The White Box Robotics Model 914 PC-BOT
The cheapest and easiest robot to build and program is obviously the
PC-based bot, so why not slap a white box
computer on wheels, give it some webcam eyes and Windows controller apps, and let it go wild oppressing humanity, or
more likely, serving drinks, ala Short Circuit? (Gotta give White Box Robotics credit for at least being
self-referential.) The $1,600 Model 914 PC-BOT runs Windows, though, but there’s no reason we can think of that you
couldn’t load it up with Linux and your favorite AI, TTS, and speech recognition apps to keep you company on those
lonely summer nights ahead.
[Via
NY Times]
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Reader Comments
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Perhaps when I can afford it I'll use it as my personal "R2-D2." Although a "C3-PO" would be more preferable.
Darnell-- just think of the time you'll save locating friends and relatives and not having to wait for elevators...
I'm really hoping robotics moves quickly into our homes. There are signs of this, indicated here on Engadget lately (not as much since PT disappeared tho)... But naming a critter "Model 914 PC-Bot" is not the way to enlightened anthropromorphism.
How about Happy or Cubey or even Roboticus? Or in celebration of a quarter century of mediocrity: DOSBot.
Don't forget to program this thing to scream EXTERMINATE! whenever your British friends come over...
Robots already in use everywhere...
Marshall Brain (yes, that's his name) founder of HowStuffWorks.com has written a couple of interesting essays about robotics in the future, well worth reading. He feels that it is quite plausible that over the next 40 years robots will displace most human jobs. According to Brain's projections, in his essay "Robotic Nation", humanoid robots will be widely available by 2030. They will replace jobs currently filled by people for work such as fast-food service, housecleaning and retail sales. Unless ways are found to compensate for these lost jobs, Brain estimates that more than 50% of Americans could be unemployed by 2055 – replaced by robots.
Oh, those silly Daleks. They're so cheerful when they're exterminating!
What would you do with it, seriously?
i have the same Q. as one of the guys asked
What would you do with it, seriously?
Is that really a robot or just a hideous new boombox?
It looks like a cool case mod with wheels. It needs a arm or something to grab and move things.
