Hi Robotmaker,

Impressive ! A true roboteer !

I started around 8 or 9 with a cardbox and Meccano robot head. Together with a wind screen motor and lots of duck tape I made a candy dispenser robot head. My dad still has a few pictures, I hope to find them again.

Later on it was all about Meccano and aluminium experiments. I started with an Apple II+, my home build PIA interface card for stepper motor and a Tandy(Radio Shack) Speech processor (SP0256-AL2). I still have them somewhere in my shed.

Here are the pictures of my 1st "real" robot. Lot's of recycled parts of course (small budget...). I started with a real motherboard with a 286 processor. Later came a 386 and finally as you can see in the pic's a 486. It's still in my shed, waiting for a new hart ! Guess ! I ordered a second EZ-B to bring it back to life (also have Arduino's, Propellor, CuBloc...) but the EZ-B is simply BETTER ! Originally the frame was in a plastic housing (dust bin upside down, with pieces cut out), but I can't find any pic's of that. Back in 1995 I guess, I won an award for the best design.... (playful !)

DJ mifght get mad at the photos ,since i tried to post them andd he said no unless using a ezb

but it look real good ,nice work

yes i have 3 propellor boards ,besides many many other processor boards

i have so far 20 EZB last ones i got was from robotshop at 10 of them at about $700 and free shipping still need may be 30 more,since most of my robots are not to use EZB only a collectors item and to be fully restored

Well I'll try to make DJ happy with mounting an EZ-B into it ! The pic's are ment to show the evolution. Since this was my 1st tall robot, I might get too emotional to tear it down. Together with an EZ-B it'll give a large 'fun' factor and ready for a second youth. I'm working on a joystick control (VB) to run it around.

As a kid, I made a couple of robot costumes for halloween out of cardboard, flexible dryer hose, and electronic bits and pieces.

In high school, our physics teacher had an after school robot building class. This was 30 years ago, so they were all radio controlled or wired. No computer control or micro-controllers then. (although I did own an early personal computer - TRS-80, but no easy way at the time to interface it to a robot).

No robot activity since then until I saw the article in MAKE about the EZ-B and decided I had to build my own robot companion/guard dog.

Alan

i am doing the same with my older robot projects,so olds one i think i scrap it looks good so would go great with EZB

AS i finish some of my projects will be adding more robots using EZB with photos

I made something like a roomba . no microcontrollers really available back when I was ten years old. Basic stamp I think was top of the line then. It just used a couple motors a 12v battery a couple vacuum belts and switches . the "vacuum" was a 12v power head from a rainbow brand vacuum cleaner. It never had a real vacuum and my knowledge was basic then. Without a controller all it could do at the most was turn when it hit something.

Boy you love your vacuums alot,i guess you are a few years younger then me at age 10 basic stamp didnt come out,

I am 47 now going to retire early for about 15 years then get a job to get my SS AT AFTER 60

I love building robots as you can see and my girlfriend starting to like it to at age 23

NOT going to be like my dad and work all my life at 86 he just retired and he is 90 now and still doing good,only a back problem,me doing very good

My year of manufacture is 1961. Retirement... ? I just wanna grow very old in my shed builing robots.

WOW great like me too,also i love BELGIUM great place and nice people

PARIS not nice to us in USA,but still loved it

When I was nine years manufactures several cardboard robots with lights and a remote control car that cable to walk, so if a nice metallic finish gave him. At 20 he manufactures a small metallic robot dodging objects with a ping sensor and relays and analog technology. (No microcontroller) At age 23 I started with RC model aircraft, cars and boats rc (definitely a big help to address the most serious robotics) At 32 I met EZ-B and I met a bunch of servos per house and many other things usable rc, now that I have 34 years I am delighted we can hecer in robotics, and what we see in the future it will be amazing!

WOW very cool,where is spain do you live,i been there

Waw R2D2 you're truly amazing ! The right spirit ! I like it.

@robotmaker: so you've been to Belgium ! Long time ago ? Where did you go ? I've been a tour guide on many occasions for American friends. In case you've been to Bruges, you know, the midieval city and also my home town, this is a webcam of the market place:

http://comitevoorinitiatief.be/brugge/?page_id=383

yes about 10 years ago brussels going from france to brussels then germany

wow BRUGES , i really need to go there ,midieval city,i am very very heavy into it ,i see so many castles ,been to so many fairs and one i never missed is comming up in march,started in 2 week of feb ren-fest.com i never missed a year,and may be biggest sworld collection and dragon stuff i have my bed is a dragon sheet on it,bed made from very old wood,special bamboo curtains with dragon ,stainglass dragon lamps , foot guy in armor,the list is endless,more then $10,000 in it

i guess the webcam meens market in brugge,what airport is near there

Hey Robotmaker, my friend,

My first robot was about age 9 or ten I think. I did not even know i liked robotics...but i made a Halloween costume ...two cardboard boxes (one for the body, one for the head) stacked on top of each other.

