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Technology

Cool Personal Robots 146

Posted by CmdrTaco from the robots-are-a-mans-best-friend dept.
300e24 writes "I have always wanted a robot around the house, not the useless but fun Sony Aibo, but something which can actually do things for me. I always thought it was a pipe dream, until I found this review of a very interesting (and surprisingly cheap) robot. " The software unfortunately looks to be windows based, but its interesting: it maps out its space, and can automatically dock/recharge itself.
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Cool Personal Robots More

Cool Personal Robots

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  • This was already available (Score:3)

    by KPU ( 118762 ) on Wednesday December 22, 1999 @09:47AM (#1451996) Homepage
    In Mondo Tronics' Robot Store [robotstore.com] catalog 17, page 12 is the cye robot for $695. Although not he same thing as posted, it does pretty much the same thing. The Map-N-Zap software is a pure graphics interface (which they say is a feature), and its shown on Windows 95. As a note, it says you can get an .ocx and program it in visual basic. The model shown in the picture at the website has the wagon attachment on it which can carry up to 9 pounds / 4 kg. There is also an attachment for a vacuum The specs (from the add): 40 x 28 x 13 cm / 16 x 11 x 5 in, weighs 4 kg / 9 pounds High-impact ABS plastic shell, rugged molded wheels Sealed 12 volt, 2.9 amp-hour rechargeable battery FCC approved 900 MHz controller in drive-up recharging station Low center of mass & 3.5 kg / 8 pounds pulling force Central mount for hardware add-ons and RJ-45 port with +12V, +5V, ground & serial lines for add-ons & your own devices. System requirements: Pentium 90 MHz (or better), Windows 95 or Windows 98, CD-ROM drive, Serial port
  • IPA? Doesn't that often stand for IsoPropyl Alcohol?

    Great for cleaning your metal contacts, I wouldn't want to clean reality out of my system with it.

    Jamaican rum cleans reality out for me just fine... Mmmmm...
  • Don't know what the range of bluetooth devices is though.

  • Most of this stuff is more appropriate for offices and the commercial environment than the home environment. The environment is more controlled and commercial organisations would have the cash to buy the things.

    The mail delivery bit could be used to deliver parts from a stock room to production lines etc.

    Just think, companies wouldn't need cleaners or mail delivery people any more.
  • "Good morning Mr. Dread, would you like your cappucino regular this morning?"
    "Ye--wn, yeah James, please, btw please change the music mood from "work" back to "lounging" please?"
    I put aside my real-doll (thanks hun ;) get out of bed and trip over my Aibo-2k. It bites me in the leg, barks and drops my slippers.

    "James, please clean the house vigouresly today, mums comming for dinner tonight."

    "Should that be the usual week-end clensing, or the full-swing sprink break sopping?" James asks. I call my house James, call me conservative. My neighbours named it HAL. Personally I think this is asking for trouble, specially if they havent installed the House2k buffer overflow patch. It would be a real nuisance to find your real-doll with the cyber flue.
    Of course, they bought WinHouse, whilst Im running my favourite RedRoof Linux.

    Thankfully the freebeer patch for my Intellifridge worked, now I hacked free beer on my daily deliveries!

    Now where did I leave the hornyashell, mood mod? Oh well, have to work late anyway.

    Luckely my bath is heated, thanks James, and my CarBot is humming to wait for my daily commuter.

    I rub my back and watch the BabyJames' crawl under the laudry basket, in search of that week-end dirt to suck.

    Greetz Dread
  • Up to 10m is commonly sited. There is some sort of high power option that goes to 100m, but I don't know that anyone cares.One nice touch, Bluetooth devices will dynamically reduce or increase power to match the current range requirements - a great touch for battery powered devices in close proximity.
  • That's been done already. In London, they have a bar where the bar-keepress is a robot. Bit slow though and she definitly needs to learn to some of those Tom-Cruise-Cocktail-throwing moves.
  • I tend to think that the program could help fill holes created by furniture and the such, using some sort of logic. Maybe a roving laser surveying apparatus woudl work better?
  • Cye has been reviewed by the german c't Magazine (http://www.heise.de/ct/ [heise.de]), and well, it doesn't look like anything decent. It needs to dock very often, and the time needed to load its batteries is higher than the time it can move around. Besides, the software is only for windows and the mapping is not the best, and the robot has problems with any surface except carpets... Not quite what you want, I guess.
  • Nope, it's been here before. Its name is Cye, Robot Cye [slashdot.org].
  • I really think this is an excellent idea. I've heard of a product that does this. I can't remember what it was or if it was actually in production. It may have been some kind of prototype.

    Anyway, I've thought of doing something similar myself, but I've never really had the hardware to do it. I think it would be fairly simple to fit a small mower with servos (I think thats what their called) to control the wheels. It might be more practical to have a computer control the wheels by radio signal. That would prevent you from having to put an actual computer on the mower. You would'nt want a comuter exposed to all that dust, vibration, and grass.

