Dammit. I guess Pablo 247, my robot made from paper clips, didn't win iRobot's Create Challenge contest, because Danh Trinh's "Personal Home Robot" did. Great name, there, Danh.
Lame name aside (it's no Pablo 247), Personal Home Robot can water plants, control lights and appliances, play music and remind owners to take their medication. Unfortunately, it didn't remind Trinh to take his naming creativity pills or use paper clips in his design. But Trinh, of Towson, MD, still gets $5,000 in cash. That's a lot of paper clips.
The iRobot Create Challenge is built around the iRobot Create, a model designed for aspiring roboticists to customize and program from out-of-the-box components. iRobot brought us the famous Roomba, and also develops models to perform other domestic tasks like gutter cleaning or IED identification and removal.
If the laser-guided missile systems arrived on time, I think Pablo 247 and I could've won. Until next year, congratulations Danh Trinh of Towson, MD. But watch your back: You never know when "Personal Home Robot" might turn on you.
"Personal Home Robot" building instructions at Instructables.com
Comments
Corey Binns
says:
The name makes me cringe. "Personal Home Robot" just doesn't have the personality of Rosie, the Jetson's robot maid. At least bots made on iRobot's Create aren't nearly as scary as those coming out of the Humanoid Robotics Project.
October 30, 2007 2:56 PM
Joey Seiler
says:
At first I thought that $5000 was a bit low for creating a completely awesome robot. Maybe in retrospect it's all branding. Pablo 247 is easily a 10k robot. Until it dances to Spoon, though, my money stays in my wallet.
October 30, 2007 3:01 PM
Ted Alvarez
says:
Dances to Spoon? My next robot is a spoon. Where's my money?
October 30, 2007 5:36 PM
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