Alt-BEAM Archive
Message #13891
To: alt-beam@yahoogroups.com, small-gods@egroups.com
From: "John A. deVries II" zozzles@lanl.gov
Date: Fri, 16 Feb 2001 17:10:46 -0700
Subject: It is rather funny... (WowWee BioBots)
Just for jollies I looked back in the archive and found the URL of the page
that they "took offline". I tried it and Lo! and Behold! the page came up
just fine. I saved a copy, but because of copyright issues, I'm not
willing to distribute it.
To be friendly about it, I sent a note off to Dave and his webmaster Eric
pointing out that the page was trivial to get to (for example, go look at
message http://groups.yahoo.com/group/beam/message/8926
on the beam list)
and got a rather curt answer back. Not a "thank you, we'll see to it" or
anything like that.
However, I DO find it funny (or ironic) that they have either renamed the
file or put it somewhere else.
But then, this not being the main list, I can point out two things AGAIN:
1) It looks like the device isn't pure BEAM. After all, is the
"autonomy engine" a nervous net thing or is there some kind of
microcontroller involved? Even if it isn't a microcontroller, concepts
like bit storage & boolean logic are almost certainly involved. When you
go that far, then it is merely a slippery slope back into digital land.
2) It has been 7 years since the patent was issued. The only PRACTICAL
application so far has been a toy. Whoopee! I don't think it is going to
revolutionize the robotics industry and wean us all away from digital logic
at this rate.
Note: I do, however, acknowledge that BEAM has brought mechanics and
electronics to a huge number of young people and I think that is wonderful.
Sorry for being crabbier than usual, but I'm unhappy with this Eric
guy. If he is going to be confrontational, then I'm going to be
passive-aggressive. B-}
p.s. this also happens to act as a keep-alive message for the alt-beam
list. Wouldn't want that archive to go away!!!
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