Introducing Alan

Hi Will,

I absolutely love your design skills and excited to see you are thinking about the entire robot beyond ALAN.  One of the challenges I find with robotics hardware projects is they always focus on one robot versus having a robot that can be customized.  So I really like that you are thinking about having the ability to provide different casings to change the appearance of your robot.

My vision of the ideal robotics platform is one that is open and is an extensive platform that meets the functions of a specific use case, but can also be customized and interchangeable based on industry requirements. You provide a core robotics platform that is a starter platform that can be customized in any way.  So your Robot would have the core body with a head and arms and wheels but everything can be replaced.  This way any third party who wants to provide parts for your robot just needs to adhere to the industry standard connection you provide on your core platform.

Now You provide the basic components that connect to that industry standard robot core as a base model, but because you create an open standard anyone can connect to it.  This could be snap on magnetic components to your peripherals that you describe or entire limb replacements that others will build to work with your robot.  Example I need a Biped Robot so I make legs. I can sell my legs as a peripheral upgrade to your base robot.

In your design you had ALAN head, arms and wheels.  These may not meet my criteria perhaps I need stronger arms and 4 wheels to handle a more complex manufacturing process.

By allowing others to create parts that can connect to your robot you can let an industry grow around your robot platform.  If you put a good Creative Commons licence so others can change design etc with attribution I think we could finally see the robotics industry take off.

@Jer, thanks for those kind words. During the prototype phase in 2012/13, I was worried about what could go wrong with a silicone face. So I spent alot of time on the face under the silicone. At one point in my tests I had a flesh colored skin and I hated it. In the end I went with translucent so you can still see the understructure and paint. But, for awhile I played with concepts of just the understructure. I created an insert that pops over the eye to give the illusion there were eyelids...something I feel it needs so the eyes don't appear stuck in eyes wide open look..lol. You can see my first prototype in this pic on the robots left side.

@nomad, There is not a set price on the courseware or files as we have to see what the cost is going to be for a kit first so we can set an appropriate price. But, yes STL files are an option for people who are over seas. You know my biggest fear will be once the stl files are released...its only a matter of time before people will share them and I start losing money and the business is finished before I even start. Its been my biggest thorn in my side and had hoped that in the years since I came up with Alan, someone would have created a way to copy protect stl files. As for the areas on the cheeks inserts could be designed to fill in these areas.

@nink, Thank you for the kudos. And yes you understand my plan exactly. This has been my vision for the past decade. I've also have been waiting for a universal motor system for robotics. It seems the industry is settling on FOC DC motors. There are alot of reasons I love them, and compliancy is one of the strengths, especially if a robot is among humans. Still waiting for my friend Justine to create the ultimate brushless motor controller for arbitrarily low speed control. Hopefully after waiting 2 years, it will be ready in early 2023.

@all, thank you for the info and keep it coming. This is great data. for me.

...BTW with years of robotic development stagnation and failed robot start ups, I think Elons robot might re-inspire the industry. We will see later this month when/if we see the first prototype.

I am working on my own humanoid robot by building parts of different projects including Inmoov and Mark1 to figure out the best.  I am going to try and put a mini pc in the chest area with a 2TB SSD.  I am thinking about buying that soon and leaving it on and talking to it while I build the body.  I want it to recognize people and objects and not to need the internet but can connect to my home Wifi to get updates and search for information and at night upload a backup to the cloud.

Elon certainly has the vision and a lot of the Building blocks, Battery tech, motors, manufacturing plant, GPT3... But until I see some of the great minds in mechatronics joining his organization or an acquisition of high tech robotics company like BD, iRobot, Hanson ... or traditional robotics company like Fanuc, ABB, Kuka etc  I am not sure I will take him seriously.    So far all I have seen is a girl in a leotard jumping around on stage.

Well rumor has it that the first prototype will be unveiled later half of this month. Time will tell. Its only been a year since that announcement...so ummmmm.

Announcement

Can’t wait to see it!

hi will

indeed the file sharing is going to be a problem . you wil need a lawyer and a paper that customers will need to sign . if they share the file there's a fine to pay . it will only work when its legal documented . i would have no problem with , singning such paper . and you have all the right to do that .you did all the work for years and nothing is for free except, for the sun comming up in the morning . the problem i see is you . you are to kind off a person . real businessman , are like a sharks , they dont care about other people , only there money . but you are not a shark . robotics is always a , chort time that it is interesting for selling . thats why always new stuff keeps comming up . so eather make it legal or , take a dive and see what happens . the longer you overthinkg it the more confuse you gonna get . is'n there a global , vote you can do to see howmany people would by alan ? not only here on synthiam but als in stores/shops other forums ?