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Ho Ho Ho-Hum "How-To Build Your First Robot" Article — Parallax Forums

Ho Ho Ho-Hum "How-To Build Your First Robot" Article

ercoerco Posts: 20,256
edited 2011-12-20 13:50 in Robotics
Must be a slow Christmas week at Electronicproducts.com; is this "newsworthy"? The most generic, noncommittal how-to article I've seen yet:

http://www2.electronicproducts.com/How_to_build_your_first_robot-article-fajb_how_to_robots_dec2011-html.aspx

No specific reference or suggestion to hardware or software. How bland.

Comments

  • Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) Posts: 23,514
    edited 2011-12-14 15:48
    It's really not a bad article -- assuming the author has never built a robot in his life. His spelling an grammar are both fine, and it must have required some effort to make it that long and still keep it content-free. :)

    -Phil
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    edited 2011-12-14 16:13
    So true. He managed to combine the worst of two shorter articles, without compromising the shortcomings of either... !
  • kwinnkwinn Posts: 8,697
    edited 2011-12-14 18:41
    erco wrote: »
    Must be a slow Christmas week at Electronicproducts.com; is this "newsworthy"? The most generic, noncommittal how-to article I've seen yet:

    http://www2.electronicproducts.com/How_to_build_your_first_robot-article-fajb_how_to_robots_dec2011-html.aspx

    No specific reference or suggestion to hardware or software. How bland.

    Judging by the news I've been reading lately it's been a slow month or two everywhere. Mostly the doings of the Hollywood half wit crowd. What a waste of trees and energy.
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    edited 2011-12-14 18:47
    kwinn wrote: »
    Judging by the news I've been reading lately it's been a slow month or two everywhere. Mostly the doings of the Hollywood half wit crowd. What a waste of trees and energy.

    Maybe we can get Lady Gaga to build a robot and get on the Yahoo front page!
  • sylvie369sylvie369 Posts: 1,622
    edited 2011-12-14 18:52
    I just watched an old "Mission Impossible" episode (season 1, episode 12*, "Snowball in Hell") with a robot of sorts in it - a treaded crawler that was able to detect when it bumped into something, back up, and change directions. Apparently we were supposed to find that ability to be pretty amazing.

    Better yet, the evil guy had a sample of "Cesium 138" AND "its formula, which he memorized and destroyed". Er, that formula would be, um, Cesium 138.

    * Oops - yes, it's episode 21, not 12. My mistake. Thanks, Schill.
  • photomankcphotomankc Posts: 943
    edited 2011-12-15 07:10
    sylvie369 wrote: »

    Better yet, the evil guy had a sample of "Cesium 138" AND "its formula, which he memorized and destroyed". Er, that formula would be, um, Cesium 138.

    How did you remember that?!?!
  • schillschill Posts: 741
    edited 2011-12-15 07:38
    sylvie369 wrote: »
    I just watched an old "Mission Impossible" episode (season 1, episode 12, "Snowball in Hell") with a robot of sorts in it - a treaded crawler that was able to detect when it bumped into something, back up, and change directions. Apparently we were supposed to find that ability to be pretty amazing.

    Better yet, the evil guy had a sample of "Cesium 138" AND "its formula, which he memorized and destroyed". Er, that formula would be, um, Cesium 138.

    I think that's episode 21 of season 1, not episode 12 (I looked on Wikipedia). 12 didn't sound right because I've been watching season 1 recently (Netflix) and I'm more than halfway through and haven't hit that episode yet.
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    edited 2011-12-15 08:33
    @schill: if you can remember that, then surely you can be trusted to remember the secret formula for Cesium 138...
  • WhitWhit Posts: 4,191
    edited 2011-12-20 13:36
    Let me see if I understand.

    Step one - get the right parts
    Step two - build your robot

    Is that it?
  • Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) Posts: 23,514
    edited 2011-12-20 13:40
    Whit,

    Yeah that's it. But you'll never be able to fill five column-inches with just two short sentences. :)

    -Phil
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    edited 2011-12-20 13:50
    Whit wrote: »
    Step one - get the right parts
    Step two - build your robot

    Wow, it sure sounds BRILLIANT when you put it like that.
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