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Yes, this is good stuff! Advanced robots today are often very expensive. But I hope soon what happened to computers will happen to robots. Advanced robotics bec

Yes, this is good stuff! Advanced robots today are often very expensive. But I hope soon what happened to computers will happen to robots. Advanced robotics becoming a very popular yet not expensive to participate in hobby would be the first step in that.

sliverstorm 14y ago
If there is a roadblock for robotics, I don't think it is the hardware. Yes, cutting-edge robots are very expensive, but more problematic? Control software for anything advanced is crazy; not the sort of thing I expect a hobbyist can write, whether or not he owns a super robot.
- Qworg 14y ago
  Part of it is hardware costs, part of it is human nature. Many robot hobbyists I know fall into the "That part is $X? I can build it for $X/N!!!" Soon they have no robot, and half a part.
  - hugs 14y ago
    Well, that's been true, but there's hope. I'm a robot hobbyist and I need lots of linear actuators (like dozens or hundreds) for a project I'm working on. I can't believe how expensive they can be (between $50 and $150 a piece). So, I've fixed that for myself that by starting my open hardware project - http://bitbeam.org http://bitbeam.org. My first stab at my DIY actuator: http://youtu.be/YO-7tiwibiY http://youtu.be/YO-7tiwibiY Doing it myself (with a laser cutter at TechShop SF), I'm able to get my own linear actuator cost down to about $3 per actuator. Not perfect, but way better. Next step will be to figure out how to make my own DC motors to drive down costs further. :-) As fab tools like 3D printers (MakerBot) get cheaper and tools get easier to access (TechShop), more robot hobbyists will have robots and cheaper parts. :-)
    - Qworg 14y ago
      You are part of the top 1% then. Most makers try to cobble something together and don't approach it from first principles. 3D printers need to print high strength components and TechShops need to be all over the country before I think we'll see this take off. =) Also, at scale, things get cheaper - why not look at scaling your actuator production? What would it take?
      - hugs 14y ago
        What would it take? The biggest thing I need is knowing there's a market, how big the market is, and who to market to -- classic customer development activities. Right now, I know my actuators meet my needs for the stuff I'm building, but need more data to know if I should scale it. So... you want one (hundred thousand)? :-)
- fghh45sdfhr3 14y ago
  But if hardware slowly standardizes, library control for it could also standardize and be open source. Look at how the Kinect changed visual processing. It used to be a very complicated thing, now it's just get a Kinect and hack it.

sliverstorm 14y ago

If there is a roadblock for robotics, I don't think it is the hardware. Yes, cutting-edge robots are very expensive, but more problematic? Control software for anything advanced is crazy; not the sort of thing I expect a hobbyist can write, whether or not he owns a super robot.

Qworg 14y ago
Part of it is hardware costs, part of it is human nature. Many robot hobbyists I know fall into the "That part is $X? I can build it for $X/N!!!" Soon they have no robot, and half a part.
- hugs 14y ago
  Well, that's been true, but there's hope. I'm a robot hobbyist and I need lots of linear actuators (like dozens or hundreds) for a project I'm working on. I can't believe how expensive they can be (between $50 and $150 a piece). So, I've fixed that for myself that by starting my open hardware project - http://bitbeam.org http://bitbeam.org. My first stab at my DIY actuator: http://youtu.be/YO-7tiwibiY http://youtu.be/YO-7tiwibiY Doing it myself (with a laser cutter at TechShop SF), I'm able to get my own linear actuator cost down to about $3 per actuator. Not perfect, but way better. Next step will be to figure out how to make my own DC motors to drive down costs further. :-) As fab tools like 3D printers (MakerBot) get cheaper and tools get easier to access (TechShop), more robot hobbyists will have robots and cheaper parts. :-)
  - Qworg 14y ago
    You are part of the top 1% then. Most makers try to cobble something together and don't approach it from first principles. 3D printers need to print high strength components and TechShops need to be all over the country before I think we'll see this take off. =) Also, at scale, things get cheaper - why not look at scaling your actuator production? What would it take?
    - hugs 14y ago
      What would it take? The biggest thing I need is knowing there's a market, how big the market is, and who to market to -- classic customer development activities. Right now, I know my actuators meet my needs for the stuff I'm building, but need more data to know if I should scale it. So... you want one (hundred thousand)? :-)
fghh45sdfhr3 14y ago
But if hardware slowly standardizes, library control for it could also standardize and be open source. Look at how the Kinect changed visual processing. It used to be a very complicated thing, now it's just get a Kinect and hack it.