Hacking the RoboSapien 115
unassimilatible writes "The RoboSapien is a cool humanoid robot toy with pretty decent dexterity and 67 pre-programmed instructions. But the folks at The University of Freiberg have made the RoboSapien autonomous by installing a Pocket PC to its head. The Pocket PC is equipped with a camera and communicates via infrared to the robot, and the whole monstrosity can be programmed with Visual C++. The full API is available for download. I, for one, welcome..."
67 Pre-programmed instructions (Score:5, Funny)
Re:67 Pre-programmed instructions (Score:2, Informative)
Chris
Re:67 Pre-programmed instructions (Score:1)
On the other hand, he did write:
"The obvious mathematical breakthrough would be development of an easy way to factor large prime numbers."
From "The Road Ahead"
Re:67 Pre-programmed instructions (Score:1, Informative)
There appears to be, like with so many other Micro$oft things, astroturfing history revisionists trying to confuse the issue, but Gates REALLY DID say that, at least in my universe, anyway.
Re:67 Pre-programmed instructions (Score:2)
Re:67 Pre-programmed instructions (Score:5, Funny)
1. Beer me.
2. Get TV remote.
3. Get rid of annoying girlfriend.
O wait - I'm a slashdotter, I don't have a girlfriend! Scratch that last command.
What about (Score:3, Funny)
Re:67 Pre-programmed instructions (Score:3, Funny)
re #2, any decent robot would have an inbuilt remote which works by voice anyway.
Re:67 Pre-programmed instructions (Score:3, Funny)
Jeez, that does remind me of another robot!
http://www.fantastic.nu/bender/
Re:67 Pre-programmed instructions (Score:1)
>
> O wait - I'm a slashdotter, I don't have a
> girlfriend! Scratch that last command.
It's got ya covered! One of the new, hacked behaviours is to grasp a pole-like object and move up and down rapidly.
Now your life is complete...ly devoid of meaning long term.
Re:67 Pre-programmed instructions (Score:2)
Oh, and since we're now friends, just a little headsup, don't eat her out.
step 3 (Score:2)
Re:67 Pre-programmed instructions (Score:2)
Re:67 Pre-programmed instructions (Score:2, Funny)
And yes, I do get the reference.
robosapien.tk (Score:5, Informative)
Re:robosapien.tk (Score:2)
Re:robosapien.tk (Score:5, Informative)
Fight!! (Score:5, Funny)
It looks like Johnny 5, but a cool project none the less. Perhaps they could install Pocket Skype [skype.com] on the PPC and have the robot follow you around as a mobile speakerphone.
Chris
Re:Fight!! (Score:3, Informative)
- Qrio isn't commercially available yet.
- Robosapiens costs about $99 at BestBuy
So heck, considering the status of Qrio, I could almost get away with saying ED209 could kick Qrio's butt.Re:Fight!! (Score:1)
Who cares (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Fight!! (Score:1)
Mirror (Score:4, Informative)
as long as they don't turn evil (Score:2, Funny)
Be careful with these suckers (Score:5, Informative)
Though be warned, it isn't made out of the highest quality components. Much to the embaressment of my boss, the robot broke in his care. The head got stuck to one side. My boss and I considered opening it up and hacking it ourselves, but all we both had visions of giving the robot back to the distributor in many pieces.
Re:Be careful with these suckers (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Be careful with these suckers (Score:4, Informative)
Q: Robosapien's head has turned to the right; I have not been able to re-center it. Do you have any suggestions for repair?
A: Lower his arms and twist his head all the way to the left, until you hear a "click".
Re:Be careful with these suckers (Score:5, Funny)
Turns out I just needed to read my FAQ!
Actual FAQ Quote (Score:1)
A: The most common cause of this problem is charging him after midnight. Lower his arms and twist his head all the way to the left, until you hear a "click". We suggest disposing of Robosapien in a fire or garbage disposal after breaking his neck.
Freiburg not Freiberg (Score:5, Informative)
But you probably figured that out from the URL, even if our noble editors did not.
Nice town, by the way.
