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Handhelds Hardware

Palm Powered Robots, Again 48

Posted by michael from the berserker dept.
Okay, we give up. Even though we ran this story a few months ago, it seems that Reuters has picked it up and slathered it all over the world, and now everyone is submitting this New! Improved! Palm Pilot Robot. Read the current story anywhere that has a Reuters feed. The design was purchased by a company called Acroname, which has a few neat pictures on their website. Personally, I'm putting in my application to be Goodlife as soon as possible.
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Palm Powered Robots, Again More

Palm Powered Robots, Again

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  • No, he's thinking of Larry Niven.

    Specifically, the story "Teardrop Falls" in the collaborative book "Berserker Base".

    See this [berserker.com] for an official image of the book's cover.

  • They must stop showing their stupid ads!!! That's how I feel! :)

    Personally, I think the screen is too small (160x100), I think the flash mem is too small (512k). Does NiMH develop memories like the NiCd's? Not that I'd turn one down.

    However, I can see that schools are probably gonna ban these given the 900mhz "whos-close-enough" network they have. Be good to be a student and convince the prof its just a fancy calculator though!!! :)
  • Greg deserves all the credit he can get.

    Like Greg, I'm also a freshman at CMU. He is in (or was in, just remembered the semester's over) my calculus in 3d, programming, discrete math, and physics II courses. I've hung out with him a bit, and he's quite a cool guy, and smart to boot.

    I remember him asking me to keep up on his courses for him whilst he was off at some palm conference to give a speech or some-such on his work. Unfortunately, I overslept through most of the classes, and was only of minimal assistance. :(

    I also second that all cute available girls in Pittsburgh call Greg -- he's a good guy, if a little quiet. And once he's no longer available all those girls should call me; I'm so in badly need of a date it's only marginally funny.

    (^o^)
  • I wouldnt run a WinCE device either...
  • But the parts are horribly overpriced!
    you can get 3 servos for $8.00 each.
    Modify them yourself, save gobs of cash.
    The controllerboard. Build your own from a 16f84
    (if you can program a palm pilot you can shlepp C for a 16f84)
    The wheels-- Expensive little buggers. Find some kind of replacement that is affordable.

    everything else - free or dirt cheap
  • anyone that would have the abilities to program a palm pilot would have the brains to make this robot in 60 minutes with the pile of spare parts they have lying around (except for the wierd "omni wheels") anyone can design a 16f84 board to do the sensors/servos a chimp can modify the servos for robotic use.

    It amazes me that this is considered a technical marvel.. It's just a EE students plaything. most every EE student has made something this simple in their spare time.

    Anyone that buys this $300.00 kit likes being robbed.

    spend that $300.00 on picbasic and a programmer and make something better.
  • This little robot is only big enough to roll around, carrying its own weight and not much more. Why limit it to that, though? This thing navigates with IR sensors, right? Why not scale it up to skateboard or lunch-cart sized, and have it deliver objects (forms to be signed, sandwiches, etc.) from office to office? Tell it to take 2 lefts, go 6 offices down and turn right, etc. It avoids the walls on its own, and to augment the internal navigation system, it could pick up info from IR beacons/signposts at intersections in the hallways. It could also get new instructions via the Palm's IR port.

    "Rover! Take this to Bob on the fourth floor!"
    "Thanks, Rover. Now go back to Helen."

  • Interesting, I suppose, but what would you do with it? You'd have to add a lot more hardware/software to the robot to make it actually interesting.

    For example: Go to fridge (requires internal map of house), open it (requires arm and gripping hand), get me a beer (requires vision system), and bring it to me (requires knowledge of my location and route planning).

    I suppose it's a nice basic platform for trying robotics algorithms and research. I can't see the normal person doing much more than saying "Hm. Looks cool."
  • > Berserker hardware that Larry Niven wrote about

    You're thinking of Fred Saberhagen.
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • Three years, eh? How many accounts have you started then? That's an aaawfully high number for someone who would have had an account for three years ... :)

    Barclay family motto:
    Aut agere aut mori.
    (Either action or death.)
  • Argh. Didn't notice that I now have a +1 bonus. Didn't mean to use it on that comment.
  • The Autobots will destroy the evil forces of, The Decepticons!

    You're so sexy, Phox!

  • Don't know if anyone is still reading but...

    It's very easy (and cheap) to make your own robot based on the SV203 board that the PPRK is based on. Greg Reshko has some good instructions, but you can make a version for a lot cheaper. Here's what I'm doing: I got the SV203 from Pontech (www.pontech.com) ($60), and two HS-303 servos from ServoCity (www.servocity.com) ($18). The PPRK instructions tell you to get $18 servos, which are way too expensive, and he buys extremely high quality wheels, etc. which make the price go up. The rest of the robot I'm making out of some very cheap gears, timing belts, and a wooden base (could've used angle aluminum). Sensors will get added later.

  • My ambition, if that universe comes to exist, is to be the human downloaded into a computer, in possession of Berserker hardware that Larry Niven wrote about... The Ultimate Badlife

  • Where are my transformers,
    if anything gimme a transformer that can be palm controled.

