I was amazed when my eight year old daughter wanted to play with the old Atari 2600 system as much as her Nintendo and Sega. Makes me mighty happy I'll tell you, good to see 'Pitfall' and 'Space Invaders' getting some play time again!
You are so right. That's exactly the crowd that Battle Bots is aimed at.
And you are also correct on the autonomous robot combat.
I have seen a few and they are beacon beaters (i.e. they want to follow the IR beacon attached to the other robot), not what the other posters are talking about.
It is very hard to have a robot do a simple task of catching a ball let alone catching and killing another robot. I am part of a group that builds autonomous maze robots (as well as combat 'bots, www parex.org and www.botbash.com) and I have seen some very talented programmers try very hard to solve a simple maze.
I also know the man who had an autonomous robot in the old Robotwars event (1995? the 'bots name was Thumper) and even he says that AI just is not quite up to it yet. And getting 'caught' in a corner and having your 'bot soundly thrashed is kind of what happened to his 'bot.
Look it up if you want, they are robots.
The do the work of man.
Simple as that.
And yes there is a reason to put a 'brain' in them, it would be to run the weapon or to help with guidance. The reaction time is much better than a humans.
Right now autonomous robotic combat is not that interesting to see, just go to a robotic sumo event if you do not believe me.
They are robots, they do the work of man. A device does not have to have intelligence to be called a robot. In fact they do not need to be electric.
You will see more nad more people useing MPUs on their 'bot in the future. You can not beat them for blazing reaction time on a weapon.
Slashdot Mirror
They outbid Sci Fi, simple as that.
I was amazed when my eight year old daughter wanted to play with the old Atari 2600 system as much as her Nintendo and Sega. Makes me mighty happy I'll tell you, good to see 'Pitfall' and 'Space Invaders' getting some play time again!
You are so right. That's exactly the crowd that Battle Bots is aimed at. And you are also correct on the autonomous robot combat. I have seen a few and they are beacon beaters (i.e. they want to follow the IR beacon attached to the other robot), not what the other posters are talking about. It is very hard to have a robot do a simple task of catching a ball let alone catching and killing another robot. I am part of a group that builds autonomous maze robots (as well as combat 'bots, www parex.org and www.botbash.com) and I have seen some very talented programmers try very hard to solve a simple maze. I also know the man who had an autonomous robot in the old Robotwars event (1995? the 'bots name was Thumper) and even he says that AI just is not quite up to it yet. And getting 'caught' in a corner and having your 'bot soundly thrashed is kind of what happened to his 'bot.
Look it up if you want, they are robots. The do the work of man. Simple as that. And yes there is a reason to put a 'brain' in them, it would be to run the weapon or to help with guidance. The reaction time is much better than a humans. Right now autonomous robotic combat is not that interesting to see, just go to a robotic sumo event if you do not believe me.
They are robots, they do the work of man. A device does not have to have intelligence to be called a robot. In fact they do not need to be electric. You will see more nad more people useing MPUs on their 'bot in the future. You can not beat them for blazing reaction time on a weapon.