Two lunatic brothers have created a
robotic sentry turret designed to keep intruders at bay. Looks like an x86 computer was used for control and 2 servos for 2 axis pan/tilt of the camera/gun. Interesting. The video alone is worth a look, as one brother volunteers to play attacker and gets pummeled by his BB spitting creation. I guess sometimes you gotta suffer for innovation.
Anyone in the DC/Baltimore metro area interested in robotics should check out the
NSF robotics exhibition this Friday in the Ballston, VA area.
Here are some of the robots on exhibit.
I'll be there. Look for the guy with a bob marley shirt
Over the weekend I picked up a
tamiya tracked bulldozer kit with the idea of using for building a robot. The tracks will be it's "legs". It will be controlled by a
robostix. I'm thinking a
photovore that seeks out light to feed would be the easiest first robot for me to build. I'm documenting most of it so I can share when it's completed.
Just driving the tracked vehicle around, it's amazing how kids are entranced by it. I think once it's moving itself around and interacting with the environment they will even more amazed. When I tell my daughter about programming, and software in general she doesn't really understand it or even feign interest. But a robot that she can see and touch makes much more sense. An easier concept to comprehend as robots are seen as an inevitable future in most media. Kids seem to be drawn to them.. Something to think about.