Raspberry Pi's Eben Upton wants 'self-driving' Robot Wars for BBC's IoT reboot
Bob Lawrence (VE1RLL)
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in Robotics
Raspberry Pi's Eben Upton wants 'self-driving' Robot Wars for BBC's IoT reboot
News Source:
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2441731/raspberry-pis-eben-upton-wants-self-driving-robot-wars-for-bbcs-iot-reboot
TIME TO DUST off your leather chaps, break out the flamethrower and prepare to Killalot because Robot Wars is about to return to our screens in a blaze of 21st century tech.
The BBC has confirmed that it will air six new 60-minute episodes this year, exploring the technology behind the robots as well as the carnage of the new Bulletproof Arena in Glasgow that production company Mentorn Scotland has promised. We're not clear whether the bulletproof thing is to protect spectators from the robots or the Glaswegians.
The TV programme, originally presented by Jeremy Clarkson and then Craig Charles with 'pit reporter' Philippa Forrester, was first broadcast in 1998 and canned in 2004 after an unsuccessful move to Channel 5. But Robot Wars has continued to be big business with nationwide tours and international tournaments against equivalent leagues around the world.
Perhaps the most exciting thing about the reboot is that, rather than being dumb radio controlled robots, technology has moved on to robots with compute power, basic artificial intelligence (AI) and an end to the ubiquitous control problems faced by the spotty nerd 'Roboteers'.
The INQUIRER chatted to Eben Upton, CEO of IoT pioneers the Raspberry Pi Foundation, whose products are likely to form the 'brains' of many of the new robots.
"I think it's great news that it's coming back. Really exciting. I hope that some of the teams will use Raspberry Pis to build their robots. Definitely!" he told us.
Upton believes that the new Robot Wars will overcome one of the biggest challenges faced by the 'analogue' contestants.
"One of the biggest problems was that sometimes the robots had fearsome potential but couldn't be controlled well, and often it came down to who had the best controller, not who had the best robot," he said.
And the solution? "I'd like to see driverless Robot Wars. Robots that use the addition of compute to be really fierce. Yeah, autonomous Robot Wars would be great."
It's not clear as yet how many of the features will be familiar. Will Craig Charles be back? Will Philippa Forrester hand over her leather trousers to, say, Rachel Riley? Will it be considered acceptable to hack into another robot's code during a battle? And, most important of all, will the house robots be back?
Perhaps the best bit of the whole series was the fearsome house robots whose popularity was such that you could buy models of them to play with. Where Matilda, Sergeant Bash, Shunt, Sir Killalot, Dead Metal et al are now, we've no idea, but we'd love to see them souped up, smarter, tougher, more badass and better than ever.
Robot Wars always seemed a concept ahead of its time in the late nineties, and rebooting it for the Internet of Things era could turn out to be a stroke of genius. The promise by the BBC to give us "more science" suggests plans for the new series to be as much about how the robots work as how they pummel the bejesus out of each other.
Kim Shillinglaw, controller of BBC Two and BBC Four, said: "With new technological advances making for an even more exciting and immersive experience, this is a fantastic example of the kind of content-rich factual entertainment that BBC Two excels at."
The INQUIRER is going to be all over this one - we're at Excitement Factor SQUEEEE. The phrase "maybe we should build a robot" has even been spoken in hushed tones.
There's no airdate for the new series beyond "sometime in 2016". To paraphrase one of Craig Charles' parting poems: "Time to dust off your teeth and claws, because they've gone and brought back Robot Wars!" µ
What are your memories of Robot Wars? What do you want the new series to bring? Let us know below. But first a classic Robot Wars moment ...
News Source:
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2441731/raspberry-pis-eben-upton-wants-self-driving-robot-wars-for-bbcs-iot-reboot
TIME TO DUST off your leather chaps, break out the flamethrower and prepare to Killalot because Robot Wars is about to return to our screens in a blaze of 21st century tech.
The BBC has confirmed that it will air six new 60-minute episodes this year, exploring the technology behind the robots as well as the carnage of the new Bulletproof Arena in Glasgow that production company Mentorn Scotland has promised. We're not clear whether the bulletproof thing is to protect spectators from the robots or the Glaswegians.
