Jul 7, 2008 | 8:59 PM
Category:
Entertainment
Only time will tell but Wall-E was grossed 127 million in 10 days. I think that it is a safe bet to get to 200 million. The question is will people go see it more than once? Maybe not with all the competition in the movie theaters at this time.
Jul 7, 2008 | 2:45 PM
Category:
Sports
Controlling your robot with a video game remote controller or something similar is the way to go. You can get by with PC control or IR remote control in some competitions. The problem you run into is that you are looking at the PC or the IR remote control more than you are looking at your robot or what is going on around them. Must people are already use to looking at a TV or computer monitor while pushing buttons on a game controller. So it comes natural for most people to control their robot using these way. The most important thing to do is to practice, practice and practice more. The less you have to think about what button to push the better. The other side benefit is that there is also less interference with the signal sent by most game controllers. I have been happy with my PS2 game controller so far. They are cheap and easy to use. The only problem that I have ran into is that you must make sure that the receiver and the controller or synced-up before you start.
Jul 5, 2008 | 9:59 PM
Category:
Sports
I think that the biggest surprise at Robogames 2008 was that the RoboPhilo got a silver metal in the light weight division of Kung-Fu! The question I will try to answer is how. If you look at the tell of the tape, the RoboPhilo should have been in trouble. It was a 4 hundred dollar robot going up against thousand dollar robots. Low torque analog servo vs. digital robotic servo’s. Light weight plastic frame vs. metal framed robots. So how did the Robobrothers do it? Yes they had luck and good match ups for them but. One of the keys was the scoring system at Robogames. If your robot fell down with out being touched that was a point for the other robot. The RobPhilo has a low center of gravity and very large feet. So not only is it hard to knock down, it is a very stable humanoid. The Korea Robots have the same setup. So the strategy is to wait out you’re opponent. Let them make the first mistake and fell down. Get up by a few points and then stay alway from them. I think that that is a huge flaw in the scoring system at Robogames. I hope that they fix that problem next year. My other answer is to look at the servos. The problem or not an advantage for the other robots was the speed of the digital servos vs. the speed of the RoboPhilo’s analog servos. One of the biggest problems with the Robonova-1 is that the Hitec robotic servos are not fast enough. Their design is getting old and it looks like Hitec is not looking to improve that anytime in the near future! There you have it. Those are my thoughts on the how the RoboPhilo won a silver metal in Kung-fu. The interesting thing is that the Korea’s design strategy is; low center of gravity, large feet, heavy robot with fast high torque servos. That sounds like a winning strategy to me! But for us mortals a 4 hundred dollar robot may be the best bet in a light weight Kung-Fu match!
Jul 3, 2008 | 4:46 PM
Category:
News
I got a idea for a series of post on things that I have learned about Humanoid Robots and Robotic competitions. I think that I have learned a lot in the last two years. I have had a lot of fun going to now two Robogames, the First Hitec Cup and the I-hobby competition. I hope to make then interesting and hopefully help out people who are interested in humanoid robots and robotic competitions.
Jul 3, 2008 | 5:42 AM
Category:
News
Jul 2, 2008 | 9:07 PM
Category:
News
I found this website about using a PS3 controller to control a robot. It looks like you use the PS3 controller in Bluetooth mode. Then connect a Bluetooth receiver to a gumsitx which has a Linux OS on it. You then connect the gumstix to your robot controller board. So when you press a button on the PS3 controller a signal is sent to the gumstix, then a program on the gumstix translates the signal into a number (bytes). Which is sent to the robot controller. That is what the Farrell’s are doing to control Oro and Zog.
Video
Website.
Jul 2, 2008 | 6:46 PM
Category:
News
Stair climbing video
They did a good job of climbing up and down the stairs. I wish I could find a video of the Korea robots at Robogames climbing up and down stairs. They put everyone to shame.
Highlights from the event.
Jun 29, 2008 | 8:49 PM
Category:
Entertainment
Wall-E makes 62.5 million, making it number one at the box office!!!!
Jun 29, 2008 | 8:39 PM
Category:
News
Jun 25, 2008 | 7:25 PM
Category:
Entertainment
The Movie starts this Friday. It looks like it has a interesting premises? With Pixar’s track record it should be good.
Video 1
Video 2
The Wall-E movie Youtube channel
The website
Buy n Large website ( makers of Wall-E )
Jun 24, 2008 | 2:41 PM
Category:
News
Chris and Rob Farrell have a cool website with videos and pictures of their two robots Oro and Zog. They have both been at Robogames 2007 and 2008. Earlier this year they also when to the 5th Korean Robot Festival. They are a great source of information on the Korean company Robotis.
Check out there website. If you look close you will see a picture of me stuffing my face full of food!
Jun 24, 2008 | 6:28 AM
Category:
News
Jun 24, 2008 | 6:21 AM
Category:
News
Jun 23, 2008 | 6:30 AM
Category:
News
Jun 22, 2008 | 9:38 AM
Category:
News
The KC RoboFest was fun. If you did not go, you missed out! I was surprise with all the interest in Humanoid robots. I talked to a few people about what humanoid would be the best to buy. Which was cool because I have the only humanoid robot in the KC area. I am wondering if I could make a little extra money on the side to pay for my competition trips. I could start up a robot consulting business. I could give advice, build humanoid robots, do presentations, do demonstrations and other actives related to robotics.
