Alt-BEAM Archive

Message #09576



To: beam@sgiblab.sgi.com
From: "Timothy Flytcher" flytch@hotmail.com
Date: Thu, 27 Jan 2000 23:22:43 PST
Subject: [alt-beam] Re: New symbol for BEAM lexicon. Let's try 'Mind Control'


Just like the evil doctor on sonic the hedge hog...LOL....
Timothy...
>
>hey, i don't know if you have seen the movie 'the matrix', but i had an
>idea, that you could use the brain of an animal for controlling something
>else (robot?). It occoured to me that if you were to get a simple animal
>(cockroach, locust) and 'cut' the nerves going to, legs, wings, and then
>wire them into a computer program, along wit nerves for touch, sight. It
>would take some time and serious programming, but you could create an
>entire
>virtual world. You could even do this to robots, and in the computer, give
>them huge bodies and see what happens, how they react. The only thing an
>insect would need its body for would be life support, so you would leave
>thos nerves intact.
>
>just a thought,
> Seamus.
>
>PS: to make touch sensors, get a sheet of aluminium foil, a sheet of
>conductive foam and another sheet of foil, as you squeeze the foam, its
>resistance changes
>

______________________________________________________



9577 Fri, 28 Jan 2000 20:27:15 +1300 [alt-beam] Maximum electromagnetic kick beam@corp.sgi.com Justin Hiyagain
I've thought of (what I think is) a very nice design for a
jumping/hopping photovore. Admittedly jumping is a waste of energy, but
for that reason it's rare and thus has novelty value :-)
Anyway, since the hop will be powered by a coil repulsing a magnet, I
thought I should brush up on how to get the maximum kick out of this
arrangement.

I read on the list that the best results come from maximum turns (eg
thin wire, closely spaced), in a wide/flat coil, with an air core. IOW
the Major Henry coils at Solarbotics. My understanding is that these
work best with a similarly wide/flat magnet resting on top (or below).

But you don't see this design used very often, so I thought I'd ask
about it. Eg loudspeakers use a thin/long coil with a magnetic core.
Solenoid latches also use a thin/long coil with a steel core. Why is
this if you get better results from flat and wide? I'm guessing you get
much better "recall" with these designs (ie reverse current pulls the
core back in, whereas with the flat ones, once fired, the magnet is
distant and the reverse pull is minimal) and that is why they are used,
but if I'm going to attempt a hopping bot, I want to a have a good idea
that I'm going about it the right way... :-)

Second question:
Where do you get extremely powerful, incredibly light super magnets? :-)
The strongest ones I've come across (I haven't looked very hard) are
from cdrom drives (the EM fine-tuned reading lens for example) but these
are strange shapes, and a source for nice wide flat/thin light STRONG
magnets would be great. Cheap would also be nice :-)

Seeya
Justin

BTW, if anyone is curious as to whether I have any success with the
hopping thing, you'd be holding your breath for probably well over a
year at this rate :-) I need to order more surface mount components for
this one, and I probably won't even start thinking about that for
ages...



9578 Fri, 28 Jan 2000 20:27:12 +1300 [alt-beam] Dragonfly wing pictures beam@corp.sgi.com Justin Hiya
Having just splashed out on some clear film for inkjet printing, I'm
looking for some high-res photos of dragonfly wings (or similar) so that
I can finally add the finishing touches to an old desk-toy bot (ie grab
picture, clean it up, print it out onto transparency, and out pop wings
at the desired size :-)

Anyone know of any? Or good place to look? I've got some photos that I
took myself, but I'm after something a bit better
If anyone wants butterfly or moth wings, I have about 50 excellent
high-res images of all shapes and colours (from the Master Photos
library).

Thanks
Justin



9579 Thu, 27 Jan 2000 11:32:48 -0800 [alt-beam] Re: New symbol for BEAM lexicon. Let's try 'Mind Control' "Dane Gardner"
content-transfer-encoding: quoted-printable

> There's actually a japanese scientist (i do believe) who has attached sma=
ll
> wires and to the legs of a cockroach along with the necessary electronics=
on
> top of it for remote controlling.
>
> Apparantly it's not a 'nervous' interface but brute force.
>
> I'll see if I can dig up an URL.


Chiu's got a pic of the article on his site.

Most Sincerely,

Dane



"It is my belief that nearly any invented quotation, played with conf=
idence, stands a good chance to deceive." -- Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain)

Insomniac's Dream
Robotics -- Electrical Engineering -- Home Brewing -- And More =

=





content-transfer-encoding: quoted-printable



>




"It is my belief that nearly any invented =

quotation, played with confidence, stands a good chance to deceive." =

-- Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) >

Insomniac'=">http://people.we.mediaone.net/krazynemesis/">Insomniac'=
s =

Dream
Robotics -- Electrical Engineering=
-- =

Home Brewing -- And More =





Home