Dave Attell and his crew from Insomniac come and hang with The Robot Group [L-R Jason Robbins, Eric Lundquist, Dave Attell, Glenn Currie, Brooks Coleman]
The fourth season ran from 5/29/03-7/31/03 (Thursdays at 10pm|9c). The Austin episode first aired on July 3, 2003.
Dave Attell and his crew on their visit to The Robot Group
Members got together at Mark Hinkle’s home to watch the show at the Insomniac Party.
Dave Attell and his crew on their visit to The Robot Group [Tai Chi Charlie in the background with Kevin Derichs]
The episode aired again on July 6, 2003 at 10:30pm CT and was rerun several other times.
Dave Attell and his crew on their visit to The Robot Group [Brooks Coleman on the right sporting his Dylanesque leopard-skin pillbox hat]
In an interview with The Onion A.V. Club, Dave Attell mentions that it was 20 degrees outside when he filmed in Austin.
Glenn Currie at the console
He also refers to the organization as The South Austin Robot Group. Alas, this is a common gaff. We are The Robot Group, Inc. and, at the time, we hung-out in the south of Austin.
Eric Lundquist (foreground) and Kevin Derichs
Babbling Head atop the Robot Brain
Brooks Coleman among several of his creationsTom DavidsonJacob Brown and Jason RobbinsKevin Dreichs and Bill CraigDweebvision in disguise
Eric Lundquist monitors as Babbling Head entertains the troops.
Babbling Head entertains the students with a song or two.
Eric Lundquist and the class observe Catherine the Creative as she manipulates a chess piece.
Eric Lundquist demonstrates the P5 Virtual Reality glove.
Eric Lundquist with the students in the Barton Creek Elementary School, 2nd grade Gifted & Talented class as they experience the P5 Virtual Reality glove.
The students were great and had a lot of interesting questions. Babbling Head sang a few songs. Catherine the Creative moved a chess piece around. All of the students got a chance to try out the virtual reality glove.
In March 2001, The Robot Group, Inc. set up shop at the SxSW Interactive Media Trade Show. The highlight of the show was a catapult built by a local high school that was used for lobbing t-shirts and other goodies to show attendees.
SXSW 2001 Load-in at venue (L-R : Eyebot, Tai Chi arm, Aaron Lundquist, Derek Bridges, Lauren Kopplin carrying Babbling Head)
SXSW 2001 Load-in at venue (L-R : Eyebot, Tai Chi arm, Aaron Lundquist, Derek Bridges, Lauren Kopplin carrying Babbling Head)
SXSW 2001 Load-up at the warehouse (L-R : Aaron Lundquist, Tom Morin, Derek Bridges, Eric Lundquist, Bill Craig)
SXSW 2001 Load-up at the warehouse (L-R : Aaron Lundquist, Tom Morin, Derek Bridges, Eric Lundquist, Bill Craig)
SXSW 2001 booth all set up (Babbling Head on table, over banner, Eyebot)
SXSW 2001 booth all set up (Babbling Head on table, over banner, Eyebot)
SXSW 2001 booth (L-R : Don Colbath, Brooks Coleman, catapult in foreground, GatorGirl in background)
SXSW 2001 booth (L-R : Don Colbath, Brooks Coleman, catapult in foreground, GatorGirl in background)
SXSW 2001 Target area for catapult. Anna Nedeau in the bright footwear, Tami Friedman at the far right.
SXSW 2001 Target area for catapult. Anna Nedeau in the bright footwear, Tami Friedman at the far right.
SXSW 2001 Radio-controlled Shop-Vac®
SXSW 2001 Radio-controlled Shop-Vac®
SXSW 2001 Brooks Coleman with mannequin
SXSW 2001 Brooks Coleman with mannequin
SXSW 2001 Eric Lundquist chats with attendees
SXSW 2001 Eric Lundquist chats with attendees. Babbling Head (on table) and Eyebot can also be seen.
SXSW 2001 Eric Lundquist (with RC control unit)
SXSW 2001 Eric Lundquist (with RC control unit) steers Tom Davidson's & Sonia Santana's Eyebot around the floor.
Oscar – he’s our own trash can man. He is made from a standard metal trash can and a servo controlled robot hand.
Oscar puts trash in its place. An object placed in the robot hand will trigger the mechanism to retract the hand into the trash can and dispose of it properly
Oscar, performing his routine for the kids.