Re:Freiburg not Freiberg (Score:2, Interesting)
Definitly! It's nice to see my home town on slashdot
Also check out CS Freiburg, one of the world's best robotic socker teams:
http://www.informatik.uni-freiburg.de/~robocup/ [uni-freiburg.de]
Re:Freiburg not Freiberg (Score:2)
That's why I didn't spot the error immediately.
Tux (Score:1, Funny)
pretty decent dexterity (Score:1, Funny)
Wow, that's messed up. (Score:3, Funny)
hmmmm (Score:5, Funny)
dexterity: 16
strength: 8 (very small)
constitution: varies on battery pack
charisma: 14 (drops to 12 after 2 months of gismo newness)
intelligence: varies with loaded program
wisdom: ditto
movement: 5
Hit points: 20
Attacks: swinging arm
Damage: 1d2 of temporary damage
My Dog
dexterity: 14
strength: 14
constitution: 16
charisma: 16 (drops to 14 after christmas)
intelligence: 10
wisdom: 6
movement: 14
Hitpoints: 30
attacks: vicious bite
Damage: 1d6 in initial bite, 1d4 of gnawing damage each round afterwards.
Robosapien: hundreds of dollars
Dog: free
Watching my dog steal your robosapien and destroy it in around 4 rounds with gnawing damage: priceless
d&d. mod parent up. (Score:1)
obligatory MTG reference (Score:4, Informative)
Card Color: Green
Cash Cost: 0
Type & Class: Creature - Canine
Pow/Tough: 1/1
Card Text:
During your upkeep sacrifice 5 food or bury dog
When Dog comes into play, gain control of all children until end of turn.
Tap to destroy target permanent
Flavor Text:
Sit Ubu sit, good dog Rarity: C
----------------
Card Name: Robosapien
Card Color: A
Cash Cost: 95
Type & Class: Artifact - Creature
Pow/Tough: 0/1
Card Text:
Upon Summoning place 10 battery counters on Robosapien
Everytime Robosapien becomes tapped remove a battery counter
Tap to gain control of target creature
Flavor Text: I am Robosapien
Rarity: U
Re:obligatory MTG reference (Score:3, Funny)
Re:obligatory MTG reference (Score:5, Funny)
Card Color: Gold
Cash Cost: 0
Type & Class: Human Idiot
Pow/Tough: 0/1
Card Text:
When Slashdot Moderator is summoned, destroy all jokes. For every round Slashdot Moderator is in play, place a "-1, Troll" counter on all Smart, Clever, or Interesting Posts. For every round Slashdot Moderator is in play, put a "+1 Insightful" counter on all Flamebait, Troll, or Stupid Posts. Sacrifice Slashdot Moderator to modbomb target permanent.
Flavor Text: Fr1st Ps0t!
Rarity: R
Re:obligatory MTG reference (Score:2)
Re:hmmmm (Score:2, Funny)
Re:hmmmm (Score:2)
Our dog hasn't gotten up the courage to actually touch it, but she will bark at it for hours on end.
An affirmation of C++'s flexibilty (Score:2, Interesting)
CB [cowbiscuit.com]
Robosapien in Servo Magazine (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Robosapien in Servo Magazine (Score:2)
Nice to see one of the 'bots moving on from MST3k
Re:Robosapien in Servo Magazine (Score:5, Interesting)
Rather than a top-down method of robot design, where you take a brain and make it do cool things, his idea is to decide some basic function you want to accomplish--like walking--and design the simplest circuit that is able to do that. Then pick a new function (say, seeking light) and build that circuit. Hook the two together, and now you have a walking robot that seeks light. It is a more biological method to robot evolution.
If you like the idea of making a functioning insect-robot out of the parts from an old Walkman cassette player and a pocket calculator, you'll love BEAM robotics.
Jim
Re:Robosapien in Servo Magazine (Score:2)
Biomorphic robot indeed! (Score:4, Funny)
BioMorphic robot indeed! [planet.nl] DO NOT go in there!!
Re:Biomorphic robot indeed! (Score:4, Informative)
I was a little worried myself, but I have mod points so I figured I'd do my civic duty and make sure it was safe.
It's not for normal people! (Score:3, Funny)
Also, a bunch of D-size batteries is not enough for any serious use. I shall wait until they upgrade it to some low-end fusion power unit.
