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For Building DIY Droids, It Helps to Live In Japan
destinyland writes "Want to build a robot this summer? 'Robot-loving Japanese are tinkering with screwdrivers and motors instead of heading to the beach,' and this article identifies the stores and sites serving robot hobbyists. Several sites are actually selling leftover industrial robots, but there's a variety of smaller-size robot vendors, from Tokyo's Vstone Robot Center to Carl's Electronics in Oakland (which sells sound-activated 'Hydradzoids' and solar-powered robots that crawl). Hasbro even sells their own functioning R2-D2 droid with real sonar navigation and a 'voice recognition response module.'"
Hasbro even sells their own functioning R2-D2 droid with real sonar navigation and a 'voice recognition response module.
And at a hieght of only 15", it's as close to the original as you're going to get without needing your very own circus and cabaret performer to power it!
... oops, I mean ... *boo-boop bee-boo-doop*!"
Kenny Baker says, "This tin can is #$^!ing hot in Tunisia
My work here is dung.
Those aren't the droids I was looking for.
Terrible article. See Robots Dreams for what's really going in Japanese hobbyist robotics. Especially what's happening with small humanoid robot competitions. Obstacle courses are routine now.
This stuff is way ahead of the Lego Mindstorms, Battlebots, anf FIRST stuff you see in the US.
I'd like to see Big Dog balance technology scaled down to toy size. It's not inherently expensive. All the cleverness is in the software and the math.
They can check my credentials all they want. They just have to fight their way past my legions of lesser robots, my eight larger robots (they command other robots, so I'll call them Robot Masters). At that point, they'll be inside the shop, and they'll have to fight a giant robot, copies of the first eight robot masters, and then me in my robot suit.
Only then, can justice be served!
I traded all my mod points for these magic beans.
I'll wait until they come up with replicators, then I'll worry.
On the other hand, were they to come up with a full sized Number 6, I might have to run right out and get one.
Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.
For a life-size R2 droid, one need not look any further than here in the US (and Europe), with the R2-Builders club.
astromech.net is just one associated website.
I have not lost my mind... it's backed up on disk somewhere!