Robot Archaeology: Personal Robots #Robots @NintendoAmerica @RadioShack

Personal Robots, robots made to interact with humans, is the current human time saver. From Alexa and Siri to Roomba and Drinkbots. But where have these robots come from? Let’s look back in time to see some of the history of Personal Robots to help us appreciate the bright future we’re heading into.

In past Robot Archaeology posts, we’ve seen the Turtle bots from the 1970s and the evolution into consumer electronics. The 1980s came up with some pretty creative robots from Radio Shack, Mattel, and more. Even Nintendo had a cute robot named R.O.B. (upper left)

Robots of the 1980s

What do these robots have in common? Mid-price range, available at toy stores or Radio Shack et al. Educational, personal service, and fun.

Today, Personal Robots are coming back with some modern electronics and flair. The Sphero robots, including BB-8 from Star Wars and the new Misty robot and Temi.

Modern Robots

Where are Personal Robots going? Only time will tell but there are groups like the Institute for Personal Robots in Education and many companies like Boston Dynamics looking into things.

How can someone look into making their own Personal Robots? A great start is with the upcoming Adafruit Crickit robotics board. Move motors and servos, add sound and sensors, you build what you want at an affordable price.  It’s never been a better time to get into robotics. #MakeRobotFriend today.

Adafruit Crickit

Eink, E-paper, Think Ink – Collin shares six segments pondering the unusual low-power display technology that somehow still seems a bit sci-fi – http://adafruit.com/thinkink

Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.

Join 26,000+ makers on Adafruit’s Discord channels and be part of the community! http://adafru.it/discord

Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.

Join us every Wednesday night at 8pm ET for Ask an Engineer!

Follow Adafruit on Instagram for top secret new products, behinds the scenes and more https://www.instagram.com/adafruit/

CircuitPython – The easiest way to program microcontrollers – CircuitPython.org

Maker Business — To make it through a tough business cycle, layoffs should be a last resort

Wearables — Sticky energy

Electronics — My signal isn’t THAT noisy, is it?

Python for Microcontrollers — Python on Microcontrollers Newsletter: COVID tracking, OSHWA proposals and much more! #Python #Adafruit #CircuitPython @micropython @ThePSF

Adafruit IoT Monthly — Our Favorite IoT Projects from 2020

Microsoft MakeCode — Play MakeCode Arcade games on Raspberry Pi!

EYE on NPI — Maxim’s Himalaya uSLIC Step-Down Power Module #EyeOnNPI @maximintegrated @digikey

New Products – Adafruit Industries – Makers, hackers, artists, designers and engineers! — JP’s Product Pick of the Week 1/19/21 MPR121 Cap Touch Gator Breakout @adafruit @johnedgarpark #adafruit #newproductpick

Get the only spam-free daily newsletter about wearables, running a "maker business", electronic tips and more! Subscribe at AdafruitDaily.com !

No Comments

No comments yet.

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.

Filed under: CRICKIT, history, robotics —
Tags: , , , , , — by Anne Barela

Comments Off on Robot Archaeology: Personal Robots #Robots @NintendoAmerica @RadioShack