Profile Picture

Toymaker

Country: United Kingdom
Member Since:

Achievements

  • 2013-03-31 - joined Synthiam
  • 2013-04-01 - created first new question
  • 2013-05-22 - joined your first forum discussion
  • 2013-09-19 - answered a forum question
  • 2014-07-27 - posted your first tutorial
  • 2014-07-28 - shared your first video in the forum
  • 2014-07-30 - shared your first photo in the forum
  • 2014-08-04 - attempted to help a fellow robot builder
  • 2015-08-08 - connected ARC to the cloud
  • 2018-04-01 - used the Bing Speech Recognition to convert spoken speech into text
  • 2021-11-30 - posted a robot project showcase
  • 2022-12-09 - subscribed to ARC and unlocked new features that make your robot even smarter
  • 2022-12-09 - purchasing an Annual Pro Subscription
  • 2023-02-27 - started first conversation
  • 2023-04-29 - searched the Synthiam support section to learn about ARC features

Latest submissions

question
Waitforspeech Question

Waitforspeech Question

I have a problem using WaitForSpeech - I wonder if you could please advise DJ? On my Win7 computer it does not work at all - there is no timeout the seconds variable gets...
question
When Altair Ez:1 Met Softbanks Pepper Robot

When Altair Ez:1 Met Softbanks Pepper Robot

Here is a short extract from the end of the Robo Sapiens TV documentary. Tony
question
Happy Easter

Happy Easter

Happy Easter to all at EZ-Robot and the forum. This photo is for DJ, I know he likes Ducks! Tony
question
Grid-Eye Sensor

Grid-Eye Sensor

The Panasonic Grid-EYE is an 8 x 8 (64) pixel infrared array and looks to be a great sensor for robotics here is a jpeg of the (PIC based) demo prototype that I built to evaluate the sensor...
question
Cortana Speech Recognition Integration With ARC

Cortana Speech Recognition Integration With ARC

We have managed to integrate Cortana unlimited (same as dictation mode) speech recognition with ARC which now means we can...
question
Face Recognition, Age, Gender And Emotion Sensing Video

Face Recognition, Age, Gender And Emotion Sensing Video

Here is a video of the Face Recognition, Age, Gender and Emotion Detection system used on the ALTAIR Robots...
question
Altair Ez:1 Robot Meets Alexa

Altair Ez:1 Robot Meets Alexa

I have just done a very quick (and hopefully fun) video to show the Amazon Alexa interacting with the ALTAIR EZ:1 robot. Tony
question
Screen Resolution Question

Screen Resolution Question

I have just bought a Surface Pro 4 and have been trying all afternoon to set up ARC but just cannot get the resolution to look right - I tried dozens of settings, but...
question

Windows 10 Tts Question

Some of you may have seen my recent post and video on the cortana/pandorabot and would have heard the completely horrible TTS voice. This morning I installed a Cereproc voice (Giles) on that PC but got the problem that ARC does see it, but will not actually load the Giles TTS and the awful (slow) Hazel voice continues. I have followed Steve G great...
question
Robot Maid 5000

Robot Maid 5000

Got to build some safety into our robots else this could happen! I can confirm that this robot is not EZ-Robot based - if it was it would have behaved better! Tony
question
Sound Output Question On The Ez:1 Robot

Sound Output Question On The Ez:1 Robot

I have a really weird thing with the EZ:1 robot and the v4 I have a large robot script doing lots of cool stuff, but recently I am seeing...
question
Robot Birthday Cake

Robot Birthday Cake

Here is the incredible Dewey Robot Drone one from the movie Silent Running cake made by my talented brother in law for my sixtieth birthday!
question
Face Recognition Working On ARC

Face Recognition Working On ARC

Here is face recognition working on ARC shown by Mike our lead programmer.
question
Using The B5t-Hvc Vision System

Using The B5t-Hvc Vision System

For testing I built a temporary housing for the B5T which also allowed me to add a tripod mount which makes things easier I have 4 faces currently registered...
question

Unresolved Forum Threads Question

I am now continually getting nagged to post that my forum thread Flaky serial link with v4 has been resolved when it has not. Some things are probably not resolvable and the fact that DJ and Jeramie have never come back with a solution maybe confirms that the serial link can be flakey? I think its pretty poor to have to pretend that someone has...
question
Flaky Serial Link With V4