The TV programme, originally presented by Jeremy Clarkson and then Craig Charles with 'pit reporter' Philippa Forrester, was first broadcast in 1998 and canned in 2004 after an unsuccessful move to Channel 5. But Robot Wars has continued to be big business with nationwide tours and international tournaments against equivalent leagues around the world.
Perhaps the most exciting thing about the reboot is that, rather than being dumb radio controlled robots, technology has moved on to robots with compute power, basic artificial intelligence (AI) and an end to the ubiquitous control problems faced by the spotty nerd 'Roboteers'.
The INQUIRER chatted to Eben Upton, CEO of IoT pioneers the Raspberry Pi Foundation, whose products are likely to form the 'brains' of many of the new robots.
"I think it's great news that it's coming back. Really exciting. I hope that some of the teams will use Raspberry Pis to build their robots. Definitely!" he told us.
Upton believes that the new Robot Wars will overcome one of the biggest challenges faced by the 'analogue' contestants.
"One of the biggest problems was that sometimes the robots had fearsome potential but couldn't be controlled well, and often it came down to who had the best controller, not who had the best robot," he said.
And the solution? "I'd like to see driverless Robot Wars. Robots that use the addition of compute to be really fierce. Yeah, autonomous Robot Wars would be great."
It's not clear as yet how many of the features will be familiar. Will Craig Charles be back? Will Philippa Forrester hand over her leather trousers to, say, Rachel Riley? Will it be considered acceptable to hack into another robot's code during a battle? And, most important of all, will the house robots be back?
Perhaps the best bit of the whole series was the fearsome house robots whose popularity was such that you could buy models of them to play with. Where Matilda, Sergeant Bash, Shunt, Sir Killalot, Dead Metal et al are now, we've no idea, but we'd love to see them souped up, smarter, tougher, more badass and better than ever.
Robot Wars always seemed a concept ahead of its time in the late nineties, and rebooting it for the Internet of Things era could turn out to be a stroke of genius. The promise by the BBC to give us "more science" suggests plans for the new series to be as much about how the robots work as how they pummel the bejesus out of each other.
Kim Shillinglaw, controller of BBC Two and BBC Four, said: "With new technological advances making for an even more exciting and immersive experience, this is a fantastic example of the kind of content-rich factual entertainment that BBC Two excels at."
The INQUIRER is going to be all over this one - we're at Excitement Factor SQUEEEE. The phrase "maybe we should build a robot" has even been spoken in hushed tones.
There's no airdate for the new series beyond "sometime in 2016". To paraphrase one of Craig Charles' parting poems: "Time to dust off your teeth and claws, because they've gone and brought back Robot Wars!" µ
What are your memories of Robot Wars? What do you want the new series to bring? Let us know below. But first a classic Robot Wars moment ...
Comments
I recall one show that was heavy into robot-smash, but it was clearly 95% TV production & script, and 5% actual contestants.
Oh, left is losing, cue smoke.
Ohh,see that blow land on right, cue leaking hydraulic fluid !!
Real tech is too slow for TV, so this will be mostly a hyped pantomime.
Eben Upton needs to be careful what he wishes for.
Looks to me like war and science have been intimately related since we figured out how to throw rocks at each other.
But, yeah, I always though Robot Wars was silly.
Now THAT would be fun
How is that necessarily a bug???
IoT Wars!
Brilliant.
Hard to legislate that. At DARPA's Urban Challenge in 2007, everyone move cautiously, and many cars sat still for long periods, apparently confused or deciding their next move. Painful to watch.
I guess one can sigh, and say even an outcome 'jazzed up', still requires some control. (as do the TV cameras and sound..)
Ah, I see what you mean. I agree the combination of the educational mission of the Pi and the mindless carnage of, the misnamed, Robot Wars does seem like oil and water.
On the other hand, hopefully, Eben can inject some intelligence into the proceedings.
What is it about TV now a days? Everything has to be an over hyped competition. No longer can we have a chef expounding on interesting things to do with food, for example, we have to make it a blood match.
Every ten years or so I find myself trying to watch TV. Can't do it, it just gets worse and worse.