I have a request for guidance and my suggestion.
First, the suggestion.
I've tried searching for this with no luck, so it may have been mentioned before.
Is there a project to build the Dronebot robot? The mascot robot for the site. It seems to me this is a project that has unlimited potential and would be beneficial to the site. I can imagine different models that cater to different experience levels (beginner, intermediate, advanced); the project can be community driven with contributions from people with different skill sets, i.e., CAD/3D modelers, circuit designers, programmers, micro motors, quadruped. biped, wheeled, etc. The capabilities can be varied, i.e., lights, sound, RC, etc.
Wouldn't it be fun if once the design is "build ready". it could be presented on the channel. You could have different models appear on bench that match the theme of the episode.
This project seemed conspicuously missing to me. A caution is that Bill would need to agree to build it or take some prebuilt items from the community and assemble them. It would also need time to get it build ready so timing might be an issue. But much of it is probably already there.
Once it's in place, of course, it would serve as a springboard for more ideas. Dronebot in a plane, on a boat, in a car, karioke Dronebot, Dronebot torso, etc.
It just seems to me that it would be a fun project.
Guidance Q: Is there a policy about kit bashing? I have a couple of purchased toy bots that I would like to either upgrade or take components from. Same for replicating some aspect of another bot. For example. the oHBot pan-and-tilt is similar to the component sold by Adafruit. Try to combine the mouth and eye movement mechanisms with the Adafruit enclosure.
Thanks
Tim
The one who has the most fun, wins!
I would think there is a difference between a programming a toy robot that just does a performance (one that dances and sings for example) and one that also interacts in some way such as responding to speech?
A project might be to program the movements into a toy robot such as found here?
https://toyotatimes.jp/en/report/supported_tokyo2020/058.html
The problem with using purchased toys is anyone wanting to duplicate the project has to have access to the same toy. But it can be a cheap solution compared with buying components individually. The power of mass production. A version of the oHBot pan-and tilt looks like a very doable project maybe with a RPi or Arduino controller? My grandchildren have a very old teddy bear that tells stories (moves its mouth and arms). The programmed movements and voice are in plug in ram modules for each story.