Wow! Super Cool! Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for the report Lumpy! From the pics , I presume everything white was "printed" on site?

The tracked creation was a hybrid of a rover chassis and 3D printed upper to match. Everything else seemed like it was printed in house. Some of the servo/camera mounts are quite creative.

I'm sure I've missed some important details. Writing is not my strong point.

Man I can't wait to print one of those EZ-bit creations! My robot will look more classy instead of some home-brewed cardboard box!

Awesome stuff Lumpy. I'd have loved to be there but the commute was just around 4386 miles too far (in a straight line).

Loving the rover robot, reminds me of my testbot, but more refined

Were any other new features for ARC mentioned? As awesome as 3D printing is, I'd love to know if there are more controls being added.

In the ShawTV video of EZ-Robot, you can see the customizing of 3D-printed robots in ARC (look around 1:00)

Yeah the 3D EZ-Bit part looks very impressive (and very easy to use). There have been a lot of little hints dropped and thinks leaked in the background over the last few weeks/months, but one thing I haven't seen is anything that shows new controls like the Kinect integration for instance (I know about the post) or this control that should make encoders redundant... those are the things I'm most excited about.

I can see me wanting to throw a lot of money in the way of the EZ-Bits and know I will struggle to resist.

Wow this is great, very impressive DJ, I am glad to see you are able to add more people to your staff. Are you going to have a call in tech support staff? That would be great even if you have a charge by the hour fee. That way I could call in and work with someone on my project. I know there will be a million questions on 3D printing, script and I want to do this but I don't know how, can you help me.

Also when are you going public, I want to buy lots of stock!

Thanks again for making it possible for us non-programming bunch to still have a cooooooool robot.

Keep an eye on my posts (click on User Details under my avatar), I cover a lot of script tasks and try to explain in such a way that anyone who reads through it can follow it and hopefully take something away from it and learn from it. (You may already know this, but newcomers may not have seen them so I like to throw it out there from time to time).

Although, that said, if anyone needs a script or needs help on a script just ask and I'll jump right in and help. I'm always looking for new features to tackle and the way I see it is if I can help people learn how to write scripts then the community will end up with a while load of new scripts and awesome functions.

From what I know and have seen since being part of this awesome community is that these forums are the best way for tech support. The information becomes part of the forum and can be found by others with similar problems. Why change that? I know some people will want or need to speak with someone and have them guide them through things too so I can see a reason for a tech support line but I can see more benefit from the current method. Pretty much the same reasons why I generally ask for people to ask questions in the forum rather than on email to me, or when the chat was running, on the forums not in the chat.

Nice pics, cool bots but everyone seems to build small robots around here. Doesn't anyone like to to build large scale bots? Ya know what they say.. go Big or go Home !

I'm working up to something larger... much larger. I'm just cutting my teeth on the building side of things and refining the controls side of things first.

There are a few big bots, Dave's B9 (and a few other B9s too I think), Rex is building something big too if memory serves me correctly. And a few others are large scale robots.

@ Robohappy, There are a few big bots but I found out that even with the smaller ones the costs can grow higher than you originally plan for. In my case, it's simply because the more I learn, the more you want to do with it.

@ Rich. Much larger?! Very cool! What will be the power source?

@Troy yes much larger, a huge project but one that should be very cool. Power source is unknown at the moment, much like most of it. But it'll be around 6' tall when standing upright... It'll be months before I am even ready to start on it let alone post proper details about it. It will be my biggest challenge.

I browsed through the new ARC revolution (Big guy purple shirt in vid). Didn't really see any other new features for us, but I'm sure there is some stuff hiding in there for us.

There was a button for "3D Scanning" that DJ didn't go over in the presentation.

We should see the new software shortly and be able to get a more in-depth look.

@RoboHappy - My little robots are just test beds for bigger robots.

I'm working on a robot for my buddies gun range. It will be an armored autonomous target stand, and manually controlled for some good ol fun. Going to put a camera on it for a different point of view of things. eek

@lumpy Hey I picked up this autonomous gun turret for tree rats and deer around my garden. Works great and I have not had issues with ether anymore, check it out.

Autonomous Gun Turret

@RoboHappy I am working on a large bot named Magnus. He is roughly 6 feet tall and already weighs in at 280 lbs so far. I am about 5 years into the build. Building most items from scratch takes so much time and $ that I have put him on hold for now. I am presently working on a smaller (with a much simpler chassis) robot named Questor that I can tinker with inside the house. Like Rich says I wanted to do this so I could experiment with all the controls. That way I can make better decisions about how to incorporate them into Magnus later.

