Is R2D2 a practical robotic project?

Question

While I do not mean R2D2 exactly, I do mean his functions, more or less.

R2D2 interfaces will all the various computers and devices, stores and plays back information, repairs systems, and so on.

While a lot of it is merely science fiction/motion picture device, there is some utility here I think.

A universal remote control. How many devices do we have that their own remote control interface. Surely a robot should be able to use voice interfacing and a library of remote control signatures to control various appliances.

Vacuum cleaner, well obviously.

Standard computer stuff, word processing via dictation, music, video playback, etc.

Rocking the babies cradle

and so on.

I think a viable application of a mobile robot is not necessarily something "robotic" any more than the first viable application of personal computers was something "computing."

The first personal computers became popular not because of "computing," but because the could do something mundane like be a better typewriter (word processor) or better adding machine (spreadsheet).

Maybe robotics is similar, the robot isn't going to get popular because it does something "new" and "robotic," maybe they get popular because they do something mundane.

aiiadict · Accepted Answer

learn VHDL and start playing with FPGA's...

Randy Hootman · Answer

fetching bears ...;)

mlw · Answer

Yea, I was just laughing to myself when I wrote that. I hope the guy wasn'toffended, but the imagined visual was too funny to not share.

mlw · Answer

And what do FPGAs have to do with robotics as a concept? I mean, sure, building blocks and all, but so is rubber and power supplies. Specifically, each have their purpose which is not, strictly speaking, "robotic" in nature, but upon which robots can be built.

I have an amount of experience with programmable devices, and telling someone to "lean VHDL and start playing with FPGAs" in the context of a "practical robotic project," is like telling someone to study botany in order to build a wooden deck. Perhaps interesting, maybe even useful in some esoteric sense, but certainly not germane to the subject.

Dale Smith · Answer

this?

aiiadict · Answer

FPGA is programmable logic..Cores for IR send and receive, VCR, TV, stereo codes available....will interface with anything, cores available for storing and playingback information, upgradeable to deal with new remote controls,cheap, in system programmabilitySo... you build the board once, and when new hardware featuresare thought of, you just reprogram the chip.Rich

aiiadict · Answer

If you ask if something is practical... You get opinions.

If you try to implement something in hardware, you get results.

FPGA's make implementation cheap, easy, and fast. Practical..

:-)

My opinion is that FPGA's make any application practical, and there are cores available.. Source code for the hardware. "all" you've got to do is sit down, start typing, and then show us what you've got.

I'm taking videos of my robot mentioned in another post, and I'll post them soon.

Rich

Randy Hootman · Answer

Your reply to the guy hit my funny bone hard and I annoyed my wife by laughing all night (even in my sleep). Thanks for the good laugh. Quite a sense of humor you have. I love it!

Is R2D2 a practical robotic project?

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