Which One Do You Want?

  • Cocktail mixing Robot

    (click for larger image)

    Self Defense Robot

    (click for larger image)

    Someone sent me a note on the robot on the right and I thought it was interesting. Actually my son thought it was the coolest robot ever and was sure we needed one to defend the ranch out here in Colorado.

    I didn't really think we were under any danger of attack out here, so I decided to check out other handy robots. There's the Roomba and Scooba, which can clean your floors or the Robomow that can handle your lawn.

    And of course the Lego Mindstorm series, allowing you to build and program your own robots. Or the robot above on the left, designed to let you enjoy playing host and not bartender at your next New Year's Eve party.

    Which Robot Would You Like?

    You don't have to pick one of my choices, though I'm betting Jasmine goes with the Legos (you bringing a robot to PASS?).

    Personally I was thinking the bartender, but I'm a light drinker. One beer, maybe 2-3 times a week, so with the new wood floors we got last year, I'm thinking the Pet Roomba would be my choice.

    Especially with two boys that can cut grass 🙂

  • The one on the right.  Most definitely.  All I need to do now is find somewhere in the backyard to put it

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  • I've always been interested in getting and programming a robot arm, but anything in the sub $500 price range are cheap, rinky dinky, have a lift limit of like 6 ounces of weight,  and have a reach of about the width if a keyboard; decent bot arms used in industry go 5K and up; There's a couple of interesting articles about some bots Hans and Frans that stack kegs of beer out there if you are interested. now that's a bot! whipping kegs of beer around? and i wanted something to move something the size of a can of soda...very cool.

    Lowell


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  • Here's an article about that very thing...

    http://edition.cnn.com/2007/US/03/08/N.C.beer.tossing.ap/index.html

  • One that would take my dogs for a walk when the weather is nasty (I still would prefer to do it myself in nice weather)!

    Or take them out in the middle of the night when they need to go (brand new house, fence not built yet)!

    Oh, and would have to be able to scoop up after the dogs too!

    Not sure how well the dogs would react to a machine following them,so would have to be fairly human like, so guess we are a few years away!

  • The one on Letterman the other night that tosses a can of beer to you.

  • I like this guy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Seoul-Ubiquitous_Dream_11.jpg

    A robotic bartender would be nice, so that I could just go home, tell it what I want, and let it make drinks for me.  If I could give a cocktails list for home and a drinks list for parties, even better!  And if it's portable, then I could take it with me to LAN parties, even better!

  • I'd take both. 

    A personal home bot that i have been looking into is:

    http://www.whiteboxrobotics.com/

     

     

  • the self defense robot looks like an updated 'watermelon patch gun'

    ...

    -- FORTRAN manual for Xerox Computers --

  • I would love to get a Mindstorm NXT kit but it would be hard to justify with the spousal unit with my recent video game spending (Nintendo Wii, DS, games for both as well as the GameCube)...

    [font="Tahoma"]Bryant E. Byrd, BSSE MCDBA MCAD[/font]
    Business Intelligence Administrator
    MSBI Administration Blog

  • Yeah I like the Lego kit. I did see a thing somewhere that was a cocktail mixer machine, that was pretty cool, but it basically worked like a soda machine... it would be nice if it could walk over and deliver your drink! I did some pretty cool stuff with the Lego Mindstorm, and it's got a very good C-like programming language you can use, and a programming environment that uses LabView icon layouts. There are 3rd-party libraries you can use to program it, including MS Robotics Studio (which has a cool simulator). It's really great for kids to learn with. I got one for my son, who's 17, and he really likes it, and of course there are the contests as well. I highly recommend the Lego Mindstorms NXT for anyone with a child interested in programming. Here's a video of my line-follower:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGpobnALPlc

    But here's some photos of my latest project. 10 times more adorable, but way harder to program

    http://smoothjazzy.blogspot.com/2007/03/so-you-wanna-get-dog.html

  • Very cool Jasmine, but you need some music on the video. Maybe the Top gun theme? Days of Thunder? Talledega Nights?

  • I think I would take the one on the right if those were my only two choices. Actually I already own one of last years models of the robot vacuum cleaner; it has its problems and doesn't work very well if the house is a mess. But a clean house without shag carpets it is really nice for. I would really like to get a newer model, just need a bigger paycheck now

  • The defense robot reminded me of ED-209 from Robocop - how does it know not to attack you?

    As my flat is a real mess, I need something that is not tied to the ground. I got a micro mosquito for Christmas which is great fun, but sometimes a tad difficult to fly in my draughty lounge. Given robotic reflexes and a teensy bit more lifting power I could see it delivering my dinner to me without me having to clear the floor first. Early prototypes may deliver the dinner to my lap...   

    Steven DavidsonDeveloper, Red Gate Software Ltd.

  • For me, one of the lawn-mowing robots would be great - I hate having to mow or pay someone to do it for me.

    As for the defense robots, I imagine that they don't attack you because of the RFID chips that are so standard now - maybe just tie into the secure one in your passport. 😀

    -Pete

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