    Now that would be sweet!

    .ph0x

  • he screwed up his goatsecx link...

    .brad


    Drink more tea
    organicgreenteas.com [organicgreenteas.com]

  • especially when you compare them to mindstorms. with a few extra expansion packs and some creative hacking mindstorms can do anything. im working on one thatll sweep my floor (it scares the heck outta my cats too).

    .brad


    Drink more tea
    organicgreenteas.com [organicgreenteas.com]
  • Add some Dremel accessories and a small soldering torch and you could do some pretty decent flyweight Survival Research Labs type stuff.
  • Personally, I'd like to see a Palm powered bot with hydraulics and rotary tools, compete in BattleBots. Maybe they should create a new category for those bots. They're much more programmable that the current breed of R/C cars with steel plating on them.
  • Will it win me a couple of grand on Battle Bots (comedy central, tuesday at 10:00, Mauler 5150 was ROBBED)!?!?
  • Actually, you're really not better off. Look at the parts list. That stuff is expensive! It's a total of $260 for everything there. When you add the cost of shipping from multiple parts distributors, the kit looks like a much better deal.
  • Roaming around, it said? Well, now you just have to build such a robot using a WinCE device, and Windows can crash in *hardware*!
  • A little follow up I should have included in the original.

    http://www.egroups.com/group/CybikoDev --cybiko egroups dev board, lots of cool coffee talk here.

    http://www.devrs.com/cybiko/ --main site for underground cybiko development.

    http://fuji.sourceforge.net ---my little project, check the discussions to see how far we got.

    http://www.cybiko.com/layout.asp#Hardware ---skip the flash and go straight to the specs.

    Like I said, 200 bucks for two of these and you have a remote and another one for your bot. BTW good luck searching elsewhere for this stuff, it seems cybiko has employed some web monkeys just to make fake sights filled with BS.

    --toq

  • Yeah I must admit, them ads gotta be limited to cartoon network and nickalodian before they cause someone to climb a bell tower with a rifle.

    I'm not too sure about the NiMH, i've only had one for like two days or so. But the 160x100 screen although small, is good enough, remember most 8-bit computers (atari mode 7 comes to mind) could only do this res at 4 colors, so its not that bad.

    Point is there has been a need for something like this for quite some time, I think palm missed the mark by "applelizing" their product i.e. people will pay for the name brand. At least the cybiko is cheap, expandable, and pretty snazzy looking. It doesn't take a lot of processing power to control a server, read your e-mail, simple arithmatic, ect. All these Pentium 4's 1.4 gigahertz are nice, but to me seem a little overpowered for what I need. Why should I need a computer that requires a 300watt power supply, heatsink, fans, a fat CRT monitor just to read e-mail? It's like renting a train to move one of your bedrooms, way too much overkill.
    I can tell your a geek with $99 bucks to spend, just get one for kicks, BTW they plan to have a GPS reciever for the thing eventually, not to mention memory expansion, ect.

    --toq
  • Ummm...maybe it could just ask you what the main URL is?
  • Excuse me for being a bit controversial here, but what is the point of discouraging repeat submissions?

    The entire concept of "newness" on /. is pretty silly. the relevance of an article has little to do with its breaking-news quotient. Many times, someone submits something too fast only to find out that they misinterpreted the meaning of the story.

    This goes for Slashdot Editors, too.

    A three-month old story may have gathered enough analytical moss to be useful to slashdot readers. Why not post a story along with all its analysis- all the links that agree with, disagree with, analyze, correct, or update a story?

    I would find such "old news" valuable. How about an "old news" section on slashdot? We could even make a graphic of a crumbling newspaper, or something.
  • These are the same people who post without reading the articles first. Good idea, but it ends up being like a yield sign at an intersection. The only people who will make use of it are the people who already know better.
  • I get quite frustrated with the media's attitude toward things like this. TECHNOLOGY BLITZ!!! Not news. I can make a robot like that out of my TI-86 and some extra comp. parts. Oh, wait, I still have that Z-80 too... But anyway, this is just another lame rant without much point other than i love robots, and hate 'The News'. :)
  • Omicron: I believe that you did not add the prices up. The parts add up to $257.32, while the bare bones kit is only $259.99. It's a great deal, because having them bundled is simpler.
  • Goddamn fucking thing won't work with Windows!! Charo rulz! Koochee-Koochee!!!
  • Good point...I just kind of quick glanced over the list. I guess the $40 off if you get the bare bones isn't too bad of a deal =/ That's what I get for slacking off at work and reading Slashdot.
  • Hmm, sounds good to me. But I'm not sure the Palm has the processor power necessary for the calculations you need in, say, your car. A cool way to do it would be to have a dedicated machine of some sort in your car which must interface with the palm for input-output but which handles all the processing internally.
    Right now, you can get clamps and stand and such for handhelds to be mounted in a car so you can keep for hands (mnostly) on the wheel.

