In talking about art and devices we also have to examine recent developments in robotics. The technology and tradition of building robots do have not have much in common with the "homebrew hackers" we talked about earlier because the early days of robotics were (primarily) limited to high-budget research. As time has progressed, robots have emerged as a medium amongst enthusiasts, homebrew developers and artists as well. The development of robots in the last few decades was largely within the domain of research centers, technology corporations and science fiction writers. The latter focused on the romantic aspect of robotics, while the former spent millions in the development of more or less inspired robots. Nowadays we can have both in the hands of artist, which is good news: technology has become cheap and available, while robots as a means of expression slowly grows more significant. Also, new inventions are made, some serendipitous, some by professional technology researchers and some by everyday tinkerers who love to play with technology. Say hello to the forthcoming homebrew-robot revolution. Robots Coming Home There are several ways that robots became the stuff of "homemade" production. I want to outline three important developments.
[Lego Mindstorms / photo: net-image] The Lego-Robots (Mindstorms, NXT-bot) The beginnings of homebrew robototics may have started with Lego. First the Mindstorms series, later the NXT-Bot, transitioned people from "playing with" to "building" robots. The Mindstorms is a creation kit from Lego that allowed a user to combine the "technical range" of the Lego blocks with an interactive and computer-based kit of parts. This facilitates the construction of objects that can walk or wander around and react to certain input - creations that most of us would call a "robot". The Mindstorms were released in 1998 and in 2006 Lego released the NXT-bot, as a construction kit that was basically a robot that lent itself to the play and versatility that we know and expect from Lego. Even recently, the NXT-bot still seems to be one of the most interesting robotic platforms available on the market (at least the European one) as it has a very low barrier to entry. One very unique thing about the Lego community is the strong relationship between the company and the fans of the coloured bricks. Many of the robot developments made with Mindstorms and the NXT-bot were primarily distributed between fans without much media coverage. Nevertheless, many interesting works were created, but they are, just like Lego creations in general, very ephemeral and not built for an extended period of time. Creations are often scrapped in favour of new ventures. One of the most sophisticated robot projects made with the NXT-bot was the H.A.L.E. at the University of Nevada by a group of students from the Nevada Student Satellite Program in order to explore space and satellite technology. The students let nine NXT-bots on weather-balloons fly into the stratosphere of the earth and almost into outer space. The bots took pictures and collected data while they returned to earth. B.E.A.M. A special low-level, low-tech "bottom-up" strategy of building robots is the B.E.A.M. project. B.E.A.M. is an acronym for Biology, Electronics, Aesthetics, Mechanics and was introduced by Mark W. Tilden. The B.E.A.M. robots are a unique class of robots with a unique method of construction. They don't use high-level controls and are completely made out of functional parts. That means no microcontrollers and no soldering of electronic and electro-mechanical parts without the use of boards or complicated digital signal processing. B.E.A.M. primarily employs simple analogue circuits, such as comparators, in order to produce a straightforward design. The circuits should be understood as the "nervous system" of the resulting robot, so constructing, inventing and manufacturing is happening at the same as "giving birth". Interesting inventions were made with this approach, for example the "Solar Photopopper": A clever combination of solar-cells, optical-LEDs and motors let the Photopopper follows the light. There is wiki run from Hamburg that is dedicated to building B.E.A.M. Robots.
[photo: automatthias] Hexapod Robot / Let's Make Robots Community The third development in the sector of "home robots" came from technologically skilled designers who were familiar with the programing of microcontrollers, sensors and actuators and entered the robot arena rather indirectly. The IC Hexapod robot (pictured above) is a good example for such this kind of career of its creator Matt Denton. He began work in the field of animatronics and robot puppets for movies and television and founded his company Micromagic Systems in 1999, focusing his work on his IC Hexapod-robot. This robot has seen much development and traveled the world extensively. It was equipped with a camera and is able to follow faces and upload pictures to the internet. Another development worth mentioning is the Let's Make Robots community that was established in early 2008 by Frits Lyneborg. Lyneborg enjoys building robots and felt the urge to support the robot community with a site to give advice and share information. With tips and tutorials the entry barrier to enter the field of robotics is brought down to earth - the help of the community can make building "personal" robots more fun, without advanced studies in electromechanics. The website of Let's Make Robots also showcases the nicest robot creations. |
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