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Jaimie loves his work — Parallax Forums

Jaimie loves his work

GordonMcCombGordonMcComb Posts: 3,366
edited 2012-04-04 13:16 in General Discussion
Jaimie Mantzel is the Doc Brown of the robot toy space. I love watching his videos -- his enthusiasm is contagious.

So far in his saga he's gone from 3D printed proto pieces to molded parts.

Anyone know what toy company this is for? (Maybe he says in one of the videos...)

-- Gordon

Comments

  • Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) Posts: 23,514
    edited 2012-04-03 10:22
    First time I've seen that guy. He's totally off the wall, but he obviously knows his stuff. (220V and a Union Jack, but an American accent -- must be an ex-pat.) I never imagined a hexapod could be controlled with just two motors. Ingenious!

    -Phil
  • Martin_HMartin_H Posts: 4,051
    edited 2012-04-03 10:22
    That is such a cool toy. It would be a shame if it didn't go to market because the cheap knock off has. I understand three servo walkers or the two motor walkers like the Parallax Boe-bot add one, but the mechanism this thing uses is a complete mystery to me.
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,255
    edited 2012-04-03 10:42
    Wow Stuff toys (UK), who also made "My Keepon". Jaimie is great and a real character. I sure hope his bot is more successful than Keepon, although Hexbug ripped him off in a smaller scale and has been out there well over a year.

    http://www.wowstuff.co.uk/

    Keepon's hopeful story before it hit the clearance aisle: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvRYz0ENm8A&feature=relmfu

    Disruptive to cash flow, certainly. Too bad a lot of nice robots end up on clearance.
  • Roy ElthamRoy Eltham Posts: 2,996
    edited 2012-04-03 10:46
    Phil, Jaimie is Canadian, but has lived in the US for a while. He was in England for like 6 months working with Wow Stuff to finalize the design of this awesome toy. He just got back, the 220v PSU and flag were things he got during the visit...

    Martin, search back through Jaimie's videos he has one where he goes over the way it works. It's pretty neat.

    He said in a previous video that it will have a "hacker port" of some kind so that you can hook up a microcontroller to run it and stuff. I imagine we'll have fun with it! :)
  • Martin_HMartin_H Posts: 4,051
    edited 2012-04-03 12:02
    Roy, thanks for the pointer. It's obviously a mechanical mixer, but it is still a bit mind twisting.
  • GordonMcCombGordonMcComb Posts: 3,366
    edited 2012-04-03 14:49
    erco wrote: »
    sure hope his bot is more successful than Keepon,

    There's no question. My Keepon is something of an electronic Pet Rock; makes a big splash, gets plenty of press ("a $30K research robot for $40!!"), but in the end proved too repetitive for average users. These types of amusements have been popular in Japan for years, but I've never seen one really take off here in the same way. The American buyer wants lights, action, and destruction.

    Jaimie's bot lacks lights -- from what I've seen -- but it has everything else. And if it's under $69 retail it should do okay. The viral campaign about naming the product is dull-dull-dullsville, though. They'd do a lot better promoting Jaimie as the wacky scientist. There are risks to that, as it puts Jaimie over the brand, but he's such a character, if they don't do it, someone else surely will. His videos have close to seven million views. HE is the "disruptive" element in the sales campaign. (My opinion of course. And I'm usually worng.)

    -- Gordon
  • Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) Posts: 23,514
    edited 2012-04-03 14:58
    My experience seems always to show that inventors should never be allowed to name the products they invent. It takes a different kind of talent to come up with a marketable name, and the two talents seldom overlap.

    -Phil
  • GordonMcCombGordonMcComb Posts: 3,366
    edited 2012-04-03 15:15
    Yes, I agree. Inventors should defer to the marketers whenever possible. Different mindsets.

    Jaimie is a Reddit phenom, and their user base just happens to be a primary (and eager) market for the product. As long as it's priced so that Amazon can sell it for under $69, it'll be a big success. And I have a feeling Jaimie will need an agent.

    The problem is, of course, when these companies sense a winner and try to price the successful product to make up for the one(s) that bombed. That would be a shame.

    -- Gordon
  • Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) Posts: 23,514
    edited 2012-04-03 15:18
    GordonMcComb wrote:
    The problem is, of course, when these companies sense a winner and try to price the successful product to make up for the one(s) that bombed.
    Yes, I agree. The starting point for any new endeavor has to be today, not yesterday, last month, or last year.

    -Phil
  • GordonMcCombGordonMcComb Posts: 3,366
    edited 2012-04-03 15:34
    BTW, when I talk about toys like My Keepon I'm referring to virtual or emoticon pets -- Tamagotchi stuff. I'm aware of Fijit, made by a certain toy company in California, but I classify that differently, especially as it's targeted to girls and is more like a talking doll -- Barbie on Xanax.

