Hacking the RoboSapien

unassimilatible writes "The RoboSapien is a cool humanoid robot toy with pretty decent dexterity and 67 pre-programmed instructions. But the folks at The University of Freiberg have made the RoboSapien autonomous by installing a Pocket PC to its head. The Pocket PC is equipped with a camera and communicates via infrared to the robot, and the whole monstrosity can be programmed with Visual C++. The full API is available for download. I, for one, welcome..."

Comments

67 Pre-programmed instructions

[thedogcow]

Well that is cool, but no robots will need more than 640 pre-programmed instructions anyway.

Re:67 Pre-programmed instructions

[Anonymous Coward]

I get the joke, if no other mods do. He didn't actually say that afaik.

Chris

Re:67 Pre-programmed instructions

[Hobadee]

I only need my robot to understand a few commands.

1. Beer me.
2. Get TV remote.
3. Get rid of annoying girlfriend.

O wait - I'm a slashdotter, I don't have a girlfriend! Scratch that last command.

Re:67 Pre-programmed instructions

[jamesh]

You wouldn't want it have too much intelligence. The last thing you want is for it to tell you "Get your own fscking beer", and then go and hump your girlfriend behind your back.

re #2, any decent robot would have an inbuilt remote which works by voice anyway.

Re:67 Pre-programmed instructions

[Gentlewhisper]

"You wouldn't want it have too much intelligence. The last thing you want is for it to tell you "Get your own fscking beer", and then go and hump your girlfriend behind your back."

Jeez, that does remind me of another robot!
http://www.fantastic.nu/bender/

Re:67 Pre-programmed instructions

[KCRWreck]

I'm not sure that humans need more than that.

And yes, I do get the reference.

robosapien.tk

[jpmkm]

The best robosapien hacking site is robosapien.tk. I can't find my remote for my robosapien, so I've downloaded a program for my girlfriend's palmpilot(my monochrome visor wouldn't run the program) to control my robosapien. btw, looks like someone reads hardocp.

Re:robosapien.tk

[jpmkm]

Sorry about that, I thought it was on the robosapien.tk site. Anyway, the program is SapBench.

Fight!!

[alatesystems]

Qrio could totally that things windows-running ass.

It looks like Johnny 5, but a cool project none the less. Perhaps they could install Pocket Skype on the PPC and have the robot follow you around as a mobile speakerphone.

Chris

Re:Fight!!

[Psion]

You're absolutely right about Qrio. Except:

• Qrio isn't commercially available yet.
• Robosapiens costs about $99 at BestBuy

So heck, considering the status of Qrio, I could almost get away with saying ED209 could kick Qrio's butt.

Mirror

[FiberOpPraise]

I have a strong feeling this site is going to go down with the video files and a direct link to a file. Here is a full mirror: http://66.90.101.31/~whateve/mirror/slashdot/www.i nformatik.uni-freiburg.de/%257Enimbro/robots.html

as long as they don't turn evil

[Anonymous Coward]

Evil spider robots with fangs... they've got teeth!

Be careful with these suckers

[mofochickamo]

My boss got one of these about 3 months ago as a preview release from a friend who is a distributor. Some of the pre-programmed motions were quite funny (like the Neandertal roar for scaring small children). The robot also has good walking ability and dexterity in general.

Though be warned, it isn't made out of the highest quality components. Much to the embaressment of my boss, the robot broke in his care. The head got stuck to one side. My boss and I considered opening it up and hacking it ourselves, but all we both had visions of giving the robot back to the distributor in many pieces.

Re:Be careful with these suckers

[Inominate]

Actually thats not broken, the instructions actually explain how to realign the head.

Re:Be careful with these suckers

[Distan]

The "head stuck to one side" problem is common, and can be easily fixed. From the official FAQ:

Q: Robosapien's head has turned to the right; I have not been able to re-center it. Do you have any suggestions for repair?

A: Lower his arms and twist his head all the way to the left, until you hear a "click".

Re:Be careful with these suckers

[robfoo]

Hey! That happens to my head too - I always thought maybe I needed a chiropractor, or just better posture.

Turns out I just needed to read my FAQ!

Freiburg not Freiberg

[frostman]

In case anyone's curious, the name of the town is Freiburg not Freiberg.

But you probably figured that out from the URL, even if our noble editors did not.

Nice town, by the way.

Re:Freiburg not Freiberg

[Zatic]

Nice town, by the way.
Definitly! It's nice to see my home town on slashdot :-)

Also check out CS Freiburg, one of the world's best robotic socker teams:
http://www.informatik.uni-freiburg.de/~robocup/

Wow, that's messed up.

[MedHead]

Wow, 2XL has been taking some steroids!

hmmmm

[Anonymous Coward]

Robosapien

dexterity: 16
strength: 8 (very small)
constitution: varies on battery pack
charisma: 14 (drops to 12 after 2 months of gismo newness)
intelligence: varies with loaded program
wisdom: ditto

movement: 5
Hit points: 20
Attacks: swinging arm
Damage: 1d2 of temporary damage

My Dog

dexterity: 14
strength: 14
constitution: 16
charisma: 16 (drops to 14 after christmas)
intelligence: 10
wisdom: 6

movement: 14
Hitpoints: 30
attacks: vicious bite
Damage: 1d6 in initial bite, 1d4 of gnawing damage each round afterwards.

Robosapien: hundreds of dollars
Dog: free
Watching my dog steal your robosapien and destroy it in around 4 rounds with gnawing damage: priceless

Re:hmmmm

[Bloodlent]

I may use those in my next campaign... Now I'll have to find some wacky way to fit Robosapien into Forgotten Realms.

An affirmation of C++'s flexibilty

[Anonymous Coward]

Though many still balk at the ease with which pointer manipulation is done through the standard library, projects such as the RoboSapien demonstrate the need for graceful performace over allocated expectations. Combining dual methodologies through lowered overhead can, and may, allow for the artificial intelligence paradigm many of use hope for.

CB

Robosapien in Servo Magazine

[Psion]

Servo Magazine had a feature last month on the Robosapien. Apparently, the designer felt very strongly about letting users hack the device, so he left plenty of space to add capabilities. The current issue of the magazine has a hacking contest for the toy. See Hack-a-Sapien contest.

Re:Robosapien in Servo Magazine

[jim_deane]

That would be Mark Tilden. He is primarily responsible for the BEAM (current site here) robots, lots of which are based on the bicore circuit and other novel simple circuits(read at the sites!).

Rather than a top-down method of robot design, where you take a brain and make it do cool things, his idea is to decide some basic function you want to accomplish--like walking--and design the simplest circuit that is able to do that. Then pick a new function (say, seeking light) and build that circuit. Hook the two together, and now you have a walking robot that seeks light. It is a more biological method to robot evolution.

If you like the idea of making a functioning insect-robot out of the parts from an old Walkman cassette player and a pocket calculator, you'll love BEAM robotics.

Jim

Biomorphic robot indeed!

[ManyLostPackets]

BioMorphic robot indeed! DO NOT go in there!!

Re:Biomorphic robot indeed!

[ctr2sprt]

For those who're concerned, the parent is a movie of a robosapien with toilet paper around its head flapping uselessly in a bathroom.

I was a little worried myself, but I have mod points so I figured I'd do my civic duty and make sure it was safe.

It's not for normal people!

[tftp]

I checked out the manual, and the remote controller for the robot is probably more complex and has more keys than the one in Heavy Gear II. Note: HG2 uses all the keys on your keyboard, and then some :-)

Also, a bunch of D-size batteries is not enough for any serious use. I shall wait until they upgrade it to some low-end fusion power unit.

Quickly!

[BitwizeGHC]

How many of you saw this thing and immediately thought of MEGAS XLR?

*raises hand*

Mod article as unfair!

[koi88]

"I, for one, welcome..."

You deliberately limit the possibility of a funny-moderated comment.
Now I want to have a Beowolf cluster of these...

obligatory MTG reference

[servognome]

Card Name: Dog
Card Color: Green
Cash Cost: 0
Type & Class: Creature - Canine
Pow/Tough: 1/1
Card Text:
During your upkeep sacrifice 5 food or bury dog
When Dog comes into play, gain control of all children until end of turn.
Tap to destroy target permanent
Flavor Text:
Sit Ubu sit, good dog Rarity: C
----------------
Card Name: Robosapien
Card Color: A
Cash Cost: 95
Type & Class: Artifact - Creature
Pow/Tough: 0/1
Card Text:
Upon Summoning place 10 battery counters on Robosapien
Everytime Robosapien becomes tapped remove a battery counter
Tap to gain control of target creature
Flavor Text: I am Robosapien
Rarity: U

Re:obligatory MTG reference

[Quobobo]

And where does one get the Food from? We need another card.. unless the expansion sets have gone even further downhill since I stopped keeping track of them.

Re:obligatory MTG reference

[NoMoreNicksLeft]

Card Name: Slashdot Moderator
Card Color: Gold
Cash Cost: 0
Type & Class: Human Idiot
Pow/Tough: 0/1

Card Text:
When Slashdot Moderator is summoned, destroy all jokes. For every round Slashdot Moderator is in play, place a "-1, Troll" counter on all Smart, Clever, or Interesting Posts. For every round Slashdot Moderator is in play, put a "+1 Insightful" counter on all Flamebait, Troll, or Stupid Posts. Sacrifice Slashdot Moderator to modbomb target permanent.