    What are your thoughts on a design?

  • India Pale Ale.

    Philistine.

  • cashola (Score:4)

    by MillMan ( 85400 ) on Wednesday December 22, 1999 @09:53AM (#1452012)
    Well, it is cool but for 1000 bucks I'd want more than that. Using your PC for processing power is a great idea though, this can help keep costs down for future robots, as well as the interface it provides.

    We're still quite a ways off from a decent robot for home use. To be more than a novel conversation piece it needs to do a lot of things that depend on AI that just haven't been devolped yet (or at least at an affordable cost). High resolution sensors and powerful servos are just too expensive for the consumer marketplace. It would be really helpful for it to be bipedal as well. I've seen a few bipedal bots developed by scientists but it hasn't got very far beyond the research stage.
  • The US Army and various SWAT units use a 'remote control' version of an AR-15 for situations too 'high-risk' for exposed personel. It's tripod mounted, and has a variable-zoom scope attached to a CCD camera. The whole unit is operated over wire with a CRT and joystick. They're available open market from the manufacturer. (General Dynamics, I think)

    It could be swivel mounted on three of these 'bots, and with the addition of a 'Rabbit' type video transmitter could almost be a cost-effective means of World Domination!
  • Just think, Da Vinci did founding work and research [memagazine.org] on the subject five-hundred years ago!
  • Well, UF [alligator.org] developed one, but I can't say that it's snazzy and such... Plus university students rarely produce mass quantities of such a device...

    But, I'm not giving up hope. No, for there is a company once mighty in just matters of the chainsaw... now they too have the mower for nerds.. is now we turn to Husqvarna! [husqvarna.com]

    Now if they'd only make a robotic chainsaw too...

  • personally i like the idea of a whole bunch of little robots scooting around, cleaning up after me. The main thing is, its gotta be smaller, more affordable, and quick enough to get out of my way.
  • Personally, I'm more interested in the AIBO approach of creating a robot with some sort of personality. 'Cye' is interesting, but he doesn't seem all that useful (he can vacuum your floors half-assedly?) and the way you have to train the robot seems a little lame.. Why doesn't he map his own paths based on previous collisions? I've even seen a LEGO MindStorm-based robot that would build a map on a remote PC based upon collisions..Dragging the robot around to train him seems a little annoying, no?

  • a practical use (Score:3)

    by Tekmage ( 17375 ) on Wednesday December 22, 1999 @09:20AM (#1452021) Homepage
    Just had a thought. (uh oh :-)

    You could use one of these robots (or a wheelchair-size version) to map out the un/accessibility of a building...
  • Maybe I am missing something but once you have come up with the design and written the software that makes it all work shouldn't it be fairly inexpensive to produce a robot like this? It looks like a mostly plastic shell with some motors and sensors...

    Why the $1000 price tag?

    Josh
  • But how well can we program them to do specific tasks?
    I know the vision running through many people's heads is one of robots doing every simple task required. Cooking food, cleaning, etc.... But how versatile are they in terms of different tasks they can perform?
    Obviously, programming a robot vaccuum cleaner is easy, given the layout and obstacles in the room. But when will a robot be cooking my breakfast?
  • Can't wait for el robotic maid.... The best gift a geek can get, something that cleans up after him/her.>:)
    This little thing would get drowned in the sea of soda cans on my floor.

    Kintanon
  • I remember, years ago (over a decade) seeing a robot maid on the gameshow "The Price is Right".

    It was fashioned as a roughly human shaped object, although with blocky metallic contours (for instance, the "head" was a mostly featureless sphere).

    I can't imagine they were very capable given the state of robotics back then (or even today).

    Anybody know what happened to these things and the people/company manufacturing them?
  • This is incredibly cool - however, does this little guy do ANYTHING but roll around and vacuum? From what I understand this is what it does: It takes a little tuning to get it just right, but it's worth the extra work when you have visitors, and Cye comes in and impresses the hell out of them! It's important to note that Cye himself is wider than the vacuum attachment, so he'll never be able to clean right to the edges- you'll have to go around behind him and do those yourself. Also the name is too cloyingly sweet for me. Seriously, c'mon it's name is 'CYE' - As in cyborg? Cheezy like the color.
  • He probably drinks Budweiser (and thinks its "the king of beers")

    [OT]Any other homebrewers on /.?

