Alt-BEAM Archive
Message #00441
To: beam@corp.sgi.com
From: Steven Bolt sbolt@xs4all.nl
Date: Mon, 15 Feb 1999 20:05:39 +0100 (CET)
Subject: [alt-beam] Re: BEAM `claims' and misdemeanors, WAS: question
On Mon, 15 Feb 1999, Bob Shannon wrote:
> > > Because the meaning behind "BEAM" is so vague, we can call every
> > > single one of those techniquies "BEAM TEK"
>
> > That statement, in it's self, is the reason for much of this discent.
>
> Exactly so, I beleive this is due to a lot of misperceptions that BEAM
> is a new technology (its not)
I don't know of a Solar Engine being published before Mark T. did.
And Living Machines contains quite a few other original ideas.
Btw, Mark T. calls BEAM a philosopy rather than a technology. More
important than any particular circuit are the Robot Olympics.
> and that its better at some tasks that CPU's (its not).
Adding a uC to a Solar Engine won't usually make sense, as it
consumes significant power - good SEs charge on a current
well below 100uA at 2 or 3 volt - and may forget what it was doing
during a charge cycle or when it stays dark for a while. uCs are
fine, but not generally in tiny solar powered devices.
And more to the point: Simple uC-less gadgets serve better at the
entry level of electronics as a hobby. BEAM shows the newbie how to
have fun and learn something with just a few basic parts.
> The popularization of BEAM has done a disservice to the true pioneers of
> robotics.
Oh really. Pray tell what disservice was done, exactly?
> And to call all the different ways of building a phototropic
> robot BEAM TEK is totally wrong. I dare Tilden to try to enforce
> his patents in this way.
The Tilden patents are not about phototropism, so your dare is
irrelevant. If you are so troubled by BEAM and the BEAMers, then
why are you on this list?
> The Cybug reflects a method of building phototropic robots that predates
> CPU's and BEAM by decades. BEAM is thought to be new and different, but
> a brielf study of the history of robotics will quickly show that this is
> pure hype and showmanship.
In concentrating on (solar) micropower, BEAM is new and different.
Other and older `bots are/were rather careless with energy, often
requiring a tether connecting to mains power.
> I find it dishonset to try to emcompass the prior art as being BEAM.
And it would also be dishonest to use the trademark for any
commercial `bot which doesn't pay for the pleasure.
> Over the years, BEAM has become so vauge that even the use of a CPU does
> not preclude the design being called a BEAM robot.
It's a trademark. There are no BEAM 'bots containing a uC, period.
Is it possible to use a uC in the BEAM spirit? Of course; just read
the BEAM Robot Games Rules and Guidelines.
BEAM is vague only in the sense that almost any small `bot can have
a go at the Games.
> So where does the patent protection end?
Read the patent.
> What is the scope of the trademark?
Come on. You're developing commercial hardware. You know what a
trademark is.
> I don't think LANL is developing pets for the military.
You may be overestimating the amount of tax money being spent on
BEAM :)
> Ground up robotics controllers existed long before BEAM. In junior
> highschool I read a book that started off with some simple TTL circuits
> and made a robot that avoided obstacles or followed lines. As you added
> more logic and sensors, its behaviors became much more complex and
> robust.
I actually built and sold a `bot like that in the '80s: Willie
(http://www.xs4all.nl/~sbolt/e-andere_robots.html#willie)
He put my hobby in the financial blue for quite a few years :)
> Are we going to retroactivly claim that this was 'Tilden's' technology?
No, I don't feel threatened by Mark T. It has never occurred to me
that he was trying to steal my ideas - or those of Grey Walter,
who's Turtles inspired Willie. You seem to be overreacting to
something, but I have no idea what...
> Hunger reactions, subsumption behaviors, it was all there.
Subsumption is a `trademark' of Rodney Brooks :)
Best,
Steve
----------------------------------------------------------------------
# sbolt@xs4all.nl # Steven Bolt # popular science monthly KIJK #
----------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------
eGroup home: http://www.eGroups.com/list/alt-beam
Free Web-based e-mail groups by eGroups.com
Home