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Robosapien — Parallax Forums

Robosapien

NWCCTVNWCCTV Posts: 3,629
edited 2013-06-09 17:55 in General Discussion
I am soooooo glad it is once again Garage Sale season here in the Northwest!!! Today's great buys included a used full sized Robosapien. It does not have the remote but with a bit of hacking I should be able to make one of the many I have work. If not, they are only $30.00. It powers on which was my main concern. I got it for $2.00!!! Even if the thing did not power up the hacking capabilities are worth more than that!! The second great deal was a Coby 7" Digital picture frame for $2.00. It had no power supply but I have tons of them. I did not expect it to work and planned on hacking it for an upcoming project. I plugged it in once I got home and it works great!! Now I am off to hack the Robosapien!!!

Comments

  • prof_brainoprof_braino Posts: 4,313
    edited 2013-06-08 17:29
    You scored dude!
  • NWCCTVNWCCTV Posts: 3,629
    edited 2013-06-08 20:11
    Now I am off to hack the Robosapien!!!
    It never fails. Whenever I start on something, without fail, there is always one thing that holds me up. This time it is one screw that is stuck and is in a deep hole so I can not get a bigger screw driver or a screw extractor on it. I guess it's time to break out the drill!!!

    Has anyone on the forums ever hacked one of these? I saw a few links on Google where they hacked the on board controller, but I am thinking of a full blown hack with a prop and other cool Parallax items. This is a great starting point!
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    edited 2013-06-08 21:09
    It's a good score at $2. You might consider yourself lucky that you got stuck taking it apart.

    Everyone likes to "hack" something. But in reality, taking a Robosapien apart is kind of a death sentence for any functioning unit. 99% of people will extremely hard-pressed to achieve anything close to the professionally-coded programming routines that went into it, much less improve anything. Then it's headed for the junk drawer or the trash can. IMO you'd probably be a lot happier keeping it intact, bone stock, and finding a remote control. You could even borrow a remote from a friend and program a $4 learning remote from it.
  • NWCCTVNWCCTV Posts: 3,629
    edited 2013-06-08 21:46
    borrow a remote from a friend and program a $4 learning remote from it.
    I like this idea but I unfortunately do not know anyone that owns one!!!
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    edited 2013-06-08 21:53
    Search ebay, there's one going for 7 bucks now.
  • NWCCTVNWCCTV Posts: 3,629
    edited 2013-06-08 23:11
    Yea, It's on my watch list.
  • LoopyBytelooseLoopyByteloose Posts: 12,537
    edited 2013-06-09 00:40
    Toys R Us has Robosapien V2 on sale here in Taiwan. I don't think the Taiwanese really wanted to tackle them. I forget how much, but it did seem like a very big mark down.

    This is the 24 inch version that can roam freely.
  • GadgetmanGadgetman Posts: 2,436
    edited 2013-06-09 02:33
    I have a Robosapien on a shelf somewhere...

    It's not worth the bother of hacking, really.
    Most of the circuitry is just a 'black blob on a PCB', so you can't even 'hook into' the motor controllers. Not that the motors are much to talk about either.
    And there's not as many motors in there as you'd believe given the number of moving joints.
  • LoopyBytelooseLoopyByteloose Posts: 12,537
    edited 2013-06-09 04:52
    @Gadgetman
    Why did you have to go and tell? I had considered hacking a Robosapien with a BS2, but there were others on the web that showed what a disassembly is like.

    The BEST way to hack, is to make another IR link that is superior to the original.
  • GadgetmanGadgetman Posts: 2,436
    edited 2013-06-09 14:56
    To save everyone the disappointment?

    I know that I was disappointed when I took a screwdriver to mine...
  • NWCCTVNWCCTV Posts: 3,629
    edited 2013-06-09 15:50
    I am thinking of this hack: http://www.makehackvoid.com/node/205 or another hack like Loopy is talking about. For $2.00 I can't really be disappointed. According to some other sites I was browsing, the PCB is labeled on the flip side so you can figure out where the motor controls, IR and other sensors are connected to and go from there. There is one post that someone actually wrote their own VB script so he could control via computer. This is not something I intend to spend a couple hundred hours on but if I can rig it up just for the hacking experience I will be happy with that.
  • NWCCTVNWCCTV Posts: 3,629
    edited 2013-06-09 17:55
    OK, So I just hunted around on EBay and I ended up getting a used second Robosapien with a remote for $30.00. They said it works so now I will have one to hack and one to keep "intact". I will also have a remote to program a learning remote with like erco suggested. I will start a new thread once I start hacking the garage sale one. Although I know it turns on, I want to wait to hack it until I get the remote and verify it works like it is suppose to. I did get the last screw drilled out and have the chest cavity pulled off.
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