Newsgroups: comp.robotics
Path: brunix!uunet!microsoft!wingnut!petesk
From: petesk@microsoft.com (Pete Skelly)
Subject: Re: "That's not robotics; that's toy building"
Message-ID: <1993Aug18.192637.6226@microsoft.com>
Date: 18 Aug 93 19:26:37 GMT
Organization: Microsoft, Redmond, WA
References: <1993Aug12.190036.24847@phx.mcd.mot.com> <CBHzGn.DI6@cs.uiuc.edu> <247cg1$9e4@wampyr.cc.uow.edu.au> <GERRY.93Aug10100832@onion.cmu.edu>
Lines: 36

> In article <GERRY.93Aug10100832@onion.cmu.edu> gerry@cmu.edu (Gerry Roston) writes:
> >As a practioner in the field of robots, let me make the following
> >comments/observations:
> >
> >
> >Now personally, I feel that most hobbiest who claim to be building
> >robots aren't. They are making toys, clever toys, expensive toys, but
> >toys none-the-less. I guess that the reason I feel this way is that a
> >crucial element of a robot is the need for it to have a purpose. The
> >robot we are currently building is an Earth analog for a robot that
> >could explore the lunar surface for at least one complete lunar day.
> >This is a defining purpose. To simply build a mechanical device that
> >wanders around a room without hitting the walls, well maybe several
> >years ago that was a robot, the the field has moved past that point.
> >


I've worked both sides of the coin, in robot building, and I'd have to say
if what "amateurs" do is "toy building".  Then what people at research institutions
are doing consists of "proposal writing".  90% of what I saw going on at
cmu while I was there consisted of gathering data to write papers to get
research money to gather data to write papers ....

High profile projects like mars rovers and such are great for getting large
government grants, but I question their usefulness in the advancement of the
field of robotics.

I've also seen people in the amateur realm build systems that perform on par
with the research systems for a fraction of the cost.  I think researchers often
forget that the simplest design is a good design.

petesk@microsoft.com
My Opinions...

Member: Seattle Robotics Society.
Alum: CMU, CMU Robotics Club, CMU Robobics Institute.
