Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with Robot

How to get robots to send texts?

Chairboy — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 11:13:38 -0800

Interactive art filter - how to get cute robots to send sms messages? Asking this question for a friend. He's designing an interactive art installation that uses small mobile robots which are infrared tracked by a Wii to trigger events in Pure Data. The next step is to find a way to get Pure Data to send text messages to participants in the project , probably using Frontline SMS. We are both a little tech savvy but not really coders - does this sound workable/do-able? what would be the best way to proceed here?

Anyone remember this robot flick?

chavenet — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:36:44 -0800

I'm trying to find the name of or clips from an animated film that I saw on HBO or Showtime in the mid-1980s. It was about a robot who was looking for its mother. Some of the other robots said "One! One! One!" a lot. And there was a dumb joke in the middle: "Did you hear the one about the fire in the circus? The heat was intense!" Can anyone help?

Need help extracting links off of a webpage (RuneHQ to be exact). Need to put them in a database.

Javed_Ahamed — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 17:31:13 -0800

Need help extracting links off of a webpage (RuneHQ to be exact). Need to put them in a database. Hey guys,

I am working on a little coding project related to an online game called runescape (yes its a legit program), but I am wondering how to go about extracting all the links I want from a webpage, so I can visit them all with my script.

The webpage in question is RUNEHQ and I would like to extract every link on the right "Items menu" which scrolls vertically forever.

An example item link looks like http://www.runehq.com/database.php?type=item&id=008016 but the number on the end does not increase in a logical fashion.

Does anyone have any ideas to only extract all the links on the right hand "Items" menu? It can be a direct scraping approach or somehow querying their database?

I will eventually be using these links to do some trend analysis on runescape item prices, using python and urllib2, beautifulsoup etc.

What can I do with an old G4 Mac that involves robots and cameras?

infinitewindow — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 11:26:48 -0800

What should I do with an old 450 MHz Sawtooth G4 Mac running OS X 10.2? Assume that it runs well as-is and that I have $100 to spend on accessories. Bonus points to answers involving robots (for which I don't have materials for) and/or digital cameras (for which I do).

How to keep a pool clean?

jeather — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 08:56:46 -0800

My parents just put in a pool, and what with the rain washing dirt and worms in and the trees shedding, it takes hours and hours of skimming and vacuuming work a week. What's the best solution here? The pool is salt water, concrete, 15'x40', 3'5" deep to 6' deep. It has built in stairs and a seat, neither of which ever get dirty. The dirt mainly collects near the edges. The two options under consideration are a pool robot and a bubble cover. It is right next to a number of flower beds and under several trees.

The pool robot has to need no installation and be easily removable when people are swimming. It would be nice if it skimmed as well but this is not crucial. The pool is quite distant from a power outlet, though of course we can use an extension cord, but this means it would run through the entire back yard, so it would need to be even more removable. The robot should be able to clean the bottom of the pool in 10-12 hours. All things being equal, we don't want to pay more for faster cleaning.

Would the (less expensive) bubble cover alone keep enough dirt out of the pool that we won't be spending an hour or more a day vacuuming? (We may get the bubble cover anyways for use in early fall.) What is the best robot for our needs? The robot needs to clean up dirt, the occasional worm, and all the helicopter seeds. (The current vacuum is fine with dirt and worms but fails badly on helicopters, but mostly it just takes forever.)

Having someone come in and maintain the pool is not an option. The trees and flower beds cannot be changed.

Is the Robot vs Aztec Mummy public domain?

clockworkjoe — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 21:41:02 -0800

What is the copyright status of the movie The Robot vs. The Aztec Mummy? I watched through it and it doesn't have a copyright notice, which is similar to Night of the Living Dead. So, logically, it should be public domain. However, archive.org hasn't added it to its collection of public domain movies. So, does anyone know if it is public domain or not?

Most recommended roomba, hopefully sub-$200

lrodman — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 20:42:27 -0800

Most recommended roomba, hopefully sub-$200 I'm looking for a first roomba, I'm a student and will be upgrading from almost never vacuuming, so any results should be impressive. No pets, no shag rugs, apartment.

Is it worth it to get one of these $400-600 new roombas, or is there one that goes in the $100-200 range that is almost as good? I'm looking for bang for the buck here (also, horror stories if you have a roomba and find it doesn't clean enough - but we're just looking for it to pick up crumbs and dust).