    I got 3 cases of Honey black spruce lager aging in the garage and a batch of Porter I just racked to secondary last week... mmmmmmm.... HomeBrew.....
  • I remember this as well. It was essentially an electric mower (solar cells on the top, as well) without a bag (it mulched) or handles. Quite cool. I don't know how it mapped out your lawn though. Anyone have more info?
  • So we're paying $1000 for a robot that combines a Red Flyer[tm] wagon with the Clap On/Clap Off[tm] gadgets? I think $2500 for an Aibo is a much better deal. And yes, we have one in the office, too.
  • Remember the Hero series of robots? Made in the 80's by Zenith, they were used for robotics instruction courses among other things. I have heard of a Hero 2000 memorize a path in a room using its sonars and other sensors, and power dock itself. Sure it took a ton of hand written code, but thats whats cool about it.
  • I think it used some kind wires imbedded in the ground, surrounding the perimeter.

  • Re:Forget vaccuming.. how about mowing the lawn? (Score:3)

    by SEWilco ( 27983 ) on Wednesday December 22, 1999 @10:08AM (#1452035) Journal
    Those have been around for thirty years and have been regularly featured in Popular Mechanics or plans in Popular Electronics. At least the controllers have gotten cheaper. A Google search for robotic lawn mower finds several hits:

    The most popular design uses X-Acto type blades spring-loaded around the edge of a spinning disk. Cuts grass but spring back against the disk if it hits something more substantial...like shoe leather. Some designs try to detect the edge of uncut grass while others just bop around randomly.

  • That $1000 comes with a cordless vaccum that according to the review works suprisingly well. I could see that adding $300 to the price tag. but the rest is still fluff.
  • From colored Palms, to colored intelligent vaccuum cleaners in less than a day. Neat.

    This is an intriguing bit of technology, but more importantly (at least to myself), is that it's nice to see such a clean approach to design. They're builing a practical robot from the ground up, in a staged/layered manner, instead of lumping a whole bunch of features into the product at once, and then trying to unravel the knots at a later date. The only problem I have is that the robot might have been released prematurely as there are hardly any real uses for it yet.

    What I mean by all that is, cye is apparently a good stepping stone for future robotic products because it's starting as a simple device to which revisions can be easily applied. The future growth of something designed in this manner is greater than something like the sony AIBO, which would be something quite difficult to change due to it's greater base level of complexity.

    I'm thinking of cye as the kernel around which a real robotic appliance can one day be built. All the sensory features, and manipulators and fancy things can be gradually introduced as they become useable as well as feasible.

    I also like that it's brains are your PC. This provides an easy upgrade path that isn't based on any one particular hardware platform. Try upgrading an AIBO to do something other than what it was initially built for and the differences will be apparent.

    As it stands, I can't afford one anyways. :-(

  • Get Cye and hookit up with the Xybernaut MA 4. Now that's fun! Instant waitress during for the between frag world breaks!
  • Was I the only one who had a hell of a time trying to find a price for the damn thing. I probably was, so please don't answer.

    Here's the run-down for the price-ticket impared:

    Cye-sr special, robot=bbn, Wagon=bn, ac=120VAC, shirt=Black-L (wbd) 1

    $995.00
    + $48.50 shipping
    =$1043.50

  • actually you can change the color. The black with neon doesn't look to bad.
  • When I get a robot it will be one that can accept the voice command "IPA", go to the beer cupboard, read the badly-printed homebrew label and bring me what I asked for. Preferably it will be able to open the bottle, too.

    Well, aside from the OCR and such, I wouldn't recomend this if you homebrew. Afterall, most homebrewers use a variety of sizes of bottles, depending on what's avalible. If you just trained the robot to "pick up a bottle" it would drop the little ones and smash the big ones.

    This is also relevant to doing dishes or picking up anything in your room but clothes and papers. How much programming and sensory attachements would it take for a robot to be able to consistently pick up a novel object? You have to know the shape and where you can safe-ly lift it, how slippery and/or heavy it is (so you don't apply to little pressure and drop it), how fragile it is (so you don't apply too much and smash it), and if it is a container which must be kept in one orientation.

    And thats just to pick up an object. I don't even want to try enumerating all the issues that would come up with cooking!

    It seems like it will be a long time before we have a real household robot - that is, one that can acomplish regular household tasks without the price or time investment outweighing any energy saved.

    But, hey - I could be wrong. ;)

  • the problem is, other than shrapnel and fumes (which i'm sure a hardened bot could handle), object avoidance....

    unless you're drunk, stoned, an on acid, you're not gonna run over your kid brother with a lawn mower (at least if your parents are around... :), but a robot might not be that great, and then you have the issue of liability? is the robot at fault? or is the programer? or the manufacturer? or the owner? maybe the robot should be put down?


