Alt-BEAM Archive

Message #03530



To: beam beam@corp.sgi.com
From: Richard Piotter richfile@rconnect.com
Date: Sat, 22 May 1999 13:27:33 -0500
Subject: [alt-beam] Ya wanna lay off Solarbotics?


I'll just say that even though it ain't that much, I believe he still
has a commision of some sort to Mark Tilden for using BEAM and he also
has a family to support. It's his buisness. The cost spent is well equal
to the hassles of building it all from scratch and finding the parts.
Has there ever been a find of surplus pager motors that reach the
quality of solarbotics, much less, a constant source? How many people
can boast they make their photovores of the thin light weight material
Dave uses. I personaly have not bought a Solarbotics Walker, cause I'd
rather get the Hexapod II and modify it and start working on Quadrapod.
Is it expensive, yeah, is it his choice, yeah, Does he have to make a
living, yeah, do we have the right to complain, sure we do, do we have
to buy it... NO!!! If you want to complain, go buy the parts yourself
and build your own. Design it from scratch and find motors and do all
that wonderful PCB or freeforming and then build it yourself!

I've only purchased from them once. It was a good expirience! I know
that It doesn't cost Dodge $80000 to manufacture a Viper. I would love
one. Am I going to get one??? I highly doubt it. They charge what they
want to charge. It's expensive, but it's buisness! You realy can't do
much about it. Dave needs to make something from this buisness. BEAM is
NOT BIG!!! No one at my colege had heard of BEAM when I arrived! We are
the minority and Dave has to get money from some where. When BEAM grows,
his prices may drop, but BEAM isn't big enough. It's a shame Dave
couldn't market BEAM at Walmart as the "Do-It-Yourself Robot"! If he
ever pulled that one off, he probably be able to drasticly reduce
prices. Unfortunately, I don't see something like that realy taking off,
considering the tools required (remember the wave of posts about no lead
solder cause parents were concerned)?

Lee Golden wrote:
>
> I don't usually pipe up on the list, but don't forget:
>
> 1) Dave has a right to charge whatever he wants for his kits
> 2) We have the right to build our own and not buy them if they're too
> expensive, and
> 3) Dave *encourages* people to try things themselves, and even helps people
> who are developing their own versions of things he sells. Not many business
> people would do that...
>
> Lee Golden
> Olney, MD USA
>
> "There's a fine line between a hobby and mental illness." - Dave Barry
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-beam@corp.sgi.com [mailto:owner-beam@corp.sgi.com]On Behalf
> Of JVernonM@aol.com
> Sent: Saturday, May 22, 1999 6:37 AM
> To: beam@corp.sgi.com
> Subject: Retraction
>
> I wrote:
> perhaps I'm mistaken, and the heads your producing will be your own design
> and not yet another Tilden clone.
>
> I take that one back. Your designs are yours and are unique. They are
> heavily
> buttered with Tilden like techniques, which make them very similar in
> design.
> Actually, more of an original design made to look like a Tilden clone, I
> guess.
> I stand by the rest.
> Jim

--


Richard Piotter
richfile@rconnect.com

The Richfiles Robotics & TI web page:
http://richfiles.calc.org

For the BEAM Robotics list:
BEAM Robotics Tek FAQ
http://people.ne.mediaone.net/bushbo/beam/FAQ.html

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