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Mind / Iron
by Bryan Bergeron, Editor
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As highlighted by the Consumer
Electronics Show (CES), 2008 is
shaping up to be a good year for
robotics innovators who rely on
inexpensive, capable platforms for
their experiments. The most impressive
platform in the traditional D3 (dull,
dirty, and dangerous) camp was the
$99 iRobot Looj ( www.iRobot.com).
The treaded, weather resistant, remote
controlled vehicle (see Figure 1) is
intended to facilitate the D3 job of
cleaning gutters of leaves, pine cones,
twigs, and other light debris. Although
the robot’s movement is limited to
linear forward and reverse and access
to the NiCad battery pack is somewhat
awkward, the robot seems like the
perfect platform for an amphibious
vehicle. I’ll be featuring the Looj in an
upcoming teardown article.
As in previous years, consumer
robots is less about sweeping floors,
clearing gutters, or performing equally
distasteful D3 tasks, and more about
entertainment. WowWee (www.wow
wee.com) promises to be a ready
source of development platforms,
following the popularity of the
Robosapien among the robotics mod
community. Highest on my want list is
the Bladestar indoor flying machine
with onboard obstacle avoidance. The
three-channel digital IR controller is
especially intriguing, in that it implies
control is possible through a wireless
laptop link that can be used to provide
path planning in addition to simple
object avoidance. Other members of
the WowWee lineup — including the
four-legged Roboquad, emotive
Robopanda, and series of Alive pets —
also seem promising.
If you’ve ever developed a WiFi
interface to your robots, then you’ll
appreciate the Meccano Spykee ‘spy
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Bryan Bergeron
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CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
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Gordon McComb David Geer
Pete Miles R. Steven Rainwater
Fred Eady Kevin Berry
John Blankenship Samuel Mishal
Kazuo Kiguchi Robert Doerr
Brian Benson Allison Walton
Nick Martin Michael Bastoni
Bryce Woolley Evan Woolley
Heather Dewey-Hagborg Filomena Serpa
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FIGURE 1
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Debbie Stauffacher
Mind/Iron Continued
6 SERVO 03.2008
Copyright 2008 by
T & L Publications, Inc.
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