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CES 2014: Building Self-Guiding Lego Robots for Fun and (Maybe) Profit (Video)

Lauro Ojeda is a researcher at the University of Michigan who also works with a Korean company, Microinfinity, that says it works with everything "from basic sensors to full navigation systems, and is becoming the world leading navigation system company." Prof. Ojeda also has a personal website, robotnav.com, where he posts his navigation and control code (under an open source license, of course) that you are welcome to download, play with, install on any suitable device you have handy, and modify at will. A lot of his work is with Lego-based robots because they're both inexpensive and readily available almost anywhere. If you already have a good-sized Lego collection, you probably only need a few pieces to follow or even surpass Prof. Ojeda's work. And who knows? If you manage to make an autonomous Lego robot, your next stage may be a car that drives itself so you can watch SyFy reruns on your way to work instead of worrying about the truck in the left lane that looks like it's about to make a right turn.

8 comments

  1. Opensores by AndyKron · · Score: 1

    Open source license, of course. Ya, like Makerbot. Right-O. I call it "Open sores.

  2. Rule for /. by i+kan+reed · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If it has a video, it's an ad.

    1. Re:Rule for /. by BringsApples · · Score: 0

      If it's not about the NSA, Edward Snowden, or anything to do with American governmental overreach, then it's an ad. If it has a video, it is a long ad.

      --
      Politics; n. : A religion whereby man is god.
  3. Or ( +5, Probably ) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    or recruiting for Pentagon, Inc.

    1. Re:Or ( +5, Probably ) by PPH · · Score: 1

      I'm already working on it.

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
  4. Next stage... by ackthpt · · Score: 1

    A LegoBot which posts comments on /.

    Posted from the LegoBot in the LegoBucket

    --

    A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
  5. Cute, but Meh. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    First of all, I'm sure all the hardware hackers here are screaming "LEGO did NOT come up with I2C" (it's been around since the early 80s)

    Second, I visited his personal site and while it has some good information to get you started, I couldn't find a license for his "open source" code. He lists the code openly, but I don't think that offers you much legal protection if you decide to build a platform on what he wrote.

    Third, thank you for normalizing the sound to a greater extent. Much better than some of the other recent videos.

    Last, to repeat a common trope here on /. WTF? how is this news? "Robotics professor plays with lego robots" show at 11. I mean the video didn't go over anything really interesting about the booth. What does Microinfinity sell that's cool? how is drawing John Lennon and Abe Lincoln going to change our lives? What is the accuracy of the lego robot over non-flat surfaces? Can/is/how is this technology utilized in self driving cars? (and 1967 called, they want the logo turtle back. pd f 5 pu r 90)

  6. Legos...inexpensive? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Legos are quite expensive, around 10 cents per tiny piece.