| Name | James |
| ER1 Community Name: | e-brain |
| Location | Atlanta, Georgia |
| Occupation | C++ Programmer for 20+ years. Currently working on a start up, www.WayCoolGear.com. "The most fun I had was while
working on some Air Force projects, and also for Morton Thiokol - makers of the
Space Shuttle solid rocket motors. Most recent experience has been in the
commercial airlines data industry. I've also been working on and interested in
robots since I was a kid. I remember getting my grandfather to solder some tin
cans together to make a robot leg."
|
| What product do you own? | "Just the basic ER1 so far. I plan to purchase
the gripper arm and sensors. I absolutely will buy any sort of development
environment or kit." |
| What have you done with your ER1 so far? | "Mostly shown it off to
friends. It's the first product I've shown to family and friends that has
gotten them to stop what they're doing and come interact with it. I have also created a behavior to get the ER1 to drive around the house and
take photos on voice command to use as navigation 'way points' for other
behaviors." |
| Favorite aspect of the ER1? | "That I can train it to recognize me and tell
me what a handsome and intelligent man I am! Of course, the image recognition is
the big selling point. I have spent several hundreds of dollars on other kits
and scratch built designs that couldn't even approach the image recognition
abilities of the ER-1. That ability moves the hobby roboticist from the world
of working with something that is essentially driving around "blind" to a real
platform that can actually become useful after the novelty wears off. The fact
that it comes with some serious customer support is a big plus - I have already
experienced exceptional customer support months before I even purchased the
kit. And, I can see that a valid community is being created around the ER-1 and
its "descendants" and "siblings" that are yet to come. The thing that holds the
most promise for hobbyists are the built-in digital and analog I/O connections!
I am very interested in tapping the potential of these!" |
| Favorite robot of legend? | Huey, Duey and Luey of "Silent Running", B-9 from
"Lost in Space" (especially the big one from the movie remake), Adam Link from
"Outer Limits 'I Robot'", and Sal from "2010". |
| Next big project for the ER1? | Several things:
1) Automatic charger.
2) TV
infrared remote - for while I am not at the house, so the house looks occupied
when I am away (think Home Alone). I'd also like to add some X-10 control
electronics so that it can turn on a light or two based on sensor input,
especially sound and motion. I'm thinking about a barking Doberman .WAV file to
play when it detects sound at a certain level.
3) Single biggest project is to
get another laptop, which is dedicated to the robot. Also a couple of WiFi
(802.11b) modems for internet control.
4) I also plan to add a servo based tilt
mechanism for the main camera that tilts it up and down under robot control. I
already have the electronics for this because of some other hobby robots I have
built. |