  • I agree. I enjoy building robots and almost all of them have had more functionality than this and the most I've ever spent to design and build one was about $5000. Probably a robot that costs $5000 to prototype could be massproduced at under $500. This robot is cute and it's simplicity is impressive but the price tag seems a little hefty. When it gets in the $100-$200 price range and can be controled w/ any web browser then I'll buy one. :) IMO I'd rather pay a little more for a more functional robot though. It'd be nice if it could map things for itself and figure out how to avoid dynamic objects such as children, pets, and bags of groceries. Also if it can't go up/down stairs and go outside it isn't near as fun IMO. I want the same robot to vacuum all my floors and mow the grass and feed the cat. Also does anyone know what happens to this lil guy if Windows crashes? Must be rough having your brain crash. :) Does anyone know of a good place to have a plastic shell made for a robot? Metal is somewhat expensive and heavy although it does hold up to quite a lot of abuse. I've been thinking of making a body out of used soft drink cans just to see how well it'd work. Anyone want a Pepsi robot? :)
  • This looks incredibly cool, but I feel the need to correct a statement made in the article:

    (I believe Cye is the first robot capable of docking with a charging unit)

    This is far from the truth. The Johns Hopkins "Beast," one of the first mobile robots ever, was able to do this back in the 1960's. Read the end of the first paragraph at this link [cmu.edu].
  • That would be great and all, but what I would really want it to do would be to sanitize everything before and after brewing, handle getting the water boiling, and regulate the mash temp :) while i'm at it, it can add the gypsum, irish moss, check pH...wait a minute. that would kind of defeat the purpose of homebrewing would it :) Or you could look at it as a way to merge programming and homebrewing :)
  • The only problem with the Sybian is that Vanessa Chase doesn't come with it.


    No, wait.

    I mean Vanessa comes with it, but she doesn't show up at the door with it when you buy one.

    Sorry for the potential confusion. We now return to our regularly scheduled program.


    Pope
  • The price is $695 for the robot, $89 for the wagon, $89 for the vacuum attachment, and $44.50 + $695 for the vacuum attachment and cye at the same time. All put together, that's $828.50. . .
  • In my AI course in college, we spend a godawful amount of time working on different ways of programming a simple automatic vacuum cleaner to learn the best way to clean a room.

    The technique was fairly simple: give the robot a certain number of points for changing a grid square from dirty to clean, and subtract a certain number of points for every unit of energy expended. After each run, the robot changes its algorithm and tries again. Eventually, you end up with a robot that will clean up the maximum amount of dirt with the minimum amount of energy.

    (Forgive me if the details are fuzzy--too much LDS in the '60s...)

    To implement this in a real system, it seems like you could even dispense with the sensor, and just weigh the vacuum bag at the beginning and the end of each cycle. You just have to make sure the robot doesn't cheat by going outside to vacuum up all of the dirt in the garden...

  • 1 self-propelled mower
    1 heavy wooden or metal stake
    rope

    First modify the front wheels slightly so that they're just barely pulling the mower to the right (this will make the mowers navigation system 'self correcting'). Drive the stake into the center of the largest patch of uncut grass and tie one end of the rope to it, and then measure out a length of rope to the closest edge of the yard. Affix the mower to this rope in such a way that when it goes, it pulls itself in a counter clockwise circle around the post. A thicker post will make for a quicker mow. If the grass is thick, a skinny pole is best.

    Note: Before starting the mower, be sure remove any children, desireable animals and/or lawn-ornaments from the cutting area. Also be sure to cut down and remove any trees or decorative shrubs that might get in the way. A home made EMP device also makes for a great 'remote kill' switch should a difficult situation arise.

  • Yeah, I admit that would work, but I wouldn't be happy about world domination unless I used lasers.
    For preference I would like to use gamma ray lasers, mounted on stealth satilites that I control from my secret base on the far side of the moon.

    Plan B would be to use a particle acelerator to make a black hole.
  • Yeek, it sorta hurts to think back that far, but didn't he respond to claps or something? He'd change direction when you clapped?

    (It's also possible that I just heard those "Clap On! Clap Off" commercials *way* too often)

    Dana

  • More info on Cye - from Probotics (Score:2)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Hi, I work for probotics, the makers of Cye. Yes, slashdot is popular with us also. It's been great reading the feedback from you guys. I'd like to add a few things, and maybe clear up some misconceptions: Linux support: You're preaching to the converted. We know how important this is. I'm personally pushing for it very hard. I first installed Linux in '93, and haven't looked back. As the faq says, we're willing to release our comm protocol and code, so people can develop linux drivers. In fact, check out the linux cyedaemon project (still in infancy) at: http://www.tambra.com/linux/cyedaemon/ In mid-January, we are putting out Java classes (and code) to communicate with Cye. This is being developed by Tucker Balch at CMU, who is using a team of Cye's in the robosoccer contest. There's information on his stuff at: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~coral/minnow This will allow linux and mac and palmpilot users to communicate w/ Cye. The radio modem hooks up to a standard serial port, so even a pilot should be able to control Cye. Cost: Ya, it's expensive. We know it. The main cost right now is the radios and motors. They motors are quite nice - we have no problems pulling 30lbs with the attached cart. The radio modem also works well - it's in the 900Mhz range, and operates at 19.2K (which is a limitation, but we're working on it). We also, unfortunately, have to tack on a bit of a profit, if we're going to stay afloat. :) The color - someone mentioned that the color is cheesy. It's available in orange, yellow, and black. Lego Mindstorms - Ya, they're cool. I've got a set myself. However, we're really aiming for more sophistication. Vacuuming is just a start. We're adding a webcam soon for telepresence, and we've got other irons on the fire as well. Overall, we're very interested in supporting the linux community. Until now, we didn't know if there was much of an interest. However, noticing that our website has currently come to a crawl, I think there may be some interest. My email address is parag@personalrobots.com . Feel free to email me comments/suggestions. THanks. Parag Batavia Probotics, Inc http://www.personalrobots.com
  • Seems they had a serious flaw (as pointed out by one of the Dr. Who creators in an interview I read; seems he kinda hated them as a plot for their improbability): "just run down a flight of stairs, and they would be well and truly screwed."

