls but Violet gives willingly.
The future is here. It's just not evenly distributed yet. -- William Gibson
they say that this current inspired the Robot Wars, etc - which, incidentally, I have something to say.
Why oh why does nobody builds bepedal (or quadrapedal) robots? you get *TWICE* the weight limit! For that kind of mass, I'd get a robot that has two non-functional legs that will sit and peg the other guy with a retractable harpoon.
ahem.
My life in the land of the rising sun.
I've never heard anyone here discuss SURVIVAL RESEARCH LABS.
I've seen fuzzy robots in their videos.Of course
it was usually a robot clothed in a dead rotting animal carcass.
SRL was probably the great grandfather precursor to battlebots(which I've always found to be waaaay wimpy compared to SRL)
The difference being many of SRLs robots are industrial size,insanely dangerous and operate under much less stringent rules of conduct than battlebots.
Mark Pauline the founder is a fantastic gearhead-artist-geek.Check out the SRL site at http://www.srl.org/
*Repent!Quit Your Job!Slack Off!The World Ends Tomorrow and You May Die!
besides the lawnmower races mentioned by someone else (i've actually seen these on tv, they're pretty funny), people also race:
Tractors
Shopping carts (motorized)
golf carts
rubber band/spool racers
people, especially americans, will race damn near anything.
You like your new Mac more than you like me, don't you, Dave? Dave? I asked...She said Yes.
FIRST's (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) annual robotics competition has been supplying high school-based teams from all over the United States, Canada, Brazil, and the UK, with motors from power drills, car window mechanisms, powered van doors, and motorized camper jacks for years, now.
Check out the FIRSTrobitcs.net galleries for pictures of the kinds of robots we make.
It's not BattleBots or Robot Wars. The goals are never to destroy an opponent. The program is focused on education.
Words can't do it justice.
</shameless plug>
This rules. It was a great day, and not only sfgate, but SLASHDOT? I'm shocked!
Although the whole place was packed with robot people these weren't really robots. It was awesome, and Jim Mason's fire extinguisher rocket broke 100mph at the end of the track. He builds the giant fire cannons for burningman. He's brilliant but he smells awful.
Kimric Smythe (who's in SRL and runs an accordion shop and gallery in Oakland) made a propane jet powered vacuum cleaner. It made a HUGE flame but went nowhere. He got 'most pathetic engineering'. It looked incredibly cool but he burned the hell out of some photographer's leg and there was some skin falling off.. In addition to incinerating the track...
Remember the name of that junkyard, kids! It's the most wonderful place around. All your favorite robot parts, and all the obsolete computers you can crush with a forklift! A few weeks back there was a whole PDP-11. You can get dual 133 pentiums, apple ][e's, there was an Osbourne once. I got a magnatherm, a big medical thing that they used to use to microwave your body parts for therapudic reasons before they found out that was... um... Bad... It's got nixies and a built-in O-scope! Lights up a bulb with no cord. You can put a bag of popcorn on one of the paddles and it will make microwave popcorn right there in the middle of the room. I'm pretty sure it's illegal.
Anyway, if you're into geek stuff you need to crawl around that place for a while. It's greasy geek heaven. Stay away from the old army crane, it's kinda radioactive. Don't pet the hairless squirrels. They're not nice.
=mortimer
(First my job, then my favorite junkyard and the technology art group I'm a member of (q-box) have been slashdotted. I feel shiny.)