The Write-LMR-Challenge

By fritsl
2008-09-06 20:34

The rules here are simple:

Make a robot that one way or the other writes either "letsmakerobots.com", or "LMR" the way you like it.
Shoot it on video, enter it as a robot.
Best entries will be promoted / used to promote LMR - Fame, envy, marvel, admiration and respect is the prize!

Your robot can shape the letters in clay, burn it on your sisters dog with a laser, build them out of breadcrumbs.. or draw it with a pencil on a piece of paper. Anything goes, as long as the letters are clearly written, and the video shows the progress.

Sample code is VERY welcome - perhaps this can be done simple by a "start-here-robot" - that would be way cool, and with some simple code that others could adapt and try at home!

Make sure that you have plenty of light on the video - best shot outside in daylight - it is going to be featured, so we need it to be sunny ;)

By fritsl @ Sat, 2008-09-06 21:05

I would be VERY impressed if

I would be VERY impressed if a Techie could do this - I just don't think they are up for it, they would be making it too complicated :D:D

(You have been challenged, Techies!) Looking forward to see some cool Arty writers!

By Nick @ Sun, 2008-09-07 08:21

Can build it with NXT?

Can i build it with nxt?

or else i dont stand a chance.

By fritsl @ Sun, 2008-09-07 09:33

Of course! Build it with wet

Of course! Build it with wet paper towels if you'd like, as long as it is "a robot" that is writing LMR or letsmakerobots.com, that is the only rule.

By BaseOverApex @ Sun, 2008-09-07 14:39

Done!

I did this in Lego with my RCX. All I'd have to do to get it to write LMR is give it an alternative bitmap. (The two bitmaps at the bottome ar those the machine was fed with. If you click them, you can see teh results out from the plotter.)

Of course, I dismantled it when we moved house about 10 years ago, so, I'll not be entering this version, but if we don't get a winner, I'll rebuild it for publicity. Actually, this is only part of the project. I never finished it, but it was supposed to be a photocopier.

Question: what would make this machine a "robot"? Is a pen plotter within your definition of "robot"?

By fritsl @ Sun, 2008-09-07 18:30

I would say that a robot

I would say that a robot would have to be somewhat mobile here to really qualify; A homemade plotter would be cool, sure, but I think the visuals would work better if

the output was larger than the robot, and
the robot itself was moving in order to fulfill the task

By rik @ Fri, 2008-09-12 21:12

This challenge is getting more press then entries! (so far)

Just look at all the blog repeaters out there:

http://www.google.nl/search?q=The+Write-LMR-Challenge

eggshell-robotics and botjunkie for starters. Let's just hope /. doesn't get wind of this story!

By fritsl @ Fri, 2008-09-12 21:40

I told you; Fame is waiting

I told you; Fame is waiting for the first to make it :D

By BaseOverApex @ Sun, 2008-09-14 20:53

Simple is best

...even if it's just a floor turtle from the 1970's?

By fritsl @ Mon, 2008-09-15 06:55

Yes, but of course!And you

Yes, but of course!

And you can also change the fontface, if you want letters to be made out of the same line, use small letters (lmr) etc.

By BaseOverApex @ Tue, 2008-09-16 17:38

Burning logo on dog with laser

With respect to the burning of the LMR logo onto my sisters dog with a laser, can LMR give me any veterinary liability insurance? I suspect my sister will want the dog to have plastic surgery after I shoot my video in order to correct the tissue damage and to restore some of the fur.

Also, can you list UK suppliers of anaesthetics? I shouldn't want to test my canine laser tatoo machine with the animal still conscious. I suspect it will struggle resulting in the logo being quite unreadable. That's probably not really the image you want to advertise anyway as it would make the workmanship look quite terrible.

Can the deadline please be extended a little? The dog's leg is still in plaster as it got broken while I was testing my entry for the "Robot to Lift Your Sister's Dog to the Top of the Eiffel Tower" challenge last month. Stupid, really. My sister told me I should have incorporated a parachute.

PS - no animals were actually harmed in the making of this comedy message.

By BaseOverApex @ Fri, 2008-09-19 21:37

First Entry

I present <drum roll, please>:

Harmenszoon

(Using a little Dutch influence, there to wow the judges.)

YouTube Video Here

For my next trick, I think I will try to get a servo to operate a paint aerosol. If I can do that, I can mount it on BigChaser and go and grafitti LETSMAKEROBOTS on the road outside my house. Actually, I think there's a big fine for doing that. Wait a minute, if my robot does it, no-one would know it was me!!

By BaseOverApex @ Sat, 2008-09-20 08:57

Pop Quiz

Pop Quiz: Can anyone tell me what this represents: ABEKLMORST ?

By neutronfluxlabs @ Sat, 2008-09-20 17:47

stromkabel?

stromkabel - Electric Cable

By BaseOverApex @ Sat, 2008-09-20 20:43

Coincidence

All the letters in the word "stromkabel" arranged in alphabetical order. A BEAUTIFUL coincidence (you'll see why later), but not the answer I was looking for.

By robologist @ Sat, 2008-09-20 21:36

Rearranging

the letters in Lets Make Robots

or alphabetizing as you said

By BaseOverApex @ Sat, 2008-09-20 22:11

Damn

Did I give too much away? Yeah - that's what I was looking for. Nice, though, that one instance of each of the letters in "letsmakerobots" is an anagram of stromkabel.

By fritsl @ Mon, 2008-09-22 21:16

stormkabel?! i kinda like

stormkabel?! i kinda like that! stormkabel.com is available :D

I also like your robo, BOA :) Thanks! (a little pathetic, but I still like it :D)

By BaseOverApex @ Mon, 2008-09-22 22:07

Pathetic?

You're just sore because I don't grasp your notion for stalking plastic heads. ;-)

By robologist @ Sat, 2008-09-20 21:22

Or more paint cans

Check out the GraffittiWriter robot :

http://www.appliedautonomy.com/gw.html

By guibot @ Tue, 2008-09-30 00:10

Farrusco tries to write 'LMR'

While coding new interactivity into Farrusco, and trying to achieve more control on the way it moves, I though it would be cool to see what happens if I mount one little servo to hold a pen, and tell him to write ‘LMR’

This is the result :) http://letsmakerobots.com/node/2306

2899426383_10025bc28b.jpg?v=0

By BaseOverApex @ Sat, 2008-10-04 14:08

Dominoes

I don't have time to do this myself, but if someone else does, please feel free to pick it up and run with it.

This is a video of a little $8 toy which lays a trail of dominoes behind it.

It's steerable. My thinking is that it wouldn't take too much to stick a servo on the steering head. It already has a drive motor. It doesn't even need an H-bridge control as it has no requirement to ever go backwards.

It would be sweet if someone could write LMR in dominoes!

I'm afraid I can't remember where we got the toy, but it couldn't be too hard to replicate.

Unfortunately (see video) it sometimes knocks them over. Need a better mechanism.

By Ant @ Sat, 2008-10-18 03:43

I know its not a robot.....

but does this one qualify to enter?

http://letsmakerobots.com/node/2514

By fritsl @ Sat, 2008-10-18 07:06

Make those knobs turn and let that be your propulsion and THEN you can call it a robot! At any rate; we ARE expecting a technical follow up post!

By TigPT @ Sun, 2008-10-19 14:22

OMG

OMG, its awesome.. Greath job, think its a auto win hahaha

Its crazy well done.

By BaseOverApex @ Sun, 2008-10-19 23:06

WhizzyWriter

Hmmm...

Too tired to post WhizzyWriter details right now.

Maybe tomorrow.

All this arty stuff's killing me. Here's the home movie.