Alt-BEAM Archive
Message #05699
To: beam@sgiblab.sgi.com
From: "John A. deVries II" zozzles@lanl.gov
Date: Fri, 13 Aug 1999 12:22:32 -0600
Subject: [alt-beam] DustBot, maybe, but VacuBot??? No way, Ian! (was: Contest
It certainly is a cool application, particularly for tile, linoleum, wood
and other surface floors, but it is NOT a _-VACUUM-_ cleaner... more a
polisher. You might find interesting results if you sprayed some kind of
cleaner (EndDust???) or the like on the paper towel. Even DustBot would be
a more appropriate name 'cuz although I have no doubt that you are already
attached to the name you've created, it just doesn't fit. But then BEAMers
love to misuse words, eh?
A bizarre idea: "real" floor polishers tend to be rotary devices, i.e. the
pad spins. If you ran a solar engine off of the same solar panel (hopably
done in a manner so as to not upset the hextile circuit) you could run a
motor that spins the paper towel every once in a while -- I think you'd be
able to pick up even more dirt. Of course, this is only a vague
suggestion. Also: do the touch sensors fire when it hits something "thick"
like carpet? Obviously, you'd want it to avoid carpets because (a) it
would most likely get stuck and (b) it would do much good practically speaking.
Zoz
Heretic at large
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