Hello :)
I have this question: has any of you ever built a useful robot, that is, a robot with some real task that helps you, instead of just making it for fun ?
The other day a friend of mine was complaining about the time it costs him to cut the grass, and told me jokingly he could use a nice autonomous robotic lawn mower. I thougth that it could be a task within our building abilities.
What other useful robot could be realistically done?
This is actually one of the
This is actually one of the biggest questions of the times! 
I am old enough to remember 1984, where everyone was asking the same question… but then about these exiting new "Computers". Not new as such, but now starting to be easily accessible for everyone.
I can tell you, that even the best thoughts at that time seams REALLY stupid today. So be prepared to be a laugh in 20 years if you try to predict or give good bids on what use mankind can have of "robots" 
What no one anticipated back then, was the Internet; The kipper application that gave computers quite another meaning.
I am pretty sure that the same thing will happen with these "things that can interact with their surroundings" referred to as "robots".
Personally I believe that 3D printing is going to change a lot, but I may be off in a completely wrong direction, I am sure I am
What robot lawn mowers !
What robot lawn mowers ! … <o:p></o:p>
Been done - check here as one example of several on market… I think the time now is “ripe” now for one of those technological crossroads you can see in occur in history every so often. The paths of accessible information, distributed community, and advanced software & electronics have set the stage for robots to be brought out of the labs, universities, (and even hobby communities) and begin to become part of our every day lives. <o:p></o:p>
When I began tinkering with robots - there was nothing but me and my dc motor and a few transistors available. Now that would seem like the stone ages in comparison to what is available. <o:p></o:p>
I think it will be a small matter of time. To what extent is hard to tell. <o:p></o:p>
For my small contribution for “useful things”, I’m going to try to make my bot do a beer run. <o:p></o:p>
Cheers. <o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
Hi guys! Thanks for the good
Hi guys! Thanks for the good comments, but when i said “within our building abilities” i meant the abilities of us robot hobbists, not in general about the abilities of mankind Sorry, i wasn’t clear…
I mean something that can be built on spare time, with a reasonable budget and with the components we all know, sensors, controllers, etc. I think with a couple of hundreds dollars and some evenings of work one could hack up a lawn mower, maybe replacing the interior, and make an autonomous one…
We know, but we are old
We know, but we are old guys, we like to see things in a perspective, and talk about th 80’s and stuff.
Have I ever told you about my first cel phone?
Sorry, Nicola - I think your
Sorry, Nicola - I think your topic raises a really good question - I mean; I am more or less famous for making a robot that bangs on stuff - how useful is that?
But… I think you will have a hard time finding good answers, as the whole world more or less is looking for “something to use these for” - both the kind they build at Honda, and the kind we glue together.
That was what I was trying to say Cutting grass and cleaning your floor is where all brightness of mankind has reached so far, regarding real use of (non industry) robots.
But hey - let’s make a lot of wacky stuff, and something is bound to happen. Check out what TheCowGod is just working on… Thinking like that opens posebilities for all of our creative minds
