Friday Night Robotics

Posted by Erin, the RobotGrrl on Friday, November 21st, 2008

Today I finished off a part of a project that I can’t blog about, then worked on MANOI. I didn’t really do much, all I did was configure (AKA: plug in) the force-sensing resistor and watch the results on Arduino’s serial monitor.

I was really surprised with the FSR! I thought there would be some jitter when it isn’t being touched (or, has no force on it) but it wasn’t. It’s value stayed at 0!

I can’t really add much AI to hockey MANOI until I get an IR sensor. I would mount the IR sensor on the side of the stick to see if there is a ball. That, combined with the FSR, would make a good scenario for the Bayes filter algorithm.

What I did tonight does have something in common with robotics….

WALL-E!

You might think that I watched the movie… but I didn’t! I watched the special “The PIXAR Story” on Disk 2. I had major problems figuring out what DVD to get too… I had my mind set on the 3 disk one. When we get to the store, there is no 3 disk one… and they’re all packaged in French! I can’t read what the fudge it’s saying!! Then there’s like Blue-Ray and HD and normal and super and GOLD ULTIMATE EDITION and it’s all like “omg -.-”.

It’s pretty neat how similar robotics and animation is. When it all comes down to it, you’re trying to make an inanimite object move, interact, and have character! I still haven’t finished exploring all of the features on Disk 2… but it’s pretty AWESOME!

Posted in: Other, Projects.

Put on your Sunday Clothes

Posted by Erin, the RobotGrrl on Sunday, August 24th, 2008

I actually bought the real Wall-E soundtrack, since I like it so much! It’s uber cool… it comes in a recycled material case

At first, I thought the movie was medium… it wasn’t great, but it wasn’t bad. The whole dystopian/furturistic evolution of people as they became more dependent on technology really freaked me out. The hover chairs and BNL were the main sources of that. They should have taken better care of the planet- cans could have been recycled, along with all the other garbage.
One of the quotes that stands out in my mind is…

Auto: “On the Axiom, you will survive”
Captain: “I don’t want to survive, I want to live!”

But… everyone is really liking it - except for me!! WHYy? I think I figured it out…
If I didn’t know about dystopian societies, like in Handsmade Tale, 1984, Brave New World… then I wouldn’t have thought that it would be dystopian (which I automatically connect with BAD) but instead, futuristic.
If I wasn’t anticipating a cheesy ‘Hello Dave’ joke with Auto, I wouldn’t have been disappointed, ha.
If I didn’t know that creating robots with emotions as complex as in Eve & WALL-E, then I wouldn’t have taken a ‘that’s almost impossible’* attitude.
*it’s actually not too much ‘that’s almost impossible’, it would just need complex AI, even a form of general AI.

I could go on, but really the point is is that WALL-E is a really awesome movie if I didn’t know… . Now that I realize that, it is a pretty good movie I’m for sure buying the 3 DVD set.

The soundtrack is amazing too… everyone should spend the extra few dollars to buy it in real

Posted in: Animation News, News, Other News.

I

Posted by Erin, the RobotGrrl on Wednesday, June 18th, 2008

Wall-E is probably the CUTEST robot ever. (Except for my Styrobots, of course!) The way he says his name ‘WwwwaaallLL Eee’ is irresistible.
I see Wall-E everywhere. And, much to my joy one day… I looked out the back window, and I saw Wall-E! This means that at least once per day, I get to see Wall-E! WOOT!

*note: pics taken a long time ago

I really can’t wait until this movie comes out!! Imagine how cool Epcot will be, too. Meet the Robinsons + Wall-E!! It’s quite crazy how Pixar is just doing better and better with each animation they make. I really never thought that anything would be better than Finding Nemo, ever.

One of the things I can’t wait for is the robot! Er well, I can’t wait for me to gently tear apart the robot and hack it OR make it run on an Arduino! How cool would that be?! Having a Wall-E working off of an Arduino, connected to Processing. I could have all sorts of ultrasonic sensors… personalize it… make a conversational program (based off of Robbie the Robot) for it… WOOT!

Check out these two videos - they’re REALLY cool!

Wall-E ROCKS!

Posted in: News, Projects, Robot, Robot News.

Wall-e! A robot movie from Pixar

Posted by Erin, the RobotGrrl on Sunday, September 30th, 2007

SWEET! Pixar is making a movie about a robot, named Wall-e! The trailer is supposed to hit the internet on Tuesday. I can’t wait!

I think there is going to be a real model of this robot… or something like that, check it out

Woohooo!!

Link.

Posted in: Animation News, News, Robot News.