I purchased a penguin a couple of years ago, and spent some time programming it.
I was so interested in it that, with the great help of Humanoido, I created the Penguin Robot Society web site ( www.p-robot.com ). Then I wrote the Wikipedia article about the Penguin Robot ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penguin_Robot ) which drives a good amount of traffic to the p-robot site and I suppose also to the Parallax site.
It would be nice to have some more detailed news by Parallax about their plans for this robot.
I hope the old version is discontinued because there is a new improved version, and not because Parallax does not want to invest anymore on it.
In both cases, I think that we - customers and enthusiasts - should get by Parallax at least a clear statement about the future of this product.
See This Thread for more info, especially Ken Gracey's post on the 2nd page.
Based on that, and a brief dicussion with Ken at UPEC, they had an "oops" with one of the circuit boards, and are not in a position to delve into the re-design at this time.
There may be (again, based on a casual conversation with Ken) an opportunity for "someone" to make some boards to replace the "oops" boards.
As I recall, the new power supply board work great, as long as the USB cable is connected. The boards could be slavaged, but not in a matter that could be "sold as new". The Parallax team is evaluating options, but given other products on their plate, this is not a priority at the present time.
Maybe Ken will care to elaborate in a more official capacity.
Comments
I was so interested in it that, with the great help of Humanoido, I created the Penguin Robot Society web site ( www.p-robot.com ). Then I wrote the Wikipedia article about the Penguin Robot ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penguin_Robot ) which drives a good amount of traffic to the p-robot site and I suppose also to the Parallax site.
It would be nice to have some more detailed news by Parallax about their plans for this robot.
I hope the old version is discontinued because there is a new improved version, and not because Parallax does not want to invest anymore on it.
In both cases, I think that we - customers and enthusiasts - should get by Parallax at least a clear statement about the future of this product.
Based on that, and a brief dicussion with Ken at UPEC, they had an "oops" with one of the circuit boards, and are not in a position to delve into the re-design at this time.
There may be (again, based on a casual conversation with Ken) an opportunity for "someone" to make some boards to replace the "oops" boards.
As I recall, the new power supply board work great, as long as the USB cable is connected. The boards could be slavaged, but not in a matter that could be "sold as new". The Parallax team is evaluating options, but given other products on their plate, this is not a priority at the present time.
Maybe Ken will care to elaborate in a more official capacity.
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John R.
Click here to see my Nomad Build Log