Help ID: Young adults book about kid who builds robots (out of spare parts, I think)

Alaska Jack — Sun, 31 May 2009 23:32:34 -0800

Help ID: Young adults book about kid who builds robots (out of spare parts, I think) Hi everyone, pretty basic question for my first post. I would have read this book in the late 70s or early 80s, I think. Boy builds three (I think) intelligent (I think) robot friends out of spare parts (I think). The only other clue I can offer is a mental image I have of the boy and his robot friends drifting down a flooded river on the roof of a house. Given the vagaries of memory, of course, that mental image could be accurate, partly accurate, or from another book entirely. Any ideas?

Help me program my AI to win a competition!

theiconoclast31 — Sun, 03 May 2009 15:04:54 -0800

Teach me how to program a robot for my upcoming programming competition! I'm looking for tips, tricks, and sources of inspiration to help write an awesome AI. Some details:

I have two days to write the AI. The robot moves and races, and does other things. It's a 1v1 competition. I'm being purposely vague so this doesn't cross the line and become HomeworkFilter. Please tell me if you want more details. I'd really like to read stuff like Iocaine Powder Explained.

Help me find a robot sex comic

Dr. Send — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 14:09:14 -0800

I read a robot sex comic a couple months ago and now I can't find it. It was the story of a young married woman who had an affair with the robot butler. The butler had a crazy telescoping penis and the sex scenes were very explicit. If I remember correctly the husband ended up dismantling the robot, and I can't remember what happened after that.

It was beautifully drawn and all online; I'm guessing I got to it by following a link on Livejournal (Kate Beaton's?) or Drawn maybe? Any clues would be appreciated.

Examples of robot faces/mouths

SouthCNorthNY — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 21:04:19 -0800

Any cool examples of robots (real or fictional) with LED, or LCD faces or mouths? Or any interesting robot faces or mouths that light up?

remember this robot soldier?

washburn — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 21:22:48 -0800

Do you remember this video clip of a futuristic robot soldier? Three years ago I saw a nicely produced video short designed to look like a promotional clip for a military robot that could replace human soldiers in high risk environments. It featured a human-shaped robot with pointy antenna-ears patrolling in some dangerous impoverished area, and showcased the robot's ability to run tirelessly, as a military officer describes the advantages of the robot policing tool. At one point the tireless mechanical sniper is shot, but is not damaged.

I don't think this video was circulated too widely (for a while it was hosted at compfused.com, if not elsewhere). Anyone remember what this was or have a working link to it? Maybe it was even linked to on mefi? I'm at a loss, I'm afraid.

How to start a hobby in robotics?

Simon Barclay — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 13:45:28 -0800

I'd like to start making robots and tinkering with microcontrollers. Where do I start, and what do I need? So, I'd like to make my own robots. I'm comfortable with programming (assembly and C) so I've got that part covered, but my electronics/circuits knowledge is a little weak. I have no idea what material to start with and which tools I need, nor how to put stuff together. I've read previous AskMeFi questions, however I haven't seen anything about how to start this hobby.

As an example, for my first project I'd want to create an automated wheeled vehicle that drives around. I might want to integrate motors/wheels, a proximity sensor, an accelerometer, and/or photoresistors. But what I want to make isn't very important - I want to get things that would be useful for future (undetermined) projects. Suppose I have a budget of $100-$200, but I might be willing to go higher.

For the microcontroller, I'm thinking about going with the Pololu Orangutan LV-168 or the Arduino Duemilanove, although I'm leaning more towards the Orangutan because of the built-in LCD and pushbuttons (which I would expect to use, especially for debugging and user interaction). Am I on the right track? It seems to me like the number of I/O ports is small, but is that the case in practice?

Where I'm really lost is the additional equipment, and the background on how to make everything work circuit-wise - in this area, I don't know what I don't know. For example, do I need:
- A soldering iron?
- A breadboard?
- A voltmeter/multimeter?
- Resistors, capacitors, etc.?
- A better understanding of circuits?
- ...?

Finally, I'd like to know about your experiences, good and bad. What works and what doesn't? What are the "gotchas"? Give me your best suggestions so I can benefit from your experience. Pointers to good online guides are good, but I would especially like to learn about what works well (and doesn't) from knowledgeable mefites.

(Bonus points for anyone who can tell me where I can buy what I need locally, either in Ottawa or Montreal, or online in Canada. I'd like to avoid Ebay, etc. and cross-border ordering.)

Reward for Information!

levijk — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 11:46:33 -0800

Can you identify this 1950s robotic dog? Daniel C. Dennet of Tufts University has pics (for some reason this page seems to load better in explorer than firefox, at least for me) on his webpage of a robotic dog he named Tati after filmmaker Jacques Tati.