    What I want to see is a stair-climbing motorized wheelchair with on-road capability and a top speed of, say, 40 KPH. Robotic gadgets that cannot handle the terrain we humans take for granted are seriously handicapped.

    But seriously, folks, distributed intelligence is THE way to go, IMHO. I myself am building a sort of distributed-intelligence Open Source robotics system inspired by the (somewhat-too-costly) Lego Mindstorms gadget, with a few obvious improvements (stepper motors, DC motors with position feedback, cheap sonar ranging, a generic expansion capability to allow for new sensor/actuator module types) based on low-cost PIC uCs.

    If/when I get it up & running, I'll try to make it available somewhere...
  • The price is $695 for the robot, $89 for the wagon, $89 for the vacuum attachment, and $44.50 + $695 for the vacuum attachment and cye at the same time. All put together, that's $828.50. . .
  • The US Army and various SWAT units use a 'remote control' version of an AR-15 for situations too 'high-risk' for exposed personel. It's tripod mounted, and has a variable-zoom scope attached to a CCD camera. The whole unit is operated over wire with a CRT and joystick.
    type video transmitter could almost be a cost-effective means of World Domination!



    It's been done already, and they are called Daleks. Created by a guy named Davros.
  • A bit Offtopic but this has been driving me insane. I have built a six legged walking robot. Works great. The thing that is driving me bonkers is trying to find information on how to build an automatic charging/docking station. Now I dont mena programming it to find it, or how to wlka towards it, thats no problem. I mean the actual physical device. Where the contacts go, stuff like that. I've already programmed the robot to return to a 'charger' when it's batteries are low, and it works fairly well, but I don't know how to build the charger, or have it cut off the systems while charging, or reactivate them when full.
    Thanks

  • From colored Palms, to colored intelligent vaccuum cleaners in less than a day. Neat.

    Now hey, wait a second. Plug your color Palm into your colored intelligent vacuum cleaner and do away with the computer but retain the flexability! I'd like to see a program for the Palm that could control the cye with either its own serial remote or sitting on its back and plugged into the RJ45 (with some kind of splitter so you could plug something else in, too; I don't know the specifics of how this expansion adapter is wired up). Then you can crash your computer in all the different geek ways you can think of and you still get your vacuuming done for you :-). As an added bonus you get a local display (messages from bot and other Homo sapiens) and control ("Hey, get me a drink, then go vacuum up the mess the guys made in the living room."). Forget clapping, start tapping. The only thing I'd be worried about is the requirements of the little Palm processor.

    As it stands, I can't afford one anyways. :-(

    I think the same thing whenever one of these cool geek toys comes up. That's [one of the reasons] why I like Linux!

    Kenneth

  • I am looking for a robot myself, but this one doesn't do all the things that I want in a robot. Personally, I don't have a use for a vacuuming robot, since I never vacuum anyway . I'm going to hold out for a robot that will do the dishes that are too nasty for the dishwasher, then load this dishwasher. I also want it to go to the refrigerator and get me a beer, or go to the store and get more beer.
  • So did the invisible dog fences come from this or did the auto mower come from the invisible dog fences?
  • Well, here it is the Honda Human,

    http://animemania.net/~f.m artinertesta/robotica/hhri.htm [animemania.net]

    It walks down stairs, alone or in pairs!

    Probably outside your price range though... You may have known about this one, but any chance to link to it, I take. I want one!!!

    Not much like a Dalek, but could be a Cyberman if they ever update the design...

  • Quickly having features using Linux that blow away those in other operating systems would be great press for open source and Linux.

    My only concern is how many of the people who would love to code for this, would be willing and able to fork out the $1000 to buy one. Also I wonder how much fun or practical it would be writing code for this with out acutally having one.

  • It's a cute gadget, but at over $1000, overpriced. The main innovation seems to be using toothed wheels designed for very low slip, so that dead-reckoning will work on carpet.