Flaky Serial Link With V4

DJ I hope you can help? I am experiencing major problems with the reliability of the serial link that concerns me a lot, as it stands the problem is bad enough to...
question

Luna Open Source Ai Demo

A very nice Ai system. https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=61&v=GeSqLMIKhBA My ARIEL Ai (while not as good as Luna) does similar interactions and uses DNS13 in dictation mode to get any question from the user and then goes to Ai knowledge sites like START to try and find an answer. Tony
question

Power Bank For Robots

I am going to try one of these power bank unit for the ALTAIR EZ-1 they look like a perfect power source for this class of robot. http://www.storkz.com/powerall-pbjs12000r.html Specification 12,000 mAh Can supply 200 - 400 amps on a jump start. Weighs only 0.9 pounds (408 grams) Size 6.5 x 2.9 x 1.2 inches 6 hours charge time. Supplied with charger...
question
Ibm Watson Development Platform

Ibm Watson Development Platform

IBM Watson development platform David (and anyone else who may be interested), what do you think about this very interesting video? Here is more information....
question

Script Writing Questions

DJ, please do not see this as a criticism, I remain one the biggest fans of your great work! Now I am doing extensive script writing for the ALTAIR robots, there are a couple of issues that really slow down my EZ_Builder code writing productivity. The one that really gets me is the EZ-Script Function suggestion box (that I never use) that appears...
question

Question For Dj On V4 Digital Port Latency

DJ, I wonder if you can help with something that is truly baffling me? The EZ:1 head has 3 PIC microcontrollers and one (the head_master_PIC) controls the 3 PICs and only this one links with the v4. Now without having interrupts on the v4, I had to figure a way of "Flagging" the v4 that data (from the head) needs to be sent to it, so I...
question

Changing Over To Lifepo4 Batteries

I am now seriously thinking about converting the ALTAIR robots over to LiFePO4 (Lithium polymer) batteries they are expensive but the advantages are so great that I just have to do the conversion! LiFePO4 are far safer that LiPo and less prone to catching fire, they also last for many more charging cycles before wearing out (up to 10 times as...
question

The Ez-Ai Forum Is Now Up Come And Join The Discussions

Davids EZ-AI forum is up and running and anyone that is interested in an AI that integrates with ARC should go over and take a look. Also there are opportunities to suggest new features and development ideas which is very neat. Please visit and join the discussions! You can register to join the forum at http://cochranrobotics.com EZ-Robot coupled...
question
Inmoov With Bosch Motors

Inmoov With Bosch Motors

I have decided to jump into 3D printing and build a version of the Inmoov robot, here is the printer that I am going to buy, it looks a good spec....
question

Auto Position Question

Can anyone help me please, I maybe being dumb but I cannot find a way to permanently change the delay in Auto Position it always reverts back to 25 which is infuriating as my smart (Bosch) servos do not like this delay and I have to reset it back to 0 every time I use it (click on the cog icon). DJ, is there any way I can set the delay to 0...
question
Ez-B V4 Gear-Tray

Ez-B V4 Gear-Tray

Some here may find this of interest, here is a closeup of the ALTAIR EZ:1 robots EZ-B v4 main gear-tray. Its a tribute to the v4 (and EZ-Robot) and shows how a really complex robot can...
question
Is The Ez:1 Robot Trying To Look Like His Big Bro Doombot

Is The Ez:1 Robot Trying To Look Like His Big Bro Doombot

Is the EZ:1 robot trying to look like his big bro Doombot - I do not think so as he is way not hard...
question
Applied Machine Intelligence Website Update

Applied Machine Intelligence Website Update

My AMi website has been updated showing more details of the new EZ:1 and EZ:2 robots and it also now links with the great EZ-Robot...
question
My First Computer Controlled Dalek

My First Computer Controlled Dalek

I am not sure if it will be of interest here, but I found some pictures of my first computer controlled Dalek build in 1982. OMG, did I once look that...
question
How To Make A Wide Angle Ir Non Contact Bumper

