In a recent thread, some LMR members started listing robots they loved and which inspired them, either real or from sci-fi novels or movies. My interest in robotics also finds its origin in our great sci-fi canon, and people listed some really cool robots I'd never even heard of. I thought it may be interesting to split this off as a forum topic and hear about even more robots out there and how and why they inspired our fellow LMR members to build robots themselves?
I'll throw one (of many favorites) in myself to start off: Crichton from the TV series Buck Rogers in the 25th century, see video link. I think it's very cool how they managed, with so few moving parts, to make him look so delightfully arrogant and stuck-up. The fact that he's so arrogant he doesn't believe humans built him is of course a reference to Asimov's QT1 ('Cutie') in the short story 'Reason'. In fact, the entire scene is filled with Asimov references.
I want to build Bymax(the sanitary operator), the awesome general purpose fabricating machines( that print carbon fiber and nanobots!) and of course telepathic swarming nanobots!
Then TARS from Interstellar. And almost all the robots in Asimov novels
In general i dislike robots in fiction, as most of the time they are either just tin foiled human actors or stupid machines. I prefer robots as the role would have a pet or a moving computer, with the knowledge it can be cloned, backed up, and rebuilt.
I’ve wanted to build an R2-D2 replica ever since I saw him.I’m also a big fan of Bender, Sonny from I-Robot and most of the robots in Wall-E…also those self-aware rag-doll type things from the movie 9!
For LMR it’s not that bad. For LMR it’s not that bad. I’ve seen a lot worse in the SB.
As for me, I would love to do a Steampunk version of R2D2. I just love the way he managed to communicate without language. Yes, I know it was a movie, but I think choosing to use mechanical beeps was genius and helped the film.
I plan to use something inspired by R2D2’s communication when I make my Harpo robot, but I’m thinking of having him communicate with cartoon sound effects.
Yes, R2D2’s capability to convey emotions through beeps was truely amazing. In a way it’s similar to the puppeteering genius of Jim Henson; creating emotional depth with extremely little variables. I’ve been trying to toy around with creating a sound-generator on CCSR that modulates tones based on it’s ‘emotional’ state, for example when he’s startled by sound or motion, but I found it very hard prevent sounding mechanical, and I shelved it for later. Of course the Lucas had a top sound-design team behind him, so it’s not surprising. I learned quickly that even ‘animal’-like sound modulations are very complex and hard to emulate. In my next attempt I’ll probably look at software-synthesizers, maybe I can tie LFO and filter variables to robot-state, and create more complex sounds that way. Does anyone have experience with this?
I have never seen ‘9’ before, looks great: I love it when robots are created with a certain ‘theme’ or part of a unique, recognizable universe, that adds a lot of depth. Good sci-fi/fantasy does that. I’ll have to see it now, thanks for sharing.
Wow you should know I always wanted a pet robotic cat. I want a pet robotic cat because imagine all the cool things you could do with it. Not only could you spy with it, pet it, play with it, you don’t need to feed it or take care of it that much. The nice thing about owning a robotic cat is that it is so manuverable. It can bounce on walls, it can jump high, most importantly it can jump from a tree and land on my shoulders safely. I understand this is not exactly a science fictional robot fantasy I have and is actually pretty achievable I just thought you should know…
Also for a fictional robot I would want to have my own Baymax just so I could be a super hero. LOL and kick some !@#$.
Robot cat would be pretty sweet indeed, sign me up! You must be a crack robot maker to call that achievable too, I’d find a tree jumping robot pretty hard on the servo’s! ;-). Send me your designs when ready
The biggest challange in a robot cat would be muscles, there are artificial muscles, buy they have akward costs or performance, or require constant maintenance. Then making a skeleton, a brain and alimentation it’s not a problem.
A mega pocket where everything it’s stuffed inside… maybe some kind of 3d printer?
Well I was thinking if someone were to build a robot cat that the cat should have soft mucles. Soft becuase they are cheap and preform well. They are also light weight and did you know that disney made there own robotics labortory. They are doing reasearch on a new and improved soft robot arm. An arm better than this arm.
Well I did not say I could build the cat. Actually I might be able to if I had the time and money. Anyways what I ment to say was hypothetically a single person could build that.
It’s a problem of power. The It’s a problem of power. The best batteries and actuators we have don’t hold a candle to the efficiency of a biological system for a legged robot, especially a small one.
The jumping is especially difficult, because a huge amount of power is needed in a short space of time. And then there is the balance. All that spatial awareness needs a lot of computing power.
I can imagine a sedate walking robot cat, but not one that jumps like a real cat. At least until we have better actuators and batteries.
