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Heathkit Reincarnates the Hero Robot

Posted by timothy on from the no-no-that-os-is-for-human-robots dept.

DeviceGuru writes "Heathkit, which produced and sold mobile robots aimed at hobbyists and students back in the 1980s, is about to reenter the educational robot business. Heathkit's new HE-RObot incorporates an onboard computer running Windows XP Professional on a Core 2 Duo Processor. It stands 21 inches tall, weighs 55 pounds, and has a built-in 80 GB hard drive, IR sensors, bright LED headlights, and lots of space for custom project circuitry." As robots go, it also looks very much like certain models of SGI workstation. Now I'll need to update my 1980 Christmas wishlist -- it's probably lost between pages of Popular Mechanics.

8 of 119 comments (clear)

  1. Alternate OS? by deckert_za · · Score: 5, Funny
    Not that I religiously dislike Windows, but if you can run Linux on it, it puts a whole new spin on being able to remotely ssh to your robot and issue the "kill" command ;-)

    --deckert

    1. Re:Alternate OS? by noidentity · · Score: 2, Funny

      Not that I religiously dislike Windows, but if you can run Linux on it, it puts a whole new spin on being able to remotely ssh to your robot and issue the "kill" command

      Not to fear, Windows provides an automatic version of this feature where you don't even need to log in to have processes randomly killed.

  2. Obligatory... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Heathkit, which produced and sold mobile robots...

    Heathkit is not in charge of Gundam.
  3. Heathcliff Reincarnates the Hero Robot by Sergeant+Pepper · · Score: 3, Funny

    Did anybody else read this as "Heathcliff Reincarnates the Hero Robot"? I had imagined some bastard child of Wuthering Heights and Snow Crash...

    Heathcliff: "Wait a minute, Cathy. Make up your mind. This Love thing--is it a virus, a drug, or a religion?" Cathy shrugs. "What's the difference?"

    Or, alternatively:

    Y.T.: My love for Hiro resembles the eternal rocks beneath: a source of little visible delight, but necessary. Juanita, I AM Hiro!

    --
    Grammar Nazi
  4. Re:Heathkit in name only by noidentity · · Score: 2, Funny

    Now it's a PC running Windows XP. It's a blue PC on wheels.

    Oh come on, Windows doesn't crash that often!

  5. Re:Heathkit has lost touch with its core users by Dachannien · · Score: 3, Funny

    Heathkit was beloved of inveterate tinkers Maybe they're trying to appeal to invertebrate tinkers now.

  6. Re:linux! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    That's easy.
    They're still stress testing the hardware

  7. Screw that by l00sr · · Score: 2, Funny

    Screw the HE-Robot. Call me when they release a SHE-Robot.