Flavor Text: Fr1st Ps0t!
Rarity: R

Who cares

[commodoresloat]

I just want a humanoid robot that will squash those damn robot cockroaches.

It's Freiburg not Freiberg

[Anonymous Coward]

Burg = Castle, Berg = Mountain... ...

Re:It's Freiburg not Freiberg

[koi88]

That's right. But the tricky part is, both Freiburg and Freiberg actually exist.
Freiburg is a town in southwest Germany near the French border while Freiberg is in Eastern Germany, near Dresden.
and they both have universities (check it out: www.uni-freiberg.de)

What about

[aussie_a]

3. Find keys? 4. ???? 5. Profit

Mark Tilden

[Smerity]

Mark Tilden, the designer of Robosapien (and of BEAM robotics for any of you who have heard of it) purposely left the Robosapien open for modification (god bless his soul ^_^) More people/companies should do this! =)

I'm actually quite interested in this, as I'm in the Australian Robocup Junior atm (Year 9) and this is a great platform to begin experimenting in bipedal robots. Heck, it could even begin it's own competition section (the robotic AIBO dogs have their own soccer competition)

Mark Tilden is also heavy researcher in the biomorphic robotics field, and through his experiments he has essentially created the BEAM robotics field.

If you haven't ever looked at BEAM robots, DO! They're can be amazingly simple (start here) and can then lead up to quite advanced and fun projects in robotics! And did I mention they're cheap =)

Solarbotics, one of the best resources for BEAM robots I know of

Robocup Official Website

Mark Tilden at WIKI

maybe if....

[rubberbando]

maybe if you crossed it with a RealDoll, you might be onto something. ;-)

Why did they choose that name?

[dat00ket]

Why did they choose the name Robo Sapien? It's not really a thinking robot, just one that kinda looks human. It would make more sense if they had gone with HomoRo..

oh..

right..

never mind.

Where does this end?

[museumpeace]

Eventually, a Linux-brained robot. Or maybe some open sourced flavor of VxWorks. Eventually its got a gas engine and 2 or 3 horse power driving hydraulic actuators. Strong enough to be lightly armored and do serious damage with its weight alone. It'll have a published standard sensor bus that enables dozens of open source daemons giving it such capabilities as a better sense of balance and maybe a RFID-based or face recognition software to give it a sense of friend/foe. I could program it to walk down to the gas station and use my credit card when it was hungry. It will be strong enough that I can program it to stack my fire wood and threaten the neighbors stupid dog. For that much utility, I would pay the ten or fifty thousand dollars that it might cost. Etc Etc. The question is, when does it cease to be a toy...
AT WHAT POINT DO I NEED A LICENSE TO OPERATE A ROBOT? When its capable of misuse? When its capable of harming other people? [Note Linux brain : I DO NOT need a license to turn it on or to program it ... ever!]

Dear God No. Dear Jesus No.

[Gannoc]

But the folks at The University of Freiberg have made the RoboSapien autonomous by installing a Pocket PC to its head.

I think we of the slashdot community know these three indisputable facts:

Microsoft is evil.
Microsoft has a plan to "Put Windows on Every Desktop"
Microsoft will crush other companies and break laws to attain its goals.

And now they've put Microsoft into a robot? Gentlemen. I think we all know what this means:

Evil Robots
Evil Robots that want to take over the world.
Evil Robots that want to take over the world... BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY.

Oppenheimer, upon seeing the world's first atomic explosion, quoted: "I'm sure at the end of the world... the last man will see something very familar to what we've seen today."

We know now he is wrong. The last thing that the last man will see, will be an evil robot's arm, raised above its head in triumph. I imagine it will be something like the basement scene in the movie "Signs", except the robot will be able to tear apart the wooden door like paper, and Mel Gibson will never find his faith again,

I'm heading down to my bomb shelter now with my family to try and ride this out. I leave you with mankind's one hope: They're using PocketPCs. This means that while they may be DESIGNED for a continuous rampage, we all know that after about 90 minutes of practical use, they'll need to head back to their cradles for a 3 hour recharge.

I beg you, find those cradles and destroy them!

God bless and good luck.

This is slashdot 210256, signing off.

Gives a whole new meaning

[overshoot]

to "blue screen of death."

Or was that "blue scream of death?"

Read it as "putting a PocketPC..."

[drinkypoo]

Made sense to me. When you put a gun to someone's head you're threatening to put a bullet in them, right? If you put a PocketPC to a robot's head, your'e threatening to install WinCE on them... That would sure as hell make me get up and run away.