    -- Gordon
  • idbruceidbruce Posts: 6,197
    edited 2012-04-03 15:49
    @Phil
    My experience seems always to show that inventors should never be allowed to name the products they invent. It takes a different kind of talent to come up with a marketable name, and the two talents seldom overlap.

    Hmmmm.... The product looks like a fish.... The product is used for quickly fishing a pull string through conduit..... Is it a marketable name?

    Bruce
    hmmmm.jpg
    400 x 400 - 22K
  • Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) Posts: 23,514
    edited 2012-04-03 15:59
    Bruce,

    'Seems natural, although both "QuickFish" and "KwikFish" are already taken for other kinds of products. However, in light of the assertion that you cited, for me to say whether it's a marketable name would be like the blind leading the blind. :)

    -Phil
  • idbruceidbruce Posts: 6,197
    edited 2012-04-03 16:07
    @Phil
    'Seems natural, although both "QuickFish" and "KwikFish" are already taken for other kinds of products

    I imagine that you are referring to the listings at the USPTO.

    I personally have never applied for a trademark, but it is my understanding that unrelated products can bear the same name as long as the marks are unique.

    Bruce
  • PJAllenPJAllen Banned Posts: 5,065
    edited 2012-04-03 16:09
    Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) wrote: »
    (220V and a Union Jack, but an American accent -- must be an ex-pat.)

    American accent? Which state? East Ontario?
    He's hung the flag upside down.
  • Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) Posts: 23,514
    edited 2012-04-03 16:22
    PJ,

    Um, isn't Ontario in North America? Regarding the Union Jack being upside down, yeah, that's pretty subtle. "Cap'n, the HMS Endeavor is in distress! She's flyin' her flag upside down!" "Are you sure? Hand me the glass. ... Um, I don't know. These rough seas ... We're bucking too much for me to get a fix on the wide stripes."

    -Phil
  • PJAllenPJAllen Banned Posts: 5,065
    edited 2012-04-03 16:34
    Phil,
    Cuba is in North America, too.
    What's your point?

    If he were an Ingles he would have got the flag right.
  • Martin_HMartin_H Posts: 4,051
    edited 2012-04-03 16:43
    If this thing is under $100 and hacker friendly it will make a nice hexapod robot platform. The rotation of the top part would also make it excellent for a sensor mount. In many ways this design is sort of a synchrodrive in that the body of the robot is always pointing in the same direction.
  • GordonMcCombGordonMcComb Posts: 3,366
    edited 2012-04-03 16:49
    Hadn't noticed about the flag, but if he's from Canada, and judging by his age, he'd know which end is up. Either it didn't bother him, or it's a sleight at the various "stem at the bottom, eh?" incidents with the modern Canadian flag. (Truth be told, though, it's usually us Americans flying the Canadian flag up side down, as if we've never seen a maple leaf before.)

    -- Gordon
  • PJAllenPJAllen Banned Posts: 5,065
    edited 2012-04-03 16:56
    idbruce wrote: »
    Hmmmm.... The product looks like a fish.... The product is used for quickly fishing a pull string through conduit..... Is it a marketable name?

    Looking forward to seeing you and this - on "Shark Tank".
  • PJAllenPJAllen Banned Posts: 5,065
    edited 2012-04-03 17:02
    GordonMcComb wrote: »
    (Truth be told, though, it's usually us Americans flying the Canadian flag up side down, as if we've never seen a maple leaf before.)

    Honestly? Where have you ever seen that?
  • GordonMcCombGordonMcComb Posts: 3,366
    edited 2012-04-03 18:19
    PJ Allen wrote: »
    Honestly? Where have you ever seen that?

    One example was in every newspaper in the world, taken during a World Series game (read about game 2, do a Google image search to find the photo):

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992_World_Series

    There have been a couple of others, not related to political commentary (the native population sometimes use it to protest their treatment), but this one is probably the most famous. (Another famous photo is of the flag on Peace Tower, a government building in Canada.)

    You need to watch more American TV, PJ!

    -- Gordon
  • prof_brainoprof_braino Posts: 4,313
    edited 2012-04-04 12:23
    Is jamie's design the same as this one?

    http://www.hexbug.com/hexbug-spider-single.html

    Videos of both, and a project, at

    http://buildsmartrobots.ning.com/group/autonomous-hexbug-spider-hack
  • Martin_HMartin_H Posts: 4,051
    edited 2012-04-04 13:16
    prof_braino wrote: »
    Is jamie's design the same as this one?

    http://www.hexbug.com/hexbug-spider-single.html

    Jamie's design predates the Hex bug spider. He's been pretty open about his project, so I imagine they stole his design.
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