Help with name of Film

maxmix — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 12:34:18 -0800

Can anyone help me with the title of this film??? It's a 1970s US film where some Airmen are trapped in a bunker by a machine gun firing robot (I think). I thought it starred Richard Baseheart, but i've Googled him and I can't find any film he made that is similar!!!! Can anyone help, please.....(It's driving me mad)

Where's my robot?

godawful — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 06:12:33 -0800

How can I determine my robot's location reliably and cheaply? I've made a wheeled robot which can communicate wirelessly with my computer. I used Arduino boards, XBee radio modules and the Wiring/Processing languages. The robot also has an ultrasonic rangefinder on the front.

Now I'm in 'What next?' mode.

I thought it would be cool if the robot could roam and communicate distance measurements back to Processing, which could then draw a map of the 2d floor space that the Robot finds itself in. Thinking this through, though, the major obstacle is determining where the robot is and which direction it's facing when it takes a range measurement.

It seems that the direction problem is easy to solve with something like this compass module. That leaves the problem of location.

I suppose you could take a mean measurement of the robots speed along with the direction travelled and take everything relative to the starting point. However, it seems to me that, with different floor surfaces and general variation, the robot's calculations will get progressively less accurate over time, and the map might just tend towards mush.

How would you solve this problem in an ideal world? A set of beacons perhaps? How would you solve it on my budget, which precludes anything over £100/$150?

Did I blow my funny fuse?

joseph conrad is fully awesome — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 19:36:56 -0800

I don't experience butterflies in my stomach anymore, not even before important events such as job interviews. Normal? I don't experience butterflies in my stomach like I did for the majority of my life. For instance: I go to a job interview and although I feel a bit tense and anxious, I don't feel that fluttery feeling I used to get in my stomach. And I used to feel it really strongly.

Not sure I miss them, not even sure why I need to know, except that I feel a bit robotic now before important events. I'm wondering if I "blew my funny fuse" for my adrenalin, although it seems unproven that adrenalin causes butterflies in the stomach.

Wondering if anyone else has lost this "ability", and if they have an explanation.

Help me Rock-afire my living room

illflux — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 09:27:20 -0800

What's the best way to get started in building my own Rock-afire Explosion (the robot house band from Showbiz Pizza)? I remember going to Showbiz Pizza when I was a kid and being fascinated by the Rock-afire Explosion (RAE). Not in the "look, a talking gorilla!" kind of way, but more "wow, I would love to see how those things work." I kind of forgot about them for a couple of decades, but now there are fans out there who have managed to procure a partial or full set of the RAE robots for their own homes and are writing new programs, making the band perform contemporary hits (search YouTube for "rockafire" and you'll see what I'm talking about). This RAE renaissance has re-ignited my interest.

I had always assumed the building and / or maintaining these types of things would be far too complicated and cost-prohibitive for me to ever even consider pursuing it, but now I'm not so sure (at least about the "complicated" part).

My question is: what's the best way to get started building my own small-scale robots? I'm thinking I'd like to use pneumatic power (like the RAE bots), but if someone can explain the advantages of instead using servos, etc., I'm all ears. Are there books or websites that I could look at that would break this down for me on a pretty basic level? My searches so far have resulted mostly in resources geared toward people who already kind of know what they're doing. I've considered starting by trying to hack a dancing Santa (like they sell at Wal-Mart around Christmas) or something, but I think I would learn more doing it all from scratch (plus the Santas don't run on air, they're all electronic).

Just for a little background, I am familiar with (very) basic electronics, I can solder, and I have a small (2 - 3 gallon, I think) air compressor. Don't be thrown by my use of the word "servo" above - I barely know what a servo is, so I'm coming from a pretty limited understanding of the components that would be involved.

I should possibly mention that Aaron Fechter (the guy who created the RAE) has recently come out with an "Animatronics Experimenters Kit" (animatronics101.com) that allows you to build a simple (?) pneumatic robot head, but it costs $300 + shipping. This seems excessive to me. If I had a general idea of what I needed to build this, couldn't I buy the components and make my own for considerably less? Or am I kidding myself about how expensive this kind of hobby really is? Granted, this kit also includes a control module that converts tones to signals, so that might account for some of the cost.

Speaking of the controlling of said robot, I know that is something else that must be considered (because, after all, what is a robot if you can't program / control it?). For the sake of any projects I might undertake, I am probably more interested in controlling the robot's mouth (or whatever) in real-time with a MIDI controller or something, but again, I'm open to other suggestions. Creating a program that gets saved and can be played back (like the RAE) is probably not as important, but I might be interested in having that down the road.

Any tips / resources anybody could provide would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Giant Roomba robot hacking?

loquacious — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 18:28:37 -0800

Giant Roomba - I'm looking for any information concerning hacking the Roomba's brain into something... bigger. I've acquired a thrown-away Roomba and I would like to give it a bigger chassis, wheels and battery for the purposes of light duty industrial sized cleaning.