How To Make A Wide Angle Ir Non Contact Bumper

I designed a wide angle IR (non contact) bumper for robots a while back but never used it. It may be useful to the folks here on...
question
New Robot Film Trailer

New Robot Film Trailer

This movie looks good from the director of District 9 Chappie
question
Neat Robots From The Automata Movie

Neat Robots From The Automata Movie

Hope this movie is released to the UK, some very cool robots. Tony
question
Controlling A Kangaroo With The V4

Controlling A Kangaroo With The V4

For Dave and Richard and anyone else who is interested, here is fully working and tested code for using the Kangaroo (with bi-directional comms) via the...
question
Fun With A Kangaroo/Sabertooth

Fun With A Kangaroo/Sabertooth

This is a video to show you guys how good the Kangaroo/Sabertooth motor controller combo is! Dave, this video starts by showing the ramp-up - full speed -...
question
Playing Cards With Dewey (Drone One)

Playing Cards With Dewey (Drone One)

I now have my most favorite movie robot Dewey from the 1972 film Silent Running. There is a classic part of the film where the Drones play cards...
question
Neat Robot, Cyborg And Ai Movie Clips

Neat Robot, Cyborg And Ai Movie Clips

Hi All If there are any folks on here that like to see robots, cyborgs and artificial intelligences in movies (that you may of not heard of...
question
Fun With An Atomic Clock

Fun With An Atomic Clock

I want to share with my friends here a quick project that I have had a lot of fun with, its a self (time/date) adjusting clock controlled by MSF radio time signal from the...
question
What Did Your First Robot Look Like

What Did Your First Robot Look Like

I found a photo of my first (programmable) robot build back in 1979 which worked by recording tones on a cassette player! I have no idea why I did not...
question
Aimec:Ez1 Robot

Aimec:Ez1 Robot

Hi All Introducing the AIMEC:EZ1 We are in discussions with DJ to produce a special version of our AIMEC (Artificially Intelligent Mechanical Electronic Companion) robot for the EZ-B, this...
question
Object Recognition And Vision Associative Memory Demo

Object Recognition And Vision Associative Memory Demo

Object Recognition and Vision Associative Memory demo on the EZ:1 robot. An example of the EZ:1, EZ:2 Ai core and...
question
One Of The Robot Dinosaurs Gets Some Godzilla Dna

One Of The Robot Dinosaurs Gets Some Godzilla Dna

Well not exactly DNA, but reprogrammed to think it is Godzilla! Notice how passive the rest of the herd are.
question
My Herd Of Baby Robotic Dinosaurs

My Herd Of Baby Robotic Dinosaurs

Our Robotic baby Dinosaur herd
question
Bosch Motors With Integral Potentiometer

Bosch Motors With Integral Potentiometer

As I have now sent quite a few Bosh motors to friends here on the forum (Steve, yours are on their way) and also after reading Daves well...
question
25 Command Functions Over 2 Wires

25 Command Functions Over 2 Wires

There has been some discussion on the forum on I2C port extenders for the EZ-B so I thought it may be relevant to show what we are doing with this on the...
question

New Robot On Youtube Using Ez-B

I do not know if you have seen this DJ, but another good advert for the EZ-B. For some reason the add Youtube link will not work so here is the URL, which I had to put in quotes before it would work "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-zDi0FCNcc" They remind me of the Androbot Topo robot from the eighties. Tony
question
Custom Soundcontroller

Custom Soundcontroller

@mcsdaver has asked me to produce a custom soundcontroller for him (to work with the EZ:B), and I think this may be of interest of other forum members to see how such a custom...
question
Aimec Robot Does Live Bbc Radio Broadcast

Aimec Robot Does Live Bbc Radio Broadcast

A while back, one of our AIMEC Robots did a live BBC radio broadcast from our home. It got the latest sports news by itself off the...
question

Using Multiple Ez-B

I see a number of people here using multiple EZ-B on their robots, if the reason is just running out of port lines and number of servos etc, then there is a really good alternative. Many moons ago, long before the dawning of the EZ-B, the first AIMEC:3 used the SD20 (I2C 20 channel servo driver) chip...
question
Large Robot Collection Sale

Large Robot Collection Sale

My good friend (and fellow EZ:1 and EZ:2 robot builder) is selling part of his large collection of robots. Here are some that will be available, he has 3 Omnibot...
question