Re:It's not for normal people! (Score:1)
Quickly! (Score:4, Funny)
*raises hand*
Re:Quickly! (Score:2)
*Punches This Than button*
Coop is actually my hero.
Mod article as unfair! (Score:3, Funny)
You deliberately limit the possibility of a funny-moderated comment.
Now I want to have a Beowolf cluster of these...
Re:Mod article as unfair! (Score:1, Redundant)
1. Get robot toy
2. ???
3. Profit!
Sorry, saturday night drinking +
It's Freiburg not Freiberg (Score:3, Informative)
Re:It's Freiburg not Freiberg (Score:1)
Re:It's Freiburg not Freiberg (Score:4, Informative)
Freiburg is a town in southwest Germany near the French border while Freiberg is in Eastern Germany, near Dresden.
and they both have universities (check it out: www.uni-freiberg.de)
Mark Tilden (Score:5, Informative)
Mark Tilden, the designer of Robosapien (and of BEAM robotics for any of you who have heard of it) purposely left the Robosapien open for modification (god bless his soul ^_^) More people/companies should do this! =)
I'm actually quite interested in this, as I'm in the Australian Robocup Junior atm (Year 9) and this is a great platform to begin experimenting in bipedal robots. Heck, it could even begin it's own competition section (the robotic AIBO dogs have their own soccer competition)
Mark Tilden is also heavy researcher in the biomorphic robotics [wikipedia.org] field, and through his experiments he has essentially created the BEAM robotics field.
If you haven't ever looked at BEAM robots, DO! They're can be amazingly simple (start here [solarbotics.net]) and can then lead up to quite advanced and fun projects in robotics! And did I mention they're cheap =)Solarbotics [solarbotics.net], one of the best resources for BEAM robots I know of
Robocup Official Website [robocup.org]
Mark Tilden at WIKI [wikipedia.org]
maybe if.... (Score:3, Funny)
Why did they choose that name? (Score:4, Funny)
oh..
right..
never mind.
Re:Why did they choose that name? (Score:2)
Where does this end? (Score:3, Insightful)
AT WHAT POINT DO I NEED A LICENSE TO OPERATE A ROBOT? When its capable of misuse? When its capable of harming other people? [Note Linux brain : I DO NOT need a license to turn it on or to program it
Dear God No. Dear Jesus No. (Score:5, Funny)
I think we of the slashdot community know these three indisputable facts:
Microsoft is evil.
Microsoft has a plan to "Put Windows on Every Desktop"
Microsoft will crush other companies and break laws to attain its goals.
And now they've put Microsoft into a robot? Gentlemen. I think we all know what this means:
Evil Robots
Evil Robots that want to take over the world.
Evil Robots that want to take over the world... BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY.
Oppenheimer, upon seeing the world's first atomic explosion, quoted: "I'm sure at the end of the world... the last man will see something very familar to what we've seen today."
We know now he is wrong. The last thing that the last man will see, will be an evil robot's arm, raised above its head in triumph. I imagine it will be something like the basement scene in the movie "Signs", except the robot will be able to tear apart the wooden door like paper, and Mel Gibson will never find his faith again,
I'm heading down to my bomb shelter now with my family to try and ride this out. I leave you with mankind's one hope: They're using PocketPCs. This means that while they may be DESIGNED for a continuous rampage, we all know that after about 90 minutes of practical use, they'll need to head back to their cradles for a 3 hour recharge.
I beg you, find those cradles and destroy them!
God bless and good luck.
This is slashdot 210256, signing off.
Re:Dear God No. Dear Jesus No. (Score:1)
Gives a whole new meaning (Score:3, Funny)
Or was that "blue scream of death?"
Read it as "putting a PocketPC..." (Score:3, Funny)
with familiar on my iPAQ i can have X on my robot (Score:1)
Not nearly as cool as this robotic maid (Score:2)
How can you beat that!
Re:make it more human like (Score:2)
Re:r u teh serious? (Score:2)
This is Hacking the RoboSapien [slashdot.org]
You wanted Deaf Children Invent Language [slashdot.org]