Thursday, March 1, 2007

Eye, Robot?

We're getting a robot! I don't mean my roommate and me, I mean the museum. There used to be a robotics company here in Roanoke. It's gone out of business, but one of the last surviving robots built and programmed here belongs to AmGen Labs in California. They used the robot for a few years for everything from security to diagnostic tests, but they're looking to get rid of it (for reasons passing understanding -- why would you get rid of a robot?). Bev (the Executive Director of the museum) found out about it somehow, and they're going to give it to us!

Here's what I know about the robot:
  • It's smart enough to re-charge itself when it detects its batteries are running down;
  • Its sensors are so sensitive that it had to be fine-tuned so as not to interpret the water from a flushed toilet in the pipes as a broken water line;
  • It can seek and find a heat source as intense as a single lit match from 500 yards;
  • Despite having no "eyes" to speak of, it can be programmed for motion detection and to call police or fire as needed.
My understanding is that it rolls on wheels, but in my mind, this is some sort of quasi-sentient, Johnny 5 type robot with tank treads and crazy arms. Bev wants to hold a city-wide competition to name the robot. I think it's a great idea, but I'll still probably think of it as Johnny 5.

3 comments:

RoanokeFound said...

Locutus?

Could there be a Borg-Warner system onboard?

Philosofik said...

Ha! I am Johnny 5 of 5. Resistance is futile. All your base are belong to us.

RoanokeFound said...

We will add your biological and technolog.. *looks around*.. Never mind.

Of course theres always Marvin...

Look at me, a security droid at an underfunded museum.. ahh well, better than being a rock. Brain the size of a planet and I'm watching model trains go around and around.. *sigh*