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Open Design for ~$800 Swarm Robots
An anonymous reader writes "There are lots of multi-robot designs out there. Most are either research platforms well over $2K (often $10K or more), or are hobbyist bots under $400 with tiny brains and few sensors. But George Mason University's new FlockBots wiki is interesting. They're trying to pack as much functionality as possible into a roughly $800, 7" mobile swarmbot, and publish the design and software as a free and open spec. So far their design includes a wireless 200MHz Gumstix Linux computer, a camera, range and bump sensors, wheel encoders, a can gripper, and lots more. It's a great-looking design and I think the cost could drop to $500 with vendors doing consolidation."
I'm cynical.
Lagit freedom fighters (Not the terrorists in Iraq etc) wouldn't think twice about using low cost american technology to fight off an invaider and save there own lifes.
But for those whom life is a cheap throw away thing they wouldn't even consider using killer robots made by infedel americans.
However if this really is a case of freedom loving people not anti-american religous fanatics then they should have every right to use this technology.
In short it's all good. Let em have it.
I don't actually exist.
" It's a great-looking design and I think the cost could drop to $500 with vendors doing consolidation."
I'm sorry, did anyone follow that link?
These robots are stuck together with duct tape.
This is fine for academics, maybe for hobbyists. If I pay 800 USD forgive me for expecting something a little polished.
I say this not because I am predjudiced, but because prototype circuit boards are less robust, and robots that aren't well machined tend to fall apart.
Look at robocup, there the aibo league had made (forgive the pun) leaps and bounds, whereas the other leagues have failed miserably. Mainly due to hardware issues.
I'm sorry to be negative, but robotics needs to be stringent to become an industry. There robots aren't.