Robot combat has inspired makers probably since the first one was conceived. Whether it’s an epic struggle between two future superpowers, or simply a friendly match of robot hockey, it’s always fun to watch. NC Maker Faire 2012 was no exception as [Carolina Combat Robots] had a small arena with remote control robots going at it. The matches were incredibly popular, and I was glad to be able to see some of it from my table next door!
Check out the video after the break for some footage of these ‘bots in action!
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5yWsCJEAjQ&w=470&h=315%5D
I couldn’t help seeing the top picture and thinking “Are those SGI Indys playing hockey!?” :-)
How are these robots? They look like RC cars to me.
I am very frustrated with the free use of the term robot as applied to Remote Controlled machinery. As someone with a Masters in EE and an expertise in embedded systems and programing, I have spent years honing my craft of having machines interact with their world autonomously.
This latest trend (8-10 years) of having anything with wheels or legs be called a robot is, I feel, downplaying the skill required in accomplishing a truly robotic system.
The work robot came from the Czech language and actually means something close to “servant”, so I take it to mean that any mechanical thing that does work for humans is a robot. I usually just differentiate them by saying RC Robot or Autonomous Robot.
Agreed. A remote controlled device does not act on it’s own and is therefore, IMO, not a robot.
According to the Robot Institute of America (1979) a robot is:
“A reprogrammable, multifunctional manipulator designed to move material, parts, tools, or specialized devices through various programmed motions for the performance of a variety of tasks”.
Yeah, I debated what to call these things. In the end I thought if I was going to feature them, I decided to go a along with CCR’s name and call them robots.
Free free to build an autonomous one that would work as well and be as entertaining to the crowd and as fun to compete with……..willing to bet the first device ever built that was called a robot was not autonomous!
You guys need to start looking into FRC (First Robotics Competition). It is what started mine and many others endavours, it is strenous, fun, crazy, and it is High School Students.
Feel free to send their stuff over! Officially educational or not, we’re happy to feature it.
I went to the NC Maker Faire…
Aside from a few, neat, things there was nothing really impressive to see. A LOT of DIY 3d printers, a Tesla Coil, and most notably to me, a arduino controlled heat exchanger mini system…
Otherwise, maybe hackaday spoils me, maybe I’m hard to impress, but I really expected… more.
jus my 2cents