Aimec Robot On Russian Tv

The AIMEC:3 Robot on Russian TV, the NTV network reaches 100 million viewers across Russia and the former Soviet Union http://www.ntv.ru/novosti/201684/
question
Robot Reading My Mind

Robot Reading My Mind

Here is an early AIMEC:3 robot (in 2006) connected to the online 20Q.net artificial intelligence and attempting to read my mind!
question
Bigtrak As A Rover Platform

Bigtrak As A Rover Platform

What I think would make a great rover platform for the EZ-B is the retro Bigtrak that came back in 2010. This was based on the 1980 hugely successful toy that sold in...
question
I2c Lcd Displays

I2c Lcd Displays

I have noticed that some of you are having problems with using I2C LCD displays so hopefully this may help. The serial displays I use are the LCD05...
No robot skills. Click here to view the Robot Skill Store.
robot
Toymaker's Dewey (Drone:1)

Toymakers Dewey (Drone:1)

Anyone remember the wonderful Drones from the 1972 classic movie Silent Running? Three scales of Dewey in my studio!
robot
Toymaker's Losing Louie (Drone 3 From The Movie Silent Running)

Toymakers Losing Louie (Drone 3 From The Movie Silent Running)

Video Story:1 Losing Louie (Drone:3) is lost after a solar storm. From the wonderful1972 movie...
robot
Toymaker's ALTAIR EZ:1 Robot

Toymakers ALTAIR EZ:1 Robot

Evolution of Robotics, Programmable Robots, AI Winter, Surge of Personal Robots, Robotic Vision Hi Ez-Robot friends - here is my first (of 5) talks with Irene...
robot
Toymaker's The Latest ALTAIR Robot - SCAMP

Toymakers The Latest ALTAIR Robot - SCAMP

Hi All Here is a sneak peak of my latest ALTAIR robot - SCAMP is what I call a (ground based) Assist-Drone a new kind of (low cost) robot...
robot
Toymaker's My Little Dewey (Drone 1) New Home

Toymakers My Little Dewey (Drone 1) New Home

What does an Inventor/Roboticist have in his design studio? - Well for me its my (Alexa controlled) favourite Movie Robot (Dewey...
robot
Toymaker's Meet Alexa_Alive

Toymakers Meet Alexa_Alive

Meet Alexa-Alive, after working for some time 12/7 on Assistive Technology and Assistive Care Robotics I decided to have a bit of a break and have some fun and build...
robot
Toymaker's My Alexa (Alive)

Toymakers My Alexa (Alive)

Hi All, not strictly a robot, but I wanted to see what it would be like to give Alexa a (pretty face)! Tony
robot
Toymaker's When The Altair Ez:1 Met Pepper

Toymakers When The Altair Ez:1 Met Pepper

When the ALTAIR EZ:1 met Pepper robot We had a film crew here today, filming me and my robots which is to be part of a European...
robot
Toymaker's Introducing The Altair Ez:2 Robot

Toymakers Introducing The Altair Ez:2 Robot

Introducing the ALTAIR (Affordable Latest Technology Artificially Intelligent Robot) EZ:2 Robot The first unveiling of the EZ;2 Robot...
robot
Toymaker's The Altair Robot Chronicles

Toymakers The Altair Robot Chronicles

This is the first in a series of videos showing the current capabilities of the ALTAIR EZ:1 robot. Part:1 Pour and serve a drink Tony
robot
Toymaker's Vpro Robo Sapiens Tv Documentary Featuring The Altair Ez:1 And Pepper

Toymakers Vpro Robo Sapiens Tv Documentary Featuring The Altair Ez:1 And Pepper

Here is a video of the vpro Netherlands Television documentary...
robot
Toymaker's Altair Robots In Servo Magazine

Toymakers Altair Robots In Servo Magazine

It looks like Servo magazine will have the ALTAIR robots on the front page of their July edition - they have done a really nice article on...
No live robot hacking sessions. Click here to view the past live robot hacks.
No robot apps. Click here to view all user robot apps.
No firmwares. Click here to view robot hardware and firmwares.
No 3D printable parts. Click here to view 3D printing robot library.
No features requests.