Rex

@Lumpy A target that shoots back at you would be very interesting. Talk about upping your skills on the range. ;-)

I can't wait to get one of the little mini ezb's. I really need it in the brain oh my B9. the regular size one I have in there is just too tall. The heat sinks and regulators won't let me close the lid.

Lumpy, thanks for the review. 3d printing is cool but I have to admit that I was hoping for more features people who can't afford them could use. Stuff that had been hinted to in the past like better positioning control. At any rate, these are exciting times for EZ Robot. congratulations!

Lol and some robots "Grow" I think the Omnibot 2000 original robots frame has grown 17 inches taller than when I started It for sure costs lots more than I originally budgeted. Little changes can mean big bucks. We seem to have a competition on who can have the biggest robot project going lol.

Bigger robots weigh more therefore need stronger servos or motors therefore require more power. For every bit a robot grows, it's builders bank account shrinks. I've got the ez-complete and though I haven't got to do much with it I know I want 4-6 heavy duty servos which will need external power. I'm so happy to have discovered EZ Robot. The price vs power balance is great.

@anybody-who-may-know Is there going to be a new EZ Complete version for Revolution? Maybe a kit with some EZ Bits? Will there maybe be a box of bits we can buy? I'm really digging those printed servo mounts and brackets. Oh and the "Alien" head is super cool.

Hehe, yeah. The bigger they get, the more it hurts the wallet. But of course that is half the fun. My other hobby is RC Airplanes so I also tend to spend alot on that stuff too and I enjoy it too. But for me lately, the airplanes are for relaxing, but the robots, for profit. I'm lookin to go into a new biz with a couple of simple designs in the future ( I hope ! )

Even small, basic robots can add up, Jarvis was supposed to be pretty simple and built on bits I had from Melvin that I never used... that never happened.

Pictures look very good LUMPY and video NIEK ,look like you are had good time.

Wish i could make it,but was at a time memorial weekend and i had plans and a big party to go to.

@Antron007 We are focused on bringing creative minds together and allowing you to share and create amazing 3D printed parts with this new release. The ability to "community print" is going to be a great way for you to connect with other like minded people in your area.

We will be manufacturing some of the key EZ-Bits and providing different bundles and packages. Even though this will be coming, we still want people like yourself and the rest of the EZ-Community to express your creativity by engage in designing, printing and creating your own amazing parts and bots!

I'm so excited to see the cool parts and projects that you guys can create

HI ALAN i cant wait also,EZ-BITS is a great idea. I guess to use EZ-BITS you need to buy a 3D printer not a problem for me ,but most will have a hard time buying one.

So big question will you be selling the printed parts ? Alan are you from the EZ-ROBOT support staff you are nice looking guy

@Alan (or DJ or anyone really), what if there is no "local" community? Is there an option to print via a 3d print service such as shapeways? And is the EZ-Clip going to be released so we can use it in Solidworks for when those of us who decide to design stuff can build it into the designs from the first step?

And an after thought, what about something to spur on newcomers to the world of solidworks, some template pieces and whatnot? Starting a new part from a blank canvas can be daunting.

I for one cannot wait to see what the future brings with the community. I saw some very very cool stuff happen with pepakura when the exploit was found for using it to build cosplay armours, I hope to see the same happen with ARC and the EZ-Bits. Community driven stuff rocks

I know this 3D printing business is gonna be huge. When people first get the kit, many times they don't want to have to design the entire robot from scratch just to use it. Having the ability to pick out designs or easily customize your own from different parts lets the user get started and learn EZ-B right away. I think once you are familiar with how the EZ-B works, designing your own robot is much easier. And the "open source" idea of sharing and building upon each others creation will lead to very many awesome valuable designs.

As much as the hardware of a robot is cool and all, I think what people are really impressed by is the "intelligence" the software of a robot. Especially kids, they are always curious to talk to robots and see how smart it is, how it interacts with them. Even adults are. Seeing a fancy robot mold that only moves around is only cool for so long.

The problem of AI and Machine learning is not something I know anything about. But I do know that is what people are really fascinated by when they see the robots in the movies. They might think its the hardware, but its really the software.

Awesome! Thanks for the info. For some reason I could not hear any of the Live Cast last night and wanted more details. I'm so glad you posted this! And thanks to DJ and team for another great product. Keep up the good work!

