To LUGNET HomepageTo LUGNET News HomepageTo LUGNET Guide Homepage
 Help on Searching
 
Post new message to lugnet.roboticsOpen lugnet.robotics in your NNTP NewsreaderTo LUGNET News Traffic PageSign In (Members)
 Robotics / 4086
4085  |  4087
Subject: 
Re: Machina Speculatrix Reproduction
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.robotics
Date: 
Wed, 3 Mar 1999 05:10:49 GMT
Original-From: 
Pam Durham <pdurham1@ix.netcom.+NoMoreSpam+com>
Viewed: 
848 times
  
Hat's off to you!  W. Grey Walter was one of my inspirations growing up.
He's one of the reasons I majored in robotics in college.   I hadn't even
considered trying to reproduce his machines with Legos, what a great idea.

However as you mention on your web site, it it very difficult to reproduce
his behaviors with Lego.  It's one of the distinct advantages of using an
all analog system rather than a digital one like Lego.  I would go so far as
to say, an analog robot is about the only way of creating truly interesting
behaviors.

Good job,

Doug Durham


-----Original Message-----
From: Michael Gasperi <gasperi@alynk.com>
To: lego-robotics@crynwr.com <lego-robotics@crynwr.com>
Date: Monday, March 01, 1999 6:55 PM
Subject: Machina Speculatrix Reproduction


Over fifty years ago W. Grey Walter started building three wheeled, turtle
like, mobile robotic vehicles. These vehicles had a light sensor, touch
sensor, propulsion motor, steering motor, and a two vacuum tube analog
computer. Even with this simple design, Grey demonstrated that his turtles
exhibited complex behaviors. He called his turtles Machina Speculatrix • after
their speculative tendency to explore their environment. The Adam and Eve • of
his robots were named Elmer and Elsie ( ELectro Mechanical Robots, Light
Sensitive. )

I have started to recreate the basic structure of the turtles using LEGO
Mindstorms. Grey's turtles used a front wheel drive tricycle style chassis.
The propulsion motor sits in the fork of the front wheel assembly and moves
with it. The steering motor is mounted to the body and rotates the steering
assembly trough a worm gear. The light sensor is rigidly fixed to the
steering assembly so that it is always pointing in the direction of travel.

For more details please go to:
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Michael_Gasperi/walter.htm
--
Did you check the web site first?: http://www.crynwr.com/lego-robotics


--
Did you check the web site first?: http://www.crynwr.com/lego-robotics



Message has 1 Reply:
  Re: Machina Speculatrix Reproduction
 
Doug Durham wrote in message <005701be6534$358277...nd-pam>... (...) Thanks. I have improved the images that were on the page originally. It should be easier to see things now. (...) creating truly interesting (...) I agree. You can create some very (...) (26 years ago, 4-Mar-99, to lugnet.robotics)

3 Messages in This Thread:

Entire Thread on One Page:
Nested:  All | Brief | Compact | Dots
Linear:  All | Brief | Compact
    

Custom Search

©2005 LUGNET. All rights reserved. - hosted by steinbruch.info GbR