Alt-BEAM Archive
Message #00396
To: beam beam@corp.sgi.com
From: Richard Piotter richfile@rconnect.com
Date: Sun, 14 Feb 1999 18:50:21 -0600
Subject: [alt-beam] Re: question
> More expensive than a cpu? I don't know about you, but I am just finishing
> a two motor walker with reverse, turn, and phototropic behavior, and it has
> cost less than $100 CAN. If I were to buy all the equiptment needed for
> programing even a basic stamp it would cost from $400 to $700, and it would
> be VERY expensive if I didn't already have a PC. It may be expensive to
> build beam bots from kits, but if you know enough to build your own from
> technoscrap, it makes for a very interesting hobby (and inexpensive
> compared to RC planes, and model railroads.)
And I still say that's more thn it cost's me to build a good walker $60 would be
if I splurged!
Ah, model railroads! I used to build those, but I quit buying kits (and track,
hehe! :) and i started skratch building. I made forests with $10, and if you
know what I'm talking about, you BUY a single model tree, and you can spend $10!
If you buy kit buildings, they look like garbage,a nd cost a fortune! I build my
own. Infact, I love building the models so much that I ended up having enough
buildings to cover half my layout like it were a town! It's just what i like to
do! I've built models of all but one of the houses I've lived in, and built my
dad's entire farm! I havn't worked on themng time cause I've been busy with
college, and dulled my hobby knives on my fingers! (:
Right now BEAM is a hobby, and it's one that I like! It's also made me do more
thinking than any other hobby. Have you ever spent 5 hours analysing your own
circuit trying to figure out how it works, cause you spent 5 hours the night
before designing it while half awake! It's tedious, time consuming, and for me,
it is fun! Can you imagine designing something, and feeling all great cause you
finished. Then you wake up the next day and get to try to figure out your own
design cause you forgot how it worked you were so tired! Ha! Twice the joy of
sucess! Hahahah! (:
I'm glad people are backing BEAM, AND challenging it. It makes you think about
it! It also encourages furthering the technology. Stagnation is the worst enemy
of progress. BEAM has recently been getting new ideas! look at the recent work
on N2 Neurons! Someone here is definitely doing something. I'm trying to work
with more complex and less built aspects of BEAM.
Richard Piotter
richfile@rconnect.com
The Richfiles Robotics & TI web page:
http://members.xoom.com/richfiles
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