    A blind dead-reckoning robot seems lame for 1999. Most mobile robots use at least a Polaroid sonar system to prevent bumping into obstacles. You can do mapping with a broad-beam sonar without running into anything, using some classic algorithms by Hans Moravec. It should be possible to use that technology today at well below the $1000 price point.

    This thing reminds me of the PenMan plotter of the early 1980s, a little mobile robot with a pen intended for producing large plots. Several times a minute, it went back to its docking station to reestablish its position. Cute, but not a useful plotter, it faded from the scene long ago.

  • I mean really, even a lazy college student such as myself can stagger out of bed and vacuum the floor once every few months. Is a robot really needed? As a society we already have more crap then we need, especially in the powered gadgets department.

    I just read Brave New World for the first time, and all sorts of things I read remind me now how prescient Aldous Huxley was. Its been almost seventy years since he wrote the novel, and we are ahead of his pace.

    -Brian

  • The banner ad at the bottom of the page has pic of the the bot carrying what looks to be a drink bottle (in fact the tray looks like it is designed for a plate, glass/can, and utensils).

    How did the robot get the drink into the tray?

    My guess is, you go to your fridge and put it in there yourself as the bot couldn't do that in its current config.

    I want a robot that will get the drink/food etc for me while I sit on my fat lazy arse in front of the PC/TV, not one that requires me to do all the hard work!

  • Radio-Electronics (now known as Electronics Now) published an article on building one many years ago. Check the archives of your local library.

    --GnrcMan--
  • he can sing and so things like that.
    So he can sleep, then come in to your room at 7am and sing a certain song then leave and go wait for you or wheel around. Like a mobil alarm clock that gets out of your way when you are all pissed and sleepy after being woken up.

    The Zap stuff is where the robot gets fun. It has sleep and if statments so he can do a lot more then vacuum.
  • no, way. I agree with the article. This is the first home use robot that I'm seriously interested in. Vacuuming is a great starting task, with their interest in open source (see posts from the FAQ), I'm sure tons of stuff will pop up. The price is immaterial as everyone who buys within the next few years is paying for developement and new manufacturing processes. Looks like it might retail for $150-250 in 3/4 years. I want one.

    It looks like they picked a cool way to solve a lot of the problems. The mapping feature looks good too. I saw this is a magazine just the other day, but didn't really look at it. It doesn't look like robots are "supposed" to. hehe.

  • Course... You still gotta have a woman back in the kitchen to fix the stuff.
  • Does anyone believe that everything that sells in great numbers "must be effective"? Ever heard of Windows?


    ..speaking of hopelessly naive..
  • At the moment, Probotics don't appear to support Linux, but if you look in the technical section, they actually ask for someone to write a port. Also, the drivers appear to be open-sourced, so if someone wanted to use Cye with Linux, ther shouldn't be any problems.

  • There already is a vermin control device on the market very similar to what you describe. While it doesn't vacuum, it does a fair job washing dishes and cleaning up certain types of kitchen spills, and an excellent job of keeping the home vermin free. It's called a cat.

    Additional attributes:

    • great at rearranging small household items.
    • excellent at string manipulation and multithreading.
    • partially solar/thermal powered.
    • low energy consumption "sleep" mode.

    The aforementioned device does have a few drawbacks, though:

    • often drops into "sleep" mode without warning.
    • occasional noxious emissions.
    • bug in system sometimes causes device to dispose of vermin inappropriately (e.g. on your pillow).

    On the whole, I'd say the benefits outweigh the detriments -- I know have four of my own.

    -- WhiskeyJack

  • He probably drinks Budweiser (and thinks its "the king of beers")

    Budweiser???

    Um, I'm Canadian.

    As for beer, I can't actually drink the mass produced crap they make even here.

    I tend to go for imports and some of those microbrewery beers (Mmmm, Black Pearl, cream ale made from coffee...).

    Though I drink more rum than anything else.
  • I just want to know, _why_ do people want to have a robot about the house? Is this something to do with the kids that were the right age to have Transformers or something? I just have no desire to have a robot.

    And please, nobody say 'Because it would be cool!'. An actual reason please... What would it do?
  • This kind of feedback is what will really make the difference. The actual product at this stage may not be terribly innovative, but from all accounts, the people at the company are very responsive.

    Regarding complaints that the robot isn't smart enough... this is a software issue, and since Probotics are making the API available, I don't see any reason why you couldn't write a driver that updates the map as it encounters obsticals.. Remember, the Cye does provide feedback to the base when it encounters an obstical; it just doesn't have a ranged sensor. The Cye can be as intelligent as you want it to be.

    I'm enthusaistic about this. This is basically a real-life robot-wars situation, where you can program your own behavior. If there were a USB port on the Cye mobile unit that could communicate with the base via the radio, then the Cye would have limitless possibility for expansion; robot-arm attachments, light and audio sensers... I can't believe Probotics doesn't have these improvements planned.

