Alt-BEAM Archive

Message #00797



To: JVernonM@aol.com
From: "George Rix" rix.g@bmts.com
Date: Mon, 22 Feb 1999 17:38:15 -0500
Subject: [alt-beam] Re: Co-op reincarnation


>> So, any more comments?
> Yep. I don't know if you've seen the commercial kit bot online called the
> Cricket or not. It's a small 6 legged bot that can be controlled by a sanyo TV
> remote or run autonomously. The kit is outrageous, about 400.00, but the
> schematics and code for the CPU is there for the asking. I suspect a
> combination of those circuits, the Cybug platform, and a nice hexapod queen
> from Lynxmotion would almost fall together to create this ecosystem we are
> discussing. True, you are talking about 1000.00 minimum (and that's doing a
> lot of freeforming and cost cutting), but I'm not sure you can get the
> functionality you are talking about from a 5.00 bot. Besides, 1000.00 isn't
> that much considering the potential for ecstatic levels of fun. Also, one more
> thing, howsabout small stingers on your wasps? Not Rodney King tazers or
> anything, just a small jolt like a joy buzzer set off by a proximity detector.
> Hive defense-no mess, or cruelty. I live in the southern US, and the idea puts
> me in mind of fire ants. If you disturb them they swarm out of the mound and
> start stinging in mass. Imagine your queen or hive giving an attack signal.
> Sincerely,
> Jim
Well, I haven't heard a thing about it, but I'd check it out if you'd tell
me where to look for it. And no, I'm talking much, MUCH less than $1000. A
tenth of that at the MOST! But I can do it, because I have an absolutely
FANTASTIC source for parts, practically free, and they even have PICs and
uCPUs and such. HEY! I got an idea! About those stingers...
...maybe we could put in some voltage detector that would shut off the wasp
if it got "stung" leaving it as chaff to be the prize of whoever wins the
fight. But no cybugs unless I'm assembling the circuit myself (no kits) and
NO LYNXMOTION! Their prices are WAY too high for me.
And trust me, I can get a fair bit out of five bucks =)
I've built a walker that is phototropic with that much, most of the
mechanics salvaged, electronic parts bought from Sayal Electronics. Wicked
prices, and they deliver!
I'm gonna make the drones as BEAMish as I can, even down to the circuits.
I'm working on those circuits right now. Anyhow, gotta go,
Signing off,
Rob Rix
'If anything can possibly go wrong, it probably already has'-Murphy's law

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