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Fast Robot Prototyping
Lana writes "This article walks you through various materials and techniques you can use to physically build a robotic prototype. See how to build a fast and easy prototype that can be disassembled, reconfigured, and reassembled. This article builds on a previous articles, entitled 'How to drive your wireless robot.'"
I have to say, this is one of the most useful things I've seen on Slashdot in a while. For getting kids interested: my old middle school used to participate in a robotics league, which really got me interested in the whole idea of AI and computer programmming. There was too much demand: we could only send 16 people (8 per team) and every year 50 kids would show up. Let's get some schools to join...
"MY APOCALYPTIC TENOR HAS NOT BEEN DISPELLED!" - T-Rex, qwantz.com
While it may look Mickey Mouse, building a prototype with Lego can save a huge amount of time. It is very easy to get a working system using Lego. I've had students build pick and place robots and conveyer systems with Lego. That's step one. At that point you have a working system consisting of mechanical parts, electrical parts, driver circuits and software.
Step two is to replace part of the system with the real item. Repeat step two until you have a complete system comprised of 'real' parts. Then, you're done.
The beauty of this approach is that you are always dealing with a working system. If you build a part and it doesn't work, then that's what you have to fix. The alternative, where you build all the parts and assemble them and hope it all works, doesn't give you that advantage. If the system doesn't work, you don't know which part to fix first.
I saw my first homemade robot well before the PC ever came out. It was made by a guy with only rudimentary electronics skill; he used a blow torch as a soldering iron. The thing didn't do much, drove around and moved its arm up and down and it had a great gripping arm. But from what I see on this page, it did a lot more than this "robot" from the year 2005 can do.
Is this thing anything more than a very expensive remote-control car minus the remote? I don't see any reference to sensors and feedback. Without some sort of sensor/feedback mechanism, some sort of intelligent behavior, I wouldnt call it a robot.
Back in the early 1980-1981 era, OMNI magazine had a great artical on building prototype robots that thought like insects. The gent in charge of the program at MIT decided that it would be a good idea to begin a robotic life at the insect level, then build (evolve?) from there. He used toy cars from Radio Shack, and they had programmed responses, such as flee when the lights came on, following tail-lights, and setting up a territory.
When the robots started doing odd things, they learned quite a lot. One thing that was programmed into the bugs was to defend a territory. The bugs would run a perimeter, and if another robot had tresspassed, they would park and shine their headlights on each other. Theoretically, they should have stayed locked this way, but sometimes one would give up and stake out a new territory.
They were using this for prototyping, and I wonder how far they've come since 1981.
"First things first, but not necessarily in that order."
- Doctor Who
Yeah, mindstoorm is nice, but the different engines and stuff looks a bit clumpsy. It would be great if they made some proper servos (like in those humanoid robot kits).
An artificial muscle system would be great too, using their pneumatics systems perhaps? I doubt they'll do it though, you can't even order individual parts from Lego. You have to order them from people that buy stuff and sort all the parts.
As for lego mecha builders, check out these crazy talented japanese builders Nakany, Zizy etc.. It would be awesome if these people could submit their designs to lego along with a description of the parts, and then Lego has a robot that collects the parts, packages etc. Lego kits on demand.
So, Servos, pneumatic controller, individual part ordering, fan made kits. Those are my demands!
The Chair Corp. comic(*00-12)
When I was around 13 years old, a friend and I built a robot out of a yellow plastic garbage can for the body, a paint can for the head, and red and green lights for the eyes and nose. It was assembled using some basic switches and alligator clips we got at Radio Shack. It basically did nothing more than light up as 'yes' and 'no' responses, make some noises and provided hours of enjoyment for some bored kids.
He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson