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What type of robotics do you build?

Catwell
I was talking with an associate of mine who has only built robots for robotics competitions. You know the ones. A robot has to perform a talk better than another. Often, these bots are not built for very heavy duty work. They said, "This is the only type I have ever built, and the only type I want to build."
 

 
This is my associates competition robot. Cost : $15,000+ USD and growing. Money returned to the owners : $0
 
I retorted, "I like to build robots that can actually do useful work." I often build industrial robotics (CNC equipment) meant to be brutally punished in manufacturing operations. Mine do not navigate obstacle courses, but mine have made thousands of parts out of a variety of materials, cut traces on PCBs, among other tasks. This is the only type I have every built.
 

 
This is one of my CNC lathes. Cost : $2,500 USD. Money returned through parts I have made with it : ~$10,000+
 
I would image we all fall into only one or two of these categories. In which allegiance do you align?
 
 
Cabe
 
ps. I do have some desire to make some competition type robotics. Is there a competition for industrial types? If not, there should be.
 
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  • From my perspective, they are both robots with similar features, just different purposes.

    I have enjoyed many hours watching battlebots, but it looked like the design stagnated to either pusher designs or wirlybirds.

    Robotic equipment have a little more predictable path, but being useful and taking over tedious tasks has enabled many designs and production to be simplified to business levels.

    What I am waiting to see is robots built to do routine outdoor tasks.  The agriculturally centered hexapod is going in a direction I like.  The posibilities of robots enabling better agriculture is an incredibly exciting advance.  I have to admit, I have wanting an automated lawn mower since I saw the Jerry Lewis movie "Cinderfella".  If you have not seen it, look for it in the old classics section of a video library.

     

    On the battlebots side, I want to see autonomous robots battling for supremacy in the ring.  The sport needs to jump away from ramming and spinning into a sport where robots use strategy and artificial intellegence to overcome an opponent.  At that point you have real robot wars verses a radio controlled battering ram.

     

    For CNC and 3D printers, I would like to see where I bring in a part, scan it and the machine makes it.  Then it needs to take in a new design and make a part without any additional human involvement.  Yeah, I know I am asking for some major improvements, but that is the way we go from very useful to incredibly useful.

     

    Just a thought.

     

    DAB

  • in reply to DAB

    Actually with the Kinect sensor from Microsoft Xbox, you could scan an object and have the 3D printer print it up.  Just have several different scans for the front/top, back left and back right and meld them together.  I think they've done that with just the front view of people into small figures at some program or other.

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  • in reply to DAB

    Actually with the Kinect sensor from Microsoft Xbox, you could scan an object and have the 3D printer print it up.  Just have several different scans for the front/top, back left and back right and meld them together.  I think they've done that with just the front view of people into small figures at some program or other.

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