03/06/98

Robots

World Book Dictionary defines robot as "a machine made in imitation of a human being; a mechanical device that does routine work in response to commands." I met my first robot in 1979 at the Texas Instruments plant in Austin, where it delivered mail. And despite early promises to the contrary, robots today are not found in the home, but primarily in factories. And although there are robots made out of Legos, there is still no robot designed to pick Legos up from the floor.

Design Your Own Robot

"Robots come in all shapes and sizes. But what does it take to design one?" You are about to learn. First, you'll be assigned a mission for your robot. Will it be to search a sunken ship for gold? Or to explore the surface of Mars? Design your robot by choosing elements for six basic functions: sensing, movement, manipulation, energy, intelligence and looks. When finished, you'll view your robot and your design will be critiqued. This totally awesome exercise requires the free Shockwave plug-in. Get it now.

Get a Grip on Robotics

This exhibit explores the jointed-arm robot which "looks similar to a certain part of your body." Each direction a joint can move gives the robot one degree of freedom. So, a robot arm with three degrees of freedom can move in three ways: up/down, left/right, and forward/backward. Although some robots have six, eight or even twelve degrees of freedom, six is enough for most basic tasks, and therefore most working robot arms have six degrees of freedom. The human arm, however, has seven. Find out which movement you have that most robotic arms do not.

JASON@Fisher Robot Mystery

In 1989, Dr. Robert Ballard used a remotely-operated vehicle (ROV) called Jason to explore the wreck of the Titanic. Now, over the Internet, you can use the St. John Fisher College ROV to explore mock ocean depths and find answers to the mystery questions. Fisher's ROV is actually a remote-controlled toy truck with headlights and a digital camera mounted on top. It travels along a glass platform which has clues hidden below it. To play (and control the ROV over the Internet), you will need to organize and register a team of schoolmates, family members or friends.

Net-Robot

From Konstanz University in Germany, Net-Robot plays a game called Tower of Hanoi. Invented by a French mathematician in 1883, Tower of Hanoi is played by moving discs between towers. There are only two rules: never place a larger disc over a smaller one, and only move one disc at a time. If you have a Java-enabled browser, you can choose a destination tower and watch as Net- Robot makes the seven moves needed to move the discs according to the rules. See the clock with the sweeping second hand in the background of the Web cam image? That's the time in Germany.

Robots and Space Toys

Robby the Robot is not the latest student project from M.I.T. He's a classic robot toy. Brian Hayes of England, shares with us his passion for collecting vintage robot and space toys. To view these gems from the fifties and sixties, visit his Robot Gallery and Classic Plastic. If you wonder how much that robot toy found in your attic is worth, Brian has a bulletin board and posts free classified ads.

The following links are either new discoveries or sites that didn't make it into my newspaper column because of space constraints. Enjoy!

Botball

Cool Robot of the Week

Robot Zoo

Robotics FAQ

Xavier

Please send questions or comments to feldman@surfnetkids.com.