Sunday 5 July 2015

Dandroid 2015: Use It or Lose it

It's 2015 and I find myself hardly programming at work, but being surrounded by a team of clever folks who appreciate a bit of hardware hacking. Still not much has changed in hobby robotics in the past 15 years with sensors except for on-board cameras, but processors are starting to be connected by WiFi as standard. I discovered a new platform, EZ-B by EZ-Robot, which doesn't try to process all the sensor input on-board, but streams data back and fourth to a computer near by or smart phone. This isn't a new idea, but they have done a good job with the EZ-B.

I realize that the clutter around me must go and my robot parts box is a waste of time and space. Now having some people who will gladly take this box (actually, it has become 3 large boxes) of junk parts for their own hacks, I find myself in a self-imposed use-it-or-lose-it plan. After over 12 years, the parts have come out and the creation is restarted with the same design goals from Dandroid 2002 to create an autonomous entertaining robot.