Newsgroups: comp.robotics
Path: brunix!news.Brown.EDU!noc.near.net!howland.reston.ans.net!math.ohio-state.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!olivea!pagesat!decwrl!amdcad!BitBlocks.com!bvs
From: bvs@BitBlocks.com (Bakul Shah)
Subject: Re: Maybe I haven't ever built a robot. (Robotics VS Toy building)
Message-ID: <CBpnyL.3z9@BitBlocks.com>
Organization: Bit Blocks, Inc.
References: <1993Aug13.090141.6086@hemlock.cray.com>
Date: Fri, 13 Aug 1993 18:42:20 GMT
Lines: 47

kilian@cray.com (Alan Kilian) writes:

>The stepper motor turns the ultrasonic transducer to eight different
>directions and records the range for each direction. The controller
>then chooses the nearest object, ignoring the background walls which were
>recorded when the flower pot powered up and chooses a direction for the
>servo motor so that the head of the flower follows people walking around
>in the hallway.

Why don't you give a purpose to this toy of yours and turn it
into a real robot.  If any of these followed people pokes his
head real close to the flower, have the flower squirt the nosy
parker.  The purpose?  To elicit a response from the human.  If
the followed persons stops nearby, you can make the flower `look'
him up and down.  The possibilities are endless....

You can also use this idea to measure the speed of a moving
person and flash a warning if he is moving too fast (`You are
moving at 5mph in a 3mph zone').

Another idea: Replace the flower with a camera, patent the whole
thing and sell it to the security camera people.  A bank robber
can be followed this way, giving a longer and perhaps clearer
video of the robber.  Or install a bunch of these cameras in a
public place and give everyone jitters (`Big Brother is watching
you!!').  I will not mention other scarier ideas that come to
mind; someone may take them seriously.

>Now I could have called it a "Real-time data aquisition and tracking unit"
>and probably gotten a PHD from the control system design, but I called it

Nah, for that you'd have to compute its transfer function.

>"Art" and got a lot of artists mad. (Well it has no meaning since it isn't
>"against" anything. No statement, no art)

What do you mean by ``got'' a lot of artists mad?

Sorry, I couldn't resist.  I actually think this is a great
robot/toy/whatever.  May be we should start a discussion on ideas
for outrageous/zany/silly/purposeless robots.  Robots for robots'
sake and all that.

Bakul Shah <bvs@BitBlocks.com>

PS: has any tried to confuse your `kilian-flower' by walking back and
forth quickly, zooming by it or inching past it?
