A Man And His Robot

When I was a child I received a memorable gift. It was a toy robot called a Robie Jr. from Radio Shack. Robie was pretty cool. He had an autonomous bump-n-go mode that allowed him to rove around the house. When he hit something with his front bumper he'd say "Excuse me" and turn in a different direction. But perhaps his coolest feature was that he could follow you around. Robie's remote control had an ultrasonic emitter. Two ultrasonic microphones in his "ears" allowed him to echo-locate. Back in the 80's this was like some sort of Devo-esque disco magic.

So fast forward a few years... When I came across a broken Robie robot on e-bay. His welcoming LED eyes beckoned me to buy. And the fact that he was only $30 (including shipping) didn't hurt much either.

I quickly fixed Robie. 30 years of age had corroded the battery terminals and loosened some of his solder connections. So after a few minutes of sandpaper and solder he was back to his old self.

But being a hacker and a coder simply working is not good enough! To my eyes Robie is an ideal robotics platform. There's plenty of space inside his shell. There's already 2 motors connected to wheels and there are plenty of switches that I can hook up to things.

So my mission is to upgrade Robie for the modern age. Robotics have become inexpensive in the ensuing years. And there is a lot of fun I can have with this little guy...