RoboGlyphs

Posted by Erin, the RobotGrrl on Sunday, April 19th, 2009

Lately, I have been trying to come up with ideas that would allow me to do a similar ‘gig’ as last year- when I was accepted to the Stanford program to learn AI.

Some may remember, some may not — some might not even know. Last year I was accepted into the Stanford University Education Program for Gifted Youth under the Artificial Intelligence program. Of course, it wasn’t very affordable. I created these Styrofoam vibrobots called Styrobots. Thanks to numerous efforts of the robotics community as a whole, we raised enough money for me to attend.

This year, I’m going to WWDC and RoboGames. I didn’t apply to any academic programs – aka the CMU Summer Robotics Institute & NASA’s Robotics Academy because they require US Citizenship, or something of the like.

WWDC and RoboGames are both in SF, CA, and around the same time period!

The idea I came up with are RoboGlyphs! They are small laser-etched ‘glyphs’ that can connect with other glyphs. The first three that I will be releasing are the 3 Laws of Robotics.

Here are some photos:

They look absolutely stunning in person!

However, this is not all that I plan to do with the RoboGlyphs. I plan to somehow attach a LED so that it can illuminate the words, so they can be seen in the dark.

I’m hoping to release these on Etsy around the first week of May. Keep an eye out!

Posted in: Art, Other, Projects.
Tags: 2009, Erin's Robotics Fund, fundraising, RoboGames, RoboGlyphs, Robotics Fund, Styrobots, WWDC

3 Responses to “RoboGlyphs”

1. David Says:
   April 19th, 2009 at 1:56 AM

   Nice!

   On the lighting, try edge lighting with an LED. Use a flame to flame polish the edges everywhere except where you put the edge LED. The polished edges should not light but the rough surface where your letters are should light up well. You may need several LEDs along the edge to get the effect you want. Look around the net for edge lighting articles, I have seen many. Send me an email if you need the links.

2. David Hagler Says:
   April 28th, 2009 at 2:53 PM

   (adding more to above Commenting – note: different david )

   since you have radial access to the class from your rounded tab, wonder if you could make a tab insert illuminator, several leds arranged in a semi circle around the tab, in a small black plastic device. powerd by AAA and it might be the same height as the glass.

   oh! give the “illuminators” edge and tab recievers, and you could chain your “illuminators” with your glass etchings.

3. Erin, the RobotGrrl Says:
   April 28th, 2009 at 3:00 PM

   Hahaha what a cool co-incidence that two commentors in a row are Davids!

   That is an interesting idea! I’ll definitely take your idea into consideration and try it out.

   I like that, with your idea, I would be able to sell the RoboGlyphs separately, and sell the illuminator separately. People could ‘hack’ the illuminator to run it with an Arduino!

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