The ideal form-factor would be about as wide as a 55 gallon drum. It can be taller - having the feature to scoot under furniture isn't required. Wheels about 6 to 8" in diameter. 12V car battery, a small shop vac, larger hopper, possibly re-engineered brushes.

What I'm particularly looking for and having trouble finding is any Roomba hacking projects that totally rebuild the drivetrain and chassis into something larger and more robust.

I'm also looking for any personal experience or tips about Roomba hacking, or advice on how to translate the control and sensor signals for use on larger motors and rebuilt or replaced sensors.

Bug Hunters

Artw — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 10:30:24 -0800

UK 80s gaming magazine question: Who drew "Bug Hunters", the comic strip with the big four armed robot, for CRASH and C&VG magazine? This question might be related to this other question.

Who illustrated Twitter’s whale and robot?

grant — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 12:45:27 -0800

I am looking for the name of the artist who created the “over capacity whale” and “technically wrong robot” illustrations for Twitter. Any information or pointers would be amazingly helpful.

It creeps and scrawls.

ostranenie — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 13:17:23 -0800

My robot-that-can-draw-stuff idea has been patented and designed and prototyped to death hundreds of times, but never (to my knowledge) developed into a full scale product. Has anyone built something I can buy? Even a kit? My idea is a drawing robot that works sort of like a mobile plotter for drawing with chalk, pencil, pen, cutting with a knife blade, painting with a brush, whatever. It uses omnidirectional wheels and stepper motors to move precisely in arbitrary directions without turning. You set it on a flat surface (or hold it against a wall) and trigger it with a button, at which point it draws whatever the positioning script on its a memory card says to draw, raising and lowering the pen/brush/whatever at the appropriate times during the drawing process. It's sort of a LOGO Turtle for the 21st century, but I'd like to use it to draw murals and make signage (in lieu of using a series of stencils or guides or something like that). The two keys are a) it's small and mobile - plotters and sign cutting machines tend to be enormous and b) you don't have to know how to draw. The 'invisible hand' does it for you based on the vector graphics you've fed it.

Now I've seen these guys doing something similar with a spray can (although theirs is tethered), and there's this guy who did it with a basic board and a homemade omniwheel, and of course the original series of LOGO Turtle robots, and probably 1,673 others out there (MAKE magazine has a stub) building similar prototypes. And that's wonderful!

BUT - has anyone developed this idea into something halfway practical (or even a toy!) instead of just a one-off art curiosity or hobby project? (You know...for the kids!) If it has, where can I buy it? If it hasn't, can I develop and sell it? Or is the idea considered to be in the public domain because it's been done to death over the last three decades?

Thanks!

What cartoon did I see?

popcassady — Thu, 22 May 2008 12:46:16 -0800

When I was a kid, I saw a cartoon that featured robot sex and Star Wars rip-offs. What was it? I have an extremely vague memory of this cartoon. We're talking 1986-ish.

It was a feature length animation. There may have been two characters that were similar to R2-D2 and C3PO -- I'm pretty sure there was a golden robot at least.

The main character was very Han Solo-esque. He might have worn a cowboy hat, I think he stole spaceships.

The strongest, lasting memory I have of this film -- the one that made an impression on my six year old mind -- was of the Han Solo character trying to have sex with a pink android.

Does it ring any bells?

the genius robotic entity of sciforums.com

Avenger50 — Fri, 16 May 2008 13:13:21 -0800

Can you help me find the fascinating and mysterious forum postings of a self-proclaimed robotic entity on sciforums.com? Within the last five to ten years, and one design before the current design of sciforums.com, there was a famous (or infamous) group of postings by a poster of sciforums.com who claimed to be a robotic, genius entity visiting the forums and gaining sentience. His posts were met with skepticism, sarcasm, and various intellectual tests that he may or may not have passed to the community's satisfaction. Mad Google Fu required.

No! Really! This is for work.

Skwirl — Mon, 12 May 2008 04:50:01 -0800

Could you crib me some notes for my work-related robots vs. zombie debate later today? Why would robots defeat zombies in a knock-out, drag-out apocalypse? What are some humorous things to say about robots beating up zombies? Also: What are some questions for the moderator to ask that would lead to funny results? I should point out that this is not (!) chatfilter. I submitted some robot art to an art symposium sponsored by my employer and another coworker submitted some zombie art and now we've been called upon to duke it out for the amusement of others. I've been working on my other presentations and tasks for the symposium, so I'm a bit behind on my zombie vs. robot homework. Help!