Holiday Gifts for Robot Builders
Holiday Gifts for Robot Builders
Dateline: 12/16/99
With Christmas just a several days away, I would like to suggest a few holiday gifts. This time we'll visit robot shops around the Web - maybe robotics isn't your field, but who could resist playing with such advanced toys...and why face the crowds at the local mall when you can get all the goodies at the click of a button and have your presents delivered in a few days!
For many years Lego has provided snappable, stackable plastic bricks for creating vehicles, buildings, or whatever else your imagination can produce. Lego Mindstorms are one of the hottest items for this holiday season. It began shipping to retail stores in September 1998. Lego planned to sell about 12,000 units that year, but they received more than 100,000 inquiries about the system and sold over 80,000 kits in just four months. The centerpiece of the Lego Mindstorms system is the RCX programmable brick that receives infrared signals from the transmitter attached to the serial port on your PC. RCX is based on Hitachi H8/3297 microcontroller running at 16MHz and uses different sensors to take input from its environment, process the data (1000 commands per second), and signal up to three motors to turn on and off in forward or reverse at any one of 8 speeds. It is invented through a collaboration between Lego and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and modeled after Dr. Seymour Papert's vision to stuff a computer inside a Lego brick and program it in his Logo programming language. Fred Martin, an MIT research scientist, helped develop much of the microprocessor technology used in MindStorms. Several expansion sets are also available, like Robo Sports (robots that grab balls, dodge opponents, etc.) and Extreme Creatures (robots with jaws, claws and similar). If you are interested in buying Lego Mindstorms, visit the Lego World Shop - the price for the base system is around 200 USD.
Another great choice is Fischertechnik, originally developed in Europe as a prototyping tool for engineers and marketed as "Legos for adults". These systems are a bit more expensive than Legos, but often include metal parts for extra strength. There are many different systems to choose from, including Computing Mobile Robots Kit (around 340 USD), Industry Robots Kit (220 USD), Walking Machines Kit (120 USD), Pneumatic Kit (135 USD), and many more. Graphical programming system for these kits, Lucky Logic Software, must be obtained separately.
All the kits described above, and even more robot-related stuff can be found at two of my favorite Web shops, Mondo-tronics and Robotbooks.com. Some of the new additions include
- robot dog with a wireless remote control and four
electric motors that let you command your robo-pet to move forward,
backward, turn, and open his jaw;
- R/C "flying saucer" - blimp that features a 51" refillable mylar helium balloon, and twin microjet thrusters;
- complete miniature fabrication systems that handles a wide variety of materials, including wood, plastics, fiberglass, and even soft metals;
- nitionol shape memory alloy actuators.
If you want to turn your machines into truly "living" creatures, Solarbotics site offers a wide selection of BEAM robots. You can choose from sundancer, photopopper, solar speeder or similar kits, or even more advanced kits like ScoutWalker. This strange robot exhibits phototropic (light-seeking) behavior, even though it doesn't have a way to steer. There are only a limited number of these kits available, as designers have only a specific number of custom-made, hand-tuned gearmotors that fit the design. This is a very strong BEAM robot, capable of triggering every 60 seconds, and can travel up to 6 feet in a single roll. Some of the prices here are almost 40% lower than usual!
As for the more advanced, ready-made robots, take a look at Cye, Aibo or similar robots. For more excellent kits offering a more "hands-on" approach I would suggest Basic Stamp or BasicX.
Whatever you choose, every robot enthusiast will experience a lot of fun and learning with his new gift. Happy Holidays!