Hot Foam Cutter

The Bus Stop Robot heads are pretty darned heavy so I'm concerned they will be too much for the motors. Someone mentioned foam heads so I've been thinking a little along those lines. Plus I eventually want to create a large foam body for the Rosey the Robot prototype that's propped up in the corner of the robot room.

So ... to work with foam you need tools. But in line with my new resolution of being frugal, I can't see spending $200.00 for foam cutting tools when you can make one for 25.00. Plus the ones you can make will handle giant cuts as opposed to the little sissy tools you get from hobby shops. There's a great tutorial online how to make your own foam cutter. http://www.vatsaas.org/rtv/construction/hotwirecutter.aspx
I will start on that when I get the required vintage train transformer. It's worth trying and seems like a fun project.

But I still may use the wood heads if I can find an appropriate bearing/shaft ... like the fork a bike's handlebars goes into.

Yvonne and I went out to dinner with Paul's girlfriend and her mother last night and then went to their house. It was nice being with them and talking about Paul. Losing Paul is the hardest thing to go through ...it's a crushing sadness that washes over us every day multiple times ... hard to describe. But I do feel Paul's presence and believe he's hanging with me while I work on these projects. It's good to have a helper.

Rosie Prototype

Last night the Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) was kicking into high gear and I found myself working on four different robots. C3PO, B9#1, B9#2 and Rosie the Robot from the Jetsons.

Getting the programming bay attached inside the B9 was a bit of a problem. One of the screws didn't hold and the adhesive came out so that needs to be redone.

Even though Rosie is at the very bottom of the list, I built a stand to hold her head and formatted very crude eyes and features.

Two C3PO heads are also being finished and prepared for plating next month after the other C3PO parts are is finished. More time needs to be spent with the protocol droid preparations. Hopefully the heads will be done this weekend.

Even though it's the day before Fathers day, Dad and I are taking a road trip to Harbor Freight tools. He's never been there before and is in for a treat. I plan on buying a flux wire feed MIG Welder because there's a few things around here that need welding and it's something I've wanted to learn how to do for awhile.

Motorized vacuum cleaner

Today I drove my flea market special vacuum cleaner (via remote control) around my garage and out to the sidewalk. It was an interesting project and of course I learned plenty.

The vacuum was too heavy for the vex motors so I had to remove the motor and all unnecessary parts. Still it stressed the motors and I stripped an old clutch out. So this may not be the best solution for pulling Rosie around unless I make modifications and beef up the power somehow.

But I have to say it looked funny watching a remote controlled vacuum cleaner drive down the driveway and sidewalk.

Vacuum teardown

I spent most of the long weekend at the beach or doing projects around the house. Not much robot building was done.

I picked up a vacuum cleaner at a flea market to motorize for the Rosie project. After it was completely disassembled I found out how nasty a used vacuum can be. So all the parts were thoroughly scrubbed and disinfected.

It looks like the best way to motorize it will be to completely rebuild the bottom part of the vacuum and just use the top piece of the base and the upright handle piece. I probably won't get around to that for a few weeks.

A new robot in the house

Before reading this entry, I've arranged for proper theme music. Click here (You'll need to stretch the imagination to get through this blog entry)

Yesterday while browsing a store with some co-workers at lunch, I found some type of household container that looked a lot like Rosie's head so I bought it. It was pretty reasonable. So now officially we have a new robot in the house.

So it only seemed fitting to introduce her to the other robots in the house. B9 was very cordial while Bender cracked some crude jokes. The creature plain didn't want her there and made it perfectly clear that there was no place in here for a female robot. That caused a great argument between him and the Jawa so I just left.

At a local flea market I found several vacuum cleaners that would be right for this project but still haven't picked up one yet. It has to be as light as possible with enough room to mount a drivetrain and possibly a large battery with an inverter. Speaking of drivetrain, it's making progress.

Another robot project that has been moving along this week is the B9 end table. We ordered a piece of glass for it today. Only thing I need to do now is finish the donut and waist plate

Drive train

If you're interested in learning about Robotics then you may be interested in the fact that radio shack is closing out their Vex line of robotics. Everything is half off which is amazing. A starter kit is now only $149.00 which includes a lot of parts ... like an erector set on steroids. I stocked up this week on the sale items because it looks like another company bought Vex out and the original prices will stand after radio shack closes the line the beginning of June. The manual that comes with the kit is very easy to read and it just makes a lot of sense. There's cheaper ways to learn robotics but I'm glad I chose the Vex method.

So today I began working on the Rosie drive train. Actually the plan is to motorize a vacuum cleaner and get it to move and respond to my commands via a remote control. I will attach Rosie's hand to the vacuum and it will look like she's pushing it around the house. So phase 1 is to create a remote controlled vacuum cleaner. The first experiment will try to get it to work as a functioning vacuum cleaner. If the vacuum proves to be too heavy then I'll gut the motors and parts and just add an audio track of a vacuum running. Either way there's going to be a vacuum cleaner racing down my street soon.

Back to the Vex robotics being closed out at Radio Shack. One of the salespeople said that not enough young people were interested in the kits. He was a young man about 21. That's a subject that has been bothering me lately. It seems that our society is being seduced by video games, Cable TV and the internet. And that's bad. It doesn't seem like kids are interested in building or creating things any more. I hope I'm wrong but even though there will always be young builders, their numbers are dwindling fast. Do your kids a favor. Turn off the internet in your home or limit it. Limit the amount of time to sit in front of the great American drug - television. And do what you can to limit your kids video game play.

BTW, I just read that 61% of children under the age of ONE (1) !!! watch TV on a regular basis and 1/3rd of all children. 19% of children one year or younger have a TV in their room. 29% of 2-3 year olds have a TV in their room.

Another article I just read said SAT Science scores are way down. Gee..... no wonder. Didn't George Orwell write that book 1984 in which the population was made complacant by getting their daily drug to make them happy. I think it was called SOMA. Well, he was pretty close to the mark - instead of SOMA, he should have called it TV.

Rosie the Robot from the Jetsons

That robot building bug is back. I'm going to look into building a life size Rosie the Robot from the Jetsons cartoon. I don't think it's ever been done before.

Instead of being a static statue, She's going to move around the house as under her own power contolled with a RC (radio control) unit. She will be pushing a vacuum. Rosie was inevitable because it seemed like every woman that sees our robots asks if I'm going to make "one of those Jetson Rosie the Robots". That's usually after they give my wife a sympathetic look after surveying the robotic landscape of our home.

So .... Phase one will be designing a robotic Rosie drive train. I have some really good ideas in this area that I can't wait to experiment with.