    --- SER

  • From the FAQ =) (Score:3)

    by HomerJ ( 11142 ) on Wednesday December 22, 1999 @09:23AM (#1452088)
    From their FAQ about linux support:

    Linux Linux Linux.. Need I say more? Open up
    your libraries to the Linux community and you
    will find your product improving daily at no cost
    to you from the efforts of the Linux development community.

    I couldn't agree more. Our libraries are open any time. We have yet to refuse anyone who wanted a copy of our source code. Please, take the bull by the horns and start writing the Linux rev for us. We are swamped with new features and bug fixes just sticking with one operating system (let alone 2, 3, or 4 (Linux,Mac, Unix)).

    I know what I want for Christmas, or my birthday next month =)

  • Giant Battle Robots! (Score:3)

    by Fruan ( 105302 ) on Wednesday December 22, 1999 @09:24AM (#1452089) Homepage
    C'mon! *Every* one wants a giant battle robot of their very own.
    Just up scale one of those babys about 50 or 60 times, and stick on some laser cannon...

    Although, when I start thinking about it, mapping out a whole city for it might take a while... and don't even *think* about trying to take over the world.

    Hmm. I'd probably be better of welding an M16 to the back of an AIBO.
  • its yellow? come on.

    This is a tiny robot, it needs to be black, to convey power(and a strong sexual drive).
  • I have always wanted a robot around the house, not the useless but fun Sony Aibo, but something which can actually do things for me.

    I don't know that I would actually want something like this. It would be cool to play with and all, and maybe if you could get one that vacumed I'd think it was cool - except I'm such a slob letting any machine clean my room would lead to either something I really wanted being thrown out, or some sort of bizzare damage to the robot.

    So, if something like this was cheap, how many people could honestly see themselves getting it for a practical use, and how many are just entranced by the neatness of the idea?

    oh yeah, and it would scare the hell out of my cat, and if I get a dog it would chew on the robot (or play shake games... how sturdy is this thing?)

  • There was another robot-like vacuum cleaner mentioned earlier. This is more general-purpose, but what's really needed is a use for the beasts that will drive design. We're still in the phase where personal robots are being designed because they're interesting, but there's no real use for them yet. (At least none that the average consumer will see.)

    This happened to PCs, it will happen to PRs as well.
  • Why the $1000 price tag?

    R&D

    Usually, as a product becomes more widely used, the cost goes down. The quality also goes up :) Anyways, I think that in a reasonable time we'll see these things being used for practical purposes and being sold inexpensively in Walmart.

    Whee!!

    -Brent
  • Come on where's Rosie from the Jetsons, now THAT's a robot that can do things for ya. My Lego Mindstorms could do more than this thing if they had the strength or what have you to do so.
    Oh well, guess is it cant be all that bad though at least it's not one that flashes some lights and beeps and does absolutely nothing besides that. But that's just me :-)
  • That link should be read in conjunction with this [realdolls.com]

    Enterprising geeks know when two technologies should be integrated.

  • Amazingly enough, there are now robots that wash dishes [maytag.com] and do the laundry [sears.com]. Science marches on!

  • This is a great idea, but I think you would also need a vertical displacement measurement, to judge a ramp's incline, differences in floor elevations, etc.

    This would also be helpful in creating existing condition surveys of buildings, with the ability to export the data in a vector format (DWG/DXF). This task takes a lot of time, especially in buildings built in the pre CADD days that need rennovation/expansion. I can imagine letting this thing loose after buisness hours in a building, or at someone's house, and it could map all of the walls, etc and then one could add neccessary details.

    I just wish someone would come up with a object oriented (CADD, not programming) file format. If you are curious as to what I mean, check out how to draft in 3D.

  • Why can't they construct a bar-bot; something to mix drinks for me... now THAT would be useful. And instead of vaccuming it could clean up vomit...

    In all seriousness, does anyone know how well this robot moves on hardwood floors?
  • couldn't some geeks find a way to get some toy from Radio Shack and throw some programability on it? It seems this is the sort of project you guys would just eat up. I'd like to make one of these homebuilt but I'm not geek enough to design it.
  • Just a nitpick...
    If you turn the wheels right you should have it go clockwise, if you turn them left you should have it go counterclockwise...

  • Simple: nerds are really lazy. And robots are cool. What a site: Lemurs.com [lemurs.com], I wanted that domain :(
  • You say it vacuums then... The real question is whether it's bagless of course.
  • Impressive, but... Battery life 15 minutes is a real drawback. It will get better, though.
  • One idea (that I haven't tried :) is to add a power converter to allow it to use standard household outlets. Then the only trick is to get it to figure out where the outlets are, and with a legged robot, getting it lined up just right coule be difficult.
  • How about;

    1 Goat (stake and rope optional)

    That should do it.