;)

@feroze, The AI is something to keep an eye on. It's something I'm working on in ARC with scripts and variables, external software, databases etc. and with the EZ-Cloud V2 it sounds like that'll make it easier for me to bring to everyone else. Also I have read that Tony (@toymaker), mentioned in DJ's presentation, has some pretty advanced AI coming too.

The AI that comes as standard in ARC beats any other robot software that I've used, while it may seem basic it is pretty advanced and a lot can be done to make it work for your robot (I want to avoid saying work better as it works very well as it is).

As DJ said, EZ-Robots is about amalgamating everything under one roof, hardware, software, platform. In 2 years look at what has become. Throw in an awesome community and in another 2 years just imagine what we will have.

Bicentennial Man may have been Robin Williams dressed up 14 years ago, we will have something very close in not so long I am sure of it.

I heard DJ was working on AI software and now he stopped on it. I am shore very soon in a few years we will have robots living like us like SONNY from IROBOT movie.

I even bought the SONNY HEAD from a guy who worked on the IROBOT movie set.,that makes 93 robots now

It's true that the AI currently available in ARC is the best so far. The capabilities are on par with what some researchers have been trying to do in labs.

The real question is whats the difference between a machine and a robot? Is my coffee maker a robot? Is a remote control car a robot? Is a coffee maker attached to a remote control car a robot?

Fundamentally all machines are robots, programmed to do a specific task. Take my dryer or washing machine, it's programmed to spin at a set speed, set temperature for a specific time. And that in a sense is AI. It's all it knows and it's not very entertaining but it's autonomous once the start button is pushed.

The same goes for my toaster, coffee machine, everything

Are people just really complex robots too? Sometimes I feel like a robot. Well robots will never have real emotion, or will they, or do they?

MY girlfriend thinks i am a robot or part robot,since i build and think about robots 24 hours a day. She said if didn't love me so much she would leave me,and i guess also she waiting on a new car for wedding gift.

SHE even found a robot in bed with us.

sounding a little creepy robotmaker! The community Buzz is very energizing for sure and with the Revolution its only going to get better:) I think what makes a robot different from machines is that it has a "personality" or should have! Rich's dryer and washer are great robots but really have no personality...when it does something really unexpected and makes us laugh or watch intently thats when it gets a grade A......Congrats DJ ! We deserved! you know we all wish we could have been there in the physical form...though I am getting another GREAT idea It would be very cool for us to have an avatar/butler on site to keep tabs on stuff on a rotational basis. the quasis streaming video is ok...but to interact with people would be awesome

ITS a shame not many can see my post ,since i am set as a ghost IROBOT you need to let others know whats creepy on what i said.

THATS what bad about posting comments as a ghost,very few see it because they don't know i am ghost and ones who see it and answer my posts it looks wrong or nobody know what you are talking about.

One reason i can't post photos or my projects yet,only a few like you and technopro will see it,so i hope DJ will put me back on the forum very soon .

IT makes the posts look kinda stupid.

Also i think the same thing about machines like a dryer and washing machine and toaster its a machine not a robot.

TOASTER only has a heater and thermal switch,like on dryer its a timer and motor and heater coil.

A quick search on the definition of a robot gives interesting results. The most loosely defined one reads : "ro·bot [ r? bòt ] 1.programmable machine for performing tasks: a mechanical device that can be programmed to carry out instructions and perform complicated tasks usually done by people"

Which is basically any mechanical or electronic device if you get down to the very basic, bare bones of it all.

The other way to think about it is this, as What does a robot do?

A robot carries out tasks automatically, programmed or autonomously (usually programmed).

What does a kettle do? What does a toaster do? What does a calculator do? What does a computer do? The answers, if you take out the specifics and strip it down to the extreme basics, are all the same... they carry out a task as instructed by a program.

@rich hey as you said a washing machine can be a robot.

:D

Oh and Is a washing machine a robot?

hey @Lumpy ... just getting to the forum now. What the heck did I miss? And what do you need to tell me?

Thanks for joining us ... and we'll get that little bathroom problem in to the next release - I promise.

~Lori

@Lori

All is good. All you need to know is DJ offers great customer service and truly cares about his customers. In return he has a customer for life and another loyal ambassador for EZ-Robot.

I'll be back to visit soon. I don't do well with crowds. I wanted to introduce myself to you and talk to Allan but you two were so popular.

I tried voice commands to un-lock the bathroom door but it simply wasn't working! cool

@Rich and tymtraveler...I happily stand corrected! those washing machines have awesome personalitys! @Lumpy, you needed the special code to unlock the door! I believe its " Please open sesame"