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Still More Robots

[Robo Sapien]

A RoboSapien.
I just had to get one. Pretty good value for money. Must be hacked :) Have a look at the "Hack a Sapien Contest" . I'm not participating. If I would think about hacking it I would try to replace the IR -control with a "blue tooth" or R/C control and control the darn thing by PC.

[RoboMaxx]

The "Robo Maxx". This one's cute, too. A dust collecting robot ... I've got quite a few "dust collectors" in my shelfs but this one does it actively ;-)
" HACK IT!, HACK IT! " :)
What's to be done here?
  • make it reload it's battery when it is time (instead of quietly dying in a corner),
  • make it report when it's dust box is full,
  • make it report when it gets stuck (which it does often)
  • make it avoid falling down stairs (which it would do just once)
Already I've seen projects to change the robot's processor. It uses an Elan EM78P156ELP 0320W BA35D1 micro which is OTP (so no reprogramming). It should be rather easy to be replaced (leaving the rest of the circuit, especially the "discrete parts" motor controller). There have been voices that it's mechanics have a tendency to fail relatively early (for example the plastic gears) so it is a question whether " it's all worth it " :)

Anyway. Read about it's vivisection (German only).
[Robo-001]

Another one in the "dust collector collection". There are some slight resemblances to the Roomba. Pure coincidence. I'm sure :)

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