  • Is it just me, or are simple dumb little 'droids like this the perfect killer app for a robust low power RF communications standard like Bluetooth? Heck, the little bot already uses RF to communicate with the PC that is it's brain - what if devices like this could share maps, or communicate to perform co-ordinated tasks? Sounds like technology's finally getting there.

    Nah, it's probably just me...

  • This is incredibly cool - however, does this little guy do ANYTHING but roll around and vacuum?

    It has a wagon. Therefore I'm guessing that it can carry stuff for you.

    -Brent
  • This robot is somewhat interesting, but LEGOs MindStorms are much cooler and more fun. Especially when you utilize the cool hacks such as legOs...Plus, Mindstorms are much cheaper than this robot....Mindstorms aren't likely to be able to vacuum your floor, but who cares? Vacuuming is just about the least of my cleanup issues... If this thing could wash dishes or do the laundry, I'd be more interested!
  • Hasn't this sort of thing been done before? I'm recalling back to like 7th grade and younger with the LOGO turtle. LT 90, etc... blind and only goes where you tell it to go. (and drew pictures!!)

    I want a robot that can pick up my dirty laundry, do my dishes, clean the cat box, water my plants, make me meals, get the mail, wash my clothes, run errands (grocery store, post office, dry cleaners, bank), dust the furniture, do a GOOD job at vaccuuming, and hell, give the cats baths, set the time on the VCR, shovel the snow while we're in "dream" mode.

  • Linux Support (Score:3)

    by Hard_Code ( 49548 ) on Wednesday December 22, 1999 @09:31AM (#1452121)
    FAQ: http://www.personalrobots.com/technicaldirt/faq/fa q.cgi?FAQ Linux ?: http://www.personalrobots.com/technicaldirt/faq/fa q.cgi?SHOW_ANSWER=01-general.txt+24 "Linux Linux Linux.. Need I say more? Open up your libraries to the Linux community and you will find your product improving daily at no cost to you fromthe efforts of the Linux development community. I couldn't agree more. Our libraries are open any time. We have yet to refuse anyone who wanted a copy of our source code. Please, take the bull by the horns and start writing the Linux rev for us. We are swamped with new features and bug fixes just sticking with one operating system (let alone 2, 3, or 4 (Linux, Mac, Unix))." ---- cool

    Jazilla.org - the Java Mozilla [sourceforge.net]
  • This is a tiny robot, it needs to be black, to convey power

    Hey, you're in luck. Check out the store (page). It comes in dozens of different color combinations. Yes, even black.

    -Brent

  • overestimating the buying public (Score:3)

    by drox ( 18559 ) on Wednesday December 22, 1999 @09:32AM (#1452123)
    ...Cye is selling in great numbers, so it must be effective.

    I realize that the robot-buying public may be a wee bit savvier than the general buying public, but isn't the above sentiment hopelessly naive? Does anyone believe that everything that sells in great numbers "must be effective"? Ever heard of Windows?

    I understand that Cye's navigation probably is remarkably effective, but offering big sales as evidence is poor logic.
  • Nah, we're catching up! At least it was first posted *this year*!!!
  • Why the $1000 price tag?
    Simple: economies of scale.

    once you have come up with the design and written the software
    This costs lots of money; R&D usually does.

    shouldn't it be fairly inexpensive to produce a robot like this?
    Sure. Mass production is a wonderful thing.

    When you combine the previous two with an expected market of 50 million, you can amortize R&D costs over many units - the manufacturing costs winout. However, if you expect to sell a relatively small number your R&D costs dominate.





  • when will it really be available ?
  • Why doesn't he map his own paths based on previous collisions?

    I got the impression from the article that the robot certainly could do it that. However, that's a long process, and it'll have to bumb at every possible place of a wall to know for certain he can't go through it. And since there isn't much fun in a robot bumbing into things, the fast drawing of a map is an option.

    -- Abigail

  • I've wanted to build something to mow the lawn. It's not like I have a big yard in Arizona. It takes all of about 5 minutes to mow. But that requires the following sequence of events:

    1. Step away from the computer!
    2. Put jeans on (flying rocks and shrapnel from soda cans tend to hurt otherwise)
    3. Put gasoline in mower
    4. Check oil
    5. Pull the string to start the engine
    6. Pull it again fifty times until it starts
    7. Find surplus Israeli military gas mask to avoid early death due to the smoke emitted from poorly maintained two-stroke engine. Also helps avoid smelling that ungodly ester coumarin!
    8. Sweat. It's 120 degrees in the summer in Arizona. Need I say more?
    9. Physical Exertion. Baaad.
    10. Put everything away
    11. Sleep to recover from exhaustion.

    So, science fiction aside, anyone want to work on building a robot lawn mower? :)

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