Words have non-arbitrary meanings -- this is the essence of language. Kindly note the aforementioned standard definitions of "democracy" and "republic". The US is both, and always has been.
While there has indeed been a substantial centralization of power in the US since 1787, this has nothing to do whether we have "become more of a democracy/less of a republic". This is as meaningless as declaring that the US has become a nation of, say, anarcho-syndicalist cheesemakers.
While I realize that the libertarians and neo-conservatives love to characterize the US as "a Republic and NOT a Democracy", this is simply not the case when these words are used as defined in both standard usage AND most political science texts. To wit (from the nice people at dictionary.com):
Republic - A political order whose head of state is not a monarch and in modern times is usually a president.
Or, if you prefer -- A political order in which the supreme power lies in a body of citizens who are entitled to vote for officers and representatives responsible to them.
Democracy - Government by the people, exercised either directly or through elected representatives.
While democracy can also mean simply "majority rule", this is not the only or even primary meaning of the word.
In fact, we live in a democratic republic. Hope I've helped.
My point, I suppose, is that in general, home robots aren't ready for prime time just yet. For stairs, substitute things like loose carpeting, furniture with odd protrusions that get past the obstacle sensors, exceptionally steep door thresholds etc.
Moreover, there are a number of similiar units being offered as "house sitters". While there may be something useful to the telepresence aspect, there is a lot less value even to this if the robot can't be made to do anything really useful remotely (like turn off the gas stove you accidentally left on).
Some of these have even been promoted as roving security "watchdogs". If I break into a house, however, I imagine that the first thing I'l be stealling will be your $4500.00 "watchdog".
All of this stuff still looks like expensive novelty items, IMHO. Still, the day is probably coming...
I don't think we've had nearly enough time to digest and discuss the far more significant time traveller story yet. I mean, how can we be bothered with such trivialities as PDA based app sharing after THAT?
If you use GnomeMeeting or ohphoneX (Mac OS), you can enable "tunneling" which means it will multiplex that mess of ports over a single socket.
Of course, this breaks compatibility with Netmeeting, but who cares?
Ummmm... anyone who has to communicate with someone using NetMeeting or any other device that doesn't support tunneling? Was this a trick question?
At least as far as firewalls are concerned. Last I checked, H.323 SW/devices did IP and port negotiation within the protocol itself, making getting it thru firewalls a major PITA.
At one time, someone was working on a Linux masq module to get h.323 to work with a linux box used as a firewall, although (again, last I checked) this didn't work too well. If you use a linksys or other "dsl/cable" router, you'll probably be SOL.
The tough part is getting them back to the base station reliably (as you mentioned). Really, as long as you used two, 24-7 coverage would be pretty easy.
There's probably no need to directly replace the battery. The reason for this is that (depending on the battery chermistry) a good charger can recharge the battery pretty quickly. I believe for NiCADS and NiMHs a well-constructed charger can complete the charge between 15-30 minutes. Gell cells can be 90% recharged inside 45 minutes, depending on the level of discharge.
Most webcams won't be used 24/7; in other words, people are only connected for a relatively small fraction of the day. These long downtimes can be used for recharging.
That's OK. The occasional 12-year old moderator is just par for the course -- I have karma to burn anyway.
Given the current state of power storage technology, the best approach is probably trips to a power-charging station during quiet times (as you mentioned). I'm working on a reliable method of doing this with my web-cam bots, which would allow longer run times with smaller bots, since they need not be so large to accomodate big batteries. Smaller = cheaper, so...
I'm still wondering if any of the humanoid bots can do this in typical unconstrained indoor environments. Not only does the base station need to be found reliably, which requires decent localization capabilities, but the robot needs good obstacle detectionn. I've always figured this would be pretty hard to do an a largish, actively balanced humanoid robot because of sensor coverage issues.
I'd be interested in the power sources being used for some of these humanoid robots, as well as the actual run times.
Some of these guys are tethered, but for those that aren't I'd really love to know what they're using for power, and how long these robots can continue to run. I can't seem to find much (except for Asimo, which uses NiMh batts). Anybody else find some more solid specs?
The cool thing about all of this was the relatively simple equipment used: three metal balls (I'm guessing Christmas tree ornaments), and a little thin wire.
This gives me renewed hope for my latest project, a hyperdrive engine built of old Spaghetti-Os cans and dental floss.
This model really would appear to work only for the larger acts. You know, the ones that get airplay -- all 10 of them.
This wouldn't work at all for bands on smaller independent labels, other non-pop genres (jazz, blues, etc). Reads like another big step toward musical homogenization to me.
This is also small form factor, and has simpler power requirements than ATX. May be more expensive, though, but it _is_ a standard which has been around for a while. You can actually expand these a bit. You can get these boards equiped with pentiums on down to NEC V-25s (whoo-hoo 10 big MHZ!).
My understanding was that this robot (actually the HOAP-2, a sucessor to the HOAP-1) was to be tethered for both power and datacomm to a remote computer running linux. If this is the case, don't expect it to be wandering too far.
Note that the HOAP-1 ran about $48,000.00USD; unless the price drops significanty, it'll probably not be your next tech toy.
More info and video (in Japanese) from Fujitsu here.
