Robots again

From: SUPRDAVE <SUPRDAVE_at_aol.com>
Date: Wed Mar 18 21:36:23 1998

:::cautiously leaving bomb shelter in order to post:::

back in the 1980s, i came across a book that also had a design for a robot dog
but i think this was a different book. it was built around a 8085A and 8155
support chips, totally wire wrapped and included schematics for building a
programmer to program the robot dog itself. i never did get around tuit, but
would have been fun to build. why didnt robots catch on as big as computers
did? i remember robots were the thing back in the 1980s like the web is now
but never really gained critical mass. there were a few models made, ( hero 1
and 2, rb5x, et al) but nothing really caught on.

::returning to bomb shelter, continuing to delete 97% of classiccmp messages
for the moment:::

In a message dated 98-03-18 21:28:38 EST, you write:

<< > >I have here a book from the Philips Technical Library called 'Practical
> >Robot Circuits' published in 1960. The first half of this book contains
> >the design for a robot 'dog' using essentially an analogue control
> system
> >(mostly amplifiers and comparators) to process the signals from various
> >sensors (photocells, microphones, thermistors, etc). The outputs of the
> What can this "dog" do? Does it have any kind of interesting
> abilities?
 
 Not a lot. To keep it simple there's no 'learning by experience' (the
 book does mention this in passing) or large memory stores (using only
 valves and relays, that's not suprising). Looking quickly at the book I
 can find :
 
 1) Detecting/following a light source (turning its 'head' towards it,
 moving towards it).
 
 2) Detecting a sequence of 2 tones (its 'name') and coming towards the
 sound source
 
 3) Detecting that it's walked into something and backing off.
 
 4) Detecting a hot object ('food'), turning its 'head' towards it,
 licking it.
 
 5) Using a sonar (accoustical radar) system to detect objects and avoid them
 
 OK, trivial compared to what can be done with even a PIC microcontroller.
 But I'd still like to make one one day....
>>
Received on Wed Mar 18 1998 - 21:36:23 GMT