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Mars Rovers At Smithsonian And Exploratorium Now

Posted by timothy on from the sorry-wrong-planet dept.

Illah Nourbakhsh writes "From the makers of the Palm Pilot Robot Kit comes our newest thing. If you live in SF or in DC you can go to the biggest science centers of them all, the Air & Space Museum or the Exploratorium and interact with miniature Mars rovers we've put in Mars yards there. The robots take panoramic images and track and test rocks, so it's no remote-control toy. All Linux on-board, using a prototype single-board arm-based robotics board (the Intel Stayton). The website 'gallery' has pictures of all of the rover's parts, including the Linux processor and the mechanicals. Gallery also has several videos. We've built 20 of these 'bots and they're in DC, San Francisco and Augusta, Georgia." If these were in toy stores ...

10 of 85 comments (clear)

  1. Obvious question..... by BWJones · · Score: 5, Funny

    So, I guess the obvious question is: Where can I buy one? Followed up by: Are you going to Open source it?

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    1. Re:Obvious question..... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny
      You forgot to ask about OGG support.

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    2. Re:Obvious question..... by lxs · · Score: 5, Funny

      No no no no no!
      The obvious question is:

      "Does SCO plan to send a probe to mars, carrying an invoice for $699?"

    3. Re:Obvious question..... by GreggBert · · Score: 2, Funny
      Why do I think that even if someone could buy one, that they would not stand a chance of having it arrive at home successfully ?

      Maybe we should put Fed-Ex in charge of delivering these things to Mars. I can hear the commercial now. "Fed-Ex...When it absolutely, positively needs to get there overnight. In one piece. Without exploding, vaporizing, bouncing off the atmosphere or being driven into the ground due to metric/standard conversion issues"

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  2. Unfortunately by CrankyFool · · Score: 4, Funny

    I called the Exploratorium. They said they were _supposed_ to receive one of these, but so far it's late checking in, and they're losing hope it'll actually arrive.

  3. Rock tracking? by CompressedAir · · Score: 4, Funny

    The robots take panoramic images and track and test rocks,

    "Still there... yep, still there. The rock has not moved."

  4. Re:Oops... by cybermace5 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Yeah, 1999, along with closing my bolding tag.

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  5. Shouldn't It Be More Realistic by cptofmysoul · · Score: 2, Funny

    I think they should capture more realism by just advertising the Mars Explorer models. Then, when all the kids come to play with them, they would just have the empty display. Maybe the control panel could display, "SEARCHING FOR SIGNAL...". Does anyone else think that the problems with getting something on Mars kinda gives validity to the whole "we didn't really land on the moon" conspiracy theory?

  6. How unusual that there is one at the Smithsonian.. by andy666 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Mars probes are usual debris strewn across the surface of the red planet.

  7. Finally, something usable on earth by Tablizer · · Score: 3, Funny

    NASA finally has made a practical technology: Remote Up-skirt viewers

    "Honest officer, the probe thought it was on another planet."

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