If you really wanted to get extreme, you could use a computer controlled oven so you could pre-program the temperature profile or tune it for a specific board design and then use some sort of statistical process control to fine tune everything to get those yields up to where you want them.......
No, no. That's insane. It would never work, never.
You're not weird, but sometimes you have no choice. Some chips just aren't available in DIP form, especially a lot of the kool robotics stuff like the ADXL acceleration sensors, a slew of microprocessors, and so on.
This page has actually been around for a while. It's seems a pretty good idea, though I've never tried it.
I doubt it's impossible. It's just that it may involve more than a trivial number of changes and all the attendant risks and costs that come with making those changes. They're obviously not willing to do this with a product nearing the end of its life cycle.
They should have probably used the word "infeasible" rather than "impossible". But then I'm no marketing weasel. Perhaps they had their reasons.
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Ok, maybe not mind boggling, but a hell of a lot. Then, of course, you'd have to get the voltages correct.
A-f*cking-men. Thes folks are seriously in need of a dictionary and/or a nice introductory political science class...
While there has indeed been a substantial centralization of power in the US since 1787, this has nothing to do whether we have "become more of a democracy/less of a republic". This is as meaningless as declaring that the US has become a nation of, say, anarcho-syndicalist cheesemakers.
Republic - A political order whose head of state is not a monarch and in modern times is usually a president.
Or, if you prefer -- A political order in which the supreme power lies in a body of citizens who are entitled to vote for officers and representatives responsible to them.
Democracy - Government by the people, exercised either directly or through elected representatives.
While democracy can also mean simply "majority rule", this is not the only or even primary meaning of the word.
In fact, we live in a democratic republic. Hope I've helped.
Moreover, there are a number of similiar units being offered as "house sitters". While there may be something useful to the telepresence aspect, there is a lot less value even to this if the robot can't be made to do anything really useful remotely (like turn off the gas stove you accidentally left on).
Some of these have even been promoted as roving security "watchdogs". If I break into a house, however, I imagine that the first thing I'l be stealling will be your $4500.00 "watchdog".
All of this stuff still looks like expensive novelty items, IMHO. Still, the day is probably coming...
Robust? I guess, so, at least until it hits those stairs...
I don't think we've had nearly enough time to digest and discuss the far more significant time traveller story yet. I mean, how can we be bothered with such trivialities as PDA based app sharing after THAT?
Ummmm... anyone who has to communicate with someone using NetMeeting or any other device that doesn't support tunneling? Was this a trick question?
At one time, someone was working on a Linux masq module to get h.323 to work with a linux box used as a firewall, although (again, last I checked) this didn't work too well. If you use a linksys or other "dsl/cable" router, you'll probably be SOL.
There's probably no need to directly replace the battery. The reason for this is that (depending on the battery chermistry) a good charger can recharge the battery pretty quickly. I believe for NiCADS and NiMHs a well-constructed charger can complete the charge between 15-30 minutes. Gell cells can be 90% recharged inside 45 minutes, depending on the level of discharge.
Most webcams won't be used 24/7; in other words, people are only connected for a relatively small fraction of the day. These long downtimes can be used for recharging.
Cheers -- h
Given the current state of power storage technology, the best approach is probably trips to a power-charging station during quiet times (as you mentioned). I'm working on a reliable method of doing this with my web-cam bots, which would allow longer run times with smaller bots, since they need not be so large to accomodate big batteries. Smaller = cheaper, so...
I'm still wondering if any of the humanoid bots can do this in typical unconstrained indoor environments. Not only does the base station need to be found reliably, which requires decent localization capabilities, but the robot needs good obstacle detectionn. I've always figured this would be pretty hard to do an a largish, actively balanced humanoid robot because of sensor coverage issues.
Some of these guys are tethered, but for those that aren't I'd really love to know what they're using for power, and how long these robots can continue to run. I can't seem to find much (except for Asimo, which uses NiMh batts). Anybody else find some more solid specs?
This gives me renewed hope for my latest project, a hyperdrive engine built of old Spaghetti-Os cans and dental floss.
This wouldn't work at all for bands on smaller independent labels, other non-pop genres (jazz, blues, etc). Reads like another big step toward musical homogenization to me.
Note that omitting a reentry vehicle could substantially save on fuel costs.
This is also small form factor, and has simpler power requirements than ATX. May be more expensive, though, but it _is_ a standard which has been around for a while. You can actually expand these a bit. You can get these boards equiped with pentiums on down to NEC V-25s (whoo-hoo 10 big MHZ!).
Not if the main box isn't on board the robot, and there wouldn't be a whole lot of point to 802.11b if the power source is remote.
If it's sex you're looking for try here. Plus they're only about 5G.
Note that the HOAP-1 ran about $48,000.00USD; unless the price drops significanty, it'll probably not be your next tech toy.
More info and video (in Japanese) from Fujitsu here.
Cut me some slack -- I'm old dammit. I just went blank on "thru-hole".
No, no. That's insane. It would never work, never.
They do, but wave baths are used for non-smd production.
Well, ok, they don't use toaster ovens...
This page has actually been around for a while. It's seems a pretty good idea, though I've never tried it.
They should have probably used the word "infeasible" rather than "impossible". But then I'm no marketing weasel. Perhaps they had their reasons.