Oscar could have been a great boon in the waste disposal industry. The kids at RoboFest certainly loved feeding him. When Oscar is around, floors remain pretty spotless.
[Images and text initially from http://www.robotgroup.org/projects/oscar.html]
Tim Sheridan designed and built a radio-controlled (RC) servo “pup” capable of sitting, standing, walking, and barking. Alex Iles helped with the microcontroller implementation.
Bob Comer (and son, David) have been working on a surveillance robot with remote telepresence. The robot is constructed using a PVC frame and drive components (motor, gearbox, and wheels) scavenged from old kids’ electric ride-on toys.
The robot is equipped with
Imagine Tools Ethernet Starter Kit – Rabbit 3000 microprocessor with web server. Source : www.jameco.com
Linksys WRT54G wireless router. Source : Best Buy, CompUSA, Frys, etc.
Airlink AIC250 ethernet camera. Source : Frys, etc.
The robot is programmed in Dynamic C and has a web page as an interface. You can drive the robot from any computer with wireless networking and a web browser.
[Image and text originally from http://wiki.therobotgroup.org/wiki/RobertComer]
Tom Davidson & Sonia Santana are the forces behind, EyeBot, a mobile platform telepresence robot based on the Mobile Platform Mechanics. The control is a very basic R/C 4-channel using two 12V electronic speed controllers, and 2 R/C car servos.
The “Super-Rooster” speed controllers are capable of 128-levels of proportional control in forward and reverse and can handle up to 150 Amps at 12 Volts.
The servos are used in a gimbal which carries two Supercircuits microcameras, one an infrared monochrome camera and the other a high-resolution color camera. The video and audio signals are relayed by a X-10 2.4 GHz video transmitter-receiver pair.
Tom Davidson, co-creator of EyeBot @ SXSW 2000
EyeBot as GorillaBot at CAM Carnival 2004
EyeBot @ SXSW 2000
EyeBot as GorillaBot at CAM Carnival (San Antonio, TX) 2004-07-03 with Babbling Head, Tom Morin (standing), and Tom Davidson (seated)
EyeBot has made numerous appearances at The Robot Group events. The kids love EyeBot because it is approachable and appears to dance with them.
In addition, EyeBot appeared in the 2001 Robert Rodriguez film, Spy Kids.
Mark Pauline’s Survival Research Laboratories put on a show entitled “The Unexpected Destruction of Elaborately Engineered Artifacts : A misguided adventure in risk eradication, happening without known cause, in connection with events that are not necessarily related” at Longhorn Speedway, Austin, TX on 1997-03-28.
The SRL show was produced Bill Craig, Tom Davidson, and Paco X with substantial logistical assistance provided by Diana DeFrancesco.
For reasons of liability, The Robot Group, Inc. was not involved in any way with the production or the promotion of the show. Individual members were free to volunteer or help as they wished.
[Editorial note : I am awaiting Mark Pauline’s permission to use the Austin show’s poster as the featured image on this page.]
Eric Lundquist‘s Mobile Robotic Platform was an experimental built-from-scratch design with several unique features. Its behavior was very moth-like in that it chased the brightest light that it could detect. Obstacles were detected and avoided with feeler wires on 3 sides.
The brains of the Mobile Robotic Platform were a Parallax BASIC Stamp I providing 8 I/O lines and programming in a dialect of BASIC. Eric added a Stamp Extender that provided an additional 16 I/O lines.
The BASIC Stamp drove the motor and direction relays, the LEDs, and the Piezo buzzer. It also monitored the status of bumpers and polled light levels from its 3 photocell “eyes”.
The base was painted pine shelving material. Not only was this low cost, it did not require any specialized tools to work aside from a circular saw. It also made it exceptionally easy to mount, fasten, and rearrange things.
Eric’s ultimate goal with this project was to add several more BASIC Stamp controllers to make a distributed parallel architecture. This would have allowed more complex behavioral responses and interactions with the environment.
![Dave Attell and his crew on their visit to The Robot Group [Tai Chi Charlie in the background with Kevin Derichs]](http://therobotgroup.titaniumgecko.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/TRG_-_Insomniac_05200025-cropped.jpg)
![Dave Attell and his crew on their visit to The Robot Group [Brooks Coleman on the right sporting his Dylanesque leopard-skin pillbox hat]](http://therobotgroup.titaniumgecko.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/TRG_-_Insomniac_05200023-cropped-1024x638.jpg)