    -J
  • Yah, the Palm would work especially well for data portability. Sort of a multipurpose disk with an interface.

    -J
  • My favourite bit:

    A ``barebones'' kit is available for $40 less, but requires such actions as gluing connectors and wiring a cable.

    Sounds like someone's catering to the PHBs. Imagine selling them an OS:

    Me: Well, Linux is available if you want, but it requires such actions as reading text files and editing them.

    PHB: You make a good point. Windows it is, then.

    (Yah, I know, -1 MS-Bashing...)

  • Screw soldering torches...gimme a propane blow torch any day!
  • Acroname makes some interesting robotic stuff. Here's a palm-pilot robot kit [acroname.com] that they produce.
  • well, you would obviously want the palm to be an option so that the palm deficient can still operate the car. but you want the addition of the palm to enhance the operations of the car.

    could be fun. and at the rate they are improving ....

  • I wouldn't mind a palm pilot interface for my car, or other similar vehicle.

    Then I could program in a set of directions etc, with appropriate feedback, maybe through beeps, or whatever.

    heck, it would be cool for programming other elements of my car as well (cd mixes, etc), and then it could walk with me when I leave the car....

    but this would be a bit more advanced compared to simple kit for a palm robot.

    The possibilities stagger the imagination.

    hey, there might even be money in it, somehow.

  • Okay, we give up. Even though we ran this story a few months ago, it seems that Reuters has picked it up and slathered it all over the world, and now everyone is submitting this New! Improved! Palm Pilot Robot.

    So what? Ignore the submissions. Isn't that what the system is for? It's not "news" if it's not new.


    --
  • I'll just stick with a few Mindstorms robots, instead of the Palm.

    That way, I won't wince when my 4 year old daughter gets rough with them.
  • A little off topic but..

    I've been finding out all sorta info on this little bugger, for 99 bucks you pretty much get a toy as powerful as a 386, problem is the platform is not fully open sourced as of yet, we're still trying to get a bunch of info out of the damn thing (like HTF does the serial port work?) At least there is a free SDK for it.
    I'd really recomend you slashdot readers take a look at this thing, big deal, its not a palm and your other geek freinds will probably tell you its gay, but isn't that a little like the pot calling the kettle black?
    There are a lot of little projects going on with the thing right now, people have allready gotten stuff like a offline web page reader going for it, a linux synchronizer, me is working on getting an atari emulator working on it. From what I do know of the hardware, these are much better canidates for making robots. The built in 900mhz RF on the thing is instant remote. The cartridge port on the bottom is a bus connection so you can add whatever CPU you want to the thing (only cybiko has done this so far with the MP3 player)
    I'd like to get some feedback from other /.'r about how they feel about the cybiko.

    --toq
  • Lets see.... I could add some armor plating, and a saw blade, bigger motors. Maybe the next generation battle bots could be semi-autonomous, and sense when it is about to go over the kill saws, or rammed into the wall. I wish battle bots were a little more technical, not just remote controlled cars with weapons. I can just imagine the algorithms.

    int kill() { sense_moving_object(); while(chase_and_kill()!=OPPONENT_DEAD); do_victory_dance(); }



  • $300 too much? try these (Score:3)

    by studboy ( 64792 ) on Thursday January 04, 2001 @03:43PM (#530253) Homepage
    For what you're getting, $300 isnt bad. If you want something cheaper, or prefer to build your own, check these resources:
    • Skatebot - A Cheap Fun Development Platform [seattlerobotics.org]
      Robert Jordan hacks up a toy to use as a robot base.
    • "Build Your Own Robot!" (book), by Karl Lunt
      excellent book discusses mid-level robotics. Practical robots made from everyday components are featured in a realistic manner.
    • FirstBot [firstbot.ws]
      Good discussion, with in-depth instructions on building a few robots from simple materials.
    Basically you cant build much of anything under $100, and the Acroname bot is much better (more sophisticated, more professional-looking, more $) than the others -- it all depends on what you want to do with it. The Palm offers a small display and input device, plus a bit of memory. For debugging, this is a big deal! Alas it cant control motors etc directly, that's why you need a PIC or Atmel or the special-purpose SV203 chip.
  • Wow, $300. That's unbelievable, when you consider if you check out this page [cmu.edu] it's got the part's list and the prices the guy got them for. You get a whole $40 off if you buy the "bare bones" kit from this company. You'd be better off building your own from scratch with the plans that you can find at the site of the guy who originally built it.

  • Credit is due (Score:5)

    by male ( 71469 ) on Thursday January 04, 2001 @12:07PM (#530255) Homepage
    It's kind of pathetic that reuters never mentions who created this monster.

    Greg Reshko [cmu.edu] made this when i was still in high school with him. He wasn't even a cmu student then, although he was working with the robotics department. This kid deserves more credit than the blurb '...developed at Carnegie Mellon University ...'

    Give greg another pat on the back, and if you are a cute girl in pittsburgh give him a call, i think he is still lonely.

    JustinC
    -- note: greg: it's now official, you owe me lunch.

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