I had a simple switch inside that i could press to make the 'nose' (a simple light bulb) light up....I had a speaker for the mouth....that played Star Wars over a cassette tape recorder.

Those were the days!

Kevin

Wow cool,mine was a little like that,i added arms out of cardboard ,found a pair of gloves for my hands and my feet both and legs had cardboard. Didnt have a camera at that time only very old camera my dad had, long camera too a few buttons just to get the photo out b&w

Also no switch or recorder.

That's awesome! We are all from the same mold i think....robots are in our blood!

My wife bought me a t-shirt last year with a picture of a robot and the phrase "all my friends are metal". She knows me well

Alan

I made my first robot... LAST NIGHT!

It was nothing special, two modified servos connected to a quickly made meccano-based frame, but it worked! Drove it around, chased the cat, all the usual stuff.

• Bill.

@robotmaker:

Brussels national airport is 110 Km, or 1:20 drive

Ostend regional airport is 25Km, or 30min drive

Great Bill hope to see you build more of robots soon.

ALAN great t-shirt

I made my first robot when I was 5. I made it from large sewing spools and rubber bands. The next one when I was around 12-13. It was made from dryer hoses and all kinds of wood and stuff. The next one I built was a Hero1 with arm. After that, David Hieserman's Rodney. At that point I wasn't satisfied with the current A.I. in robots or computers. So, I skipped about 20 years and started back about 8 years ago working with the Basic Stamp. I was disappointed again. It worked, but it was really slow when you put more stuff on it. After that, I discovered the Arduino. It was Heaven compared to the others. After two Arduino robots I found the EZB. The EZB was a million times better and faster and more Simple. So that is that I have done.

Oops! I forgot a whole section. After the Arduino , I built a LEAF robot. It had 17 emotions and it worked well. I was very pleased with Leaf. After Leaf I worked with the Roomba. After about 4 roombas, I bought an iCreate. It was much easier to work with. THEN, I found the EZB and it was Love at first sight! Easier, Faster, so I could do less head scratching and more working with the Robot. After EZB, I got a Qbo EVO PRO. It has put me back into the dark ages and I am trying to learn ROS, more C, Python. It really just sits there most of the time like the RB-5X and Hero1 units that I purchased so many years ago. I invested my whole life saving into it. BAD descision. Out of ALL my robots, my two Favorites are the LEAF and the EZB. My favorite Bought Units where the Novag by Gavon which played chess with me and had a z-80 based cpu. But my favorite and I don't own one, is the B9. Forgive my misspelled words. I have Always had a passion for Robots.

I really can't count the number of robots that I have built in my life, but that is the Just of it.

;)

Waw, MovieMaker, you've been pretty busy! I read a lot about the LEAF and was thinking of starting with that also. Until I met EZ_B... ROS is quite interesting too. I might do some research on that later on. Keep it coming....

I was born in 1961. Built my first robot when I was 14. I had bought a book called "Build Your Own Working Robot" by David L. Heiserman. Robot's name was Buster. Unfortunately, I used him for spare parts. Did not start tinkering with robots again until about 2006. I guess you could say Buster lives on because some of his parts are now being used in the new robot. One item that I am using on my other robot Magnus has been waiting about 37 years to be installed in a robot! Magnus is on hold for now. I decided to build a smaller robot for testing systems and controls. What I learn will be incorporated into Magnus.

One thing that happened with the first robot was; one night when my father was walking through the house without the lights on, he tripped an fell on top of Buster. He had multiple cuts on his arms and stomach. He didn't think it funny at the time but, later on he got a kick out of telling the story of how he was attacked in the dark by my robot!

Now I am officially addicted to anything and everything robot related

JUST added 78 to my collection another brookstone ROVER

I even forgot about HERO robots i made HERO JR and HERO and i have 3 HERO'S at home one going to use EZB on.

Nice work Rgordon ! That Magnus is a real piece of art and Hi-Tech at the same time. Guess DJ is proud when it'll be finished with the EZ-B inside... Show us more, I like it.