Reading about robotic gardeners reminded me of my Uncle Rodger. He farms over 80,000 acres out in Kansas and purchases new equipment every few years. Last summer he and I had a conversation about his process and he mentioned various robotic equipment including this combine harvester. The machinery uses GPS and various sensors to guide the combine along the planted rows, turn around, and align itself again harvesting in the opposite direction. An employee still rides along to monitor the behavior of the machine. Rodger said that employing these robots they are able to yield more of the crop otherwise missed by human error. After poking around the web I found this post on arduino forum where a DIY’er modified his combine to behave in the same why with relatively cheap components.
As a child, I remember seeing Sony’s state of the art robot dog in shopping mall demonstrations and thinking it was the epitome of future technology.
The future was a place of prettier consumer products, that emoted freely and replaced problematic institutions such as pets. These were the terms my 10-year-old self thought in. What will I be able to buy in the future? What kind of shopping can we do in a few decades?
The actual significance of the Aibo may have been overlooked by the crowds, who were enchanted with it’s apparent sophistication and futurism. The $2,000 dog for the family that has everything.
What the designers had in mind is still somewhat mysterious to me. Perhaps Sony wanted a platform of obvious and agressive futurism to make the rest of their products seem sophisticated by association.
The “Entertainment Robot” is a strange concept. When examined in the context of the dog, it implies that organic canines are entertainment animals. I would think that dog owners see their furry companions as friends and family members more than entertainment entities. Can a robot, with any degree of verisimilitude, assume the strange and significant role of a pet?
The reading promised a future of such robots by 2025, but I think mankind will resist this notion for a bit longer.
The AIBO was discontinued as Sony restructured in 2006. The folks who run the site, it seems, are upset about this.
I had to start over on a different board after I realized the other one had printed white rectangles encompassing several pin holes meaning that they were connected internally.
– Bristle uses a small vibrating motor to move.
– He avoids being picked up or touched.
– He uses an infrared distance sensor to perceive the word.
– After some persistence bristle will become accustomed to you and allow you to pick him up.
Apologies for this bad documentation taken at 1 am, when the sensor was still working.
Cold description: Sharp analog distance sensor as input. Values above 200, or objects close enough to sensor, trigger actuation of blower (via arduino & break out to relay module switching blower power on and off)
Warm description: When Nancy “sees” her own reflection in the mirror, she augments her voluminous hair and lips.
This is HI-BOT! He is there to greet you, regardless of the location you enter! So long as you stop by and say ‘hi’ first. If you are too far away, he assumes that you are not entering to speak to him and does not wave.
