Day 20 - Build a Robot

Date: January 26th, 2010

I learned something amazing today.  Wait for it cause I'm gonna drop some knowledge on ya.  I... am a cyborg.  Not the cool kind like with lasers, but the "technically its true and isn't that nifty" kind.  So what makes me a cyborg?  My contact lenses.  You thought I was going to say secret laser, didn't you?  Well, no such luck.

That being said, even before I knew that I, personally, am the mechanical herald of the future, I had decided that today was "build a robot" day.  Why?  Because I've driven past the Liberty Street Robot Supply & Repair about a hundred times without ever going in and looking around.  That's right.  Ann Arbor has a robot store.  Jealous?

Here's the thing about the Robot Supply & Repair... its so much more than a robot shop.  The store is part of a larger, nationwide network of non-profit tutoring organizations dedicated to helping young writers.  The branch the store is a part of is called 826 Michigan, which is part of 826 National.  They have great, ongoing volunteer opportunities to help kids and teens reach their full, creative-writing potential.  Sounds amazing, right?  Yeah, that's what I said.

As for the actual robot building...

It was a lot of fun.

Pictured: Fun.

I settled on a "Smart Robot", largely because I liked the way it described its interests on its resume.  That's the right way to pick a robot, right?  Take resumes?  In actuality, it looked like it did the coolest thing of the "beginner's" robots; and I was in the market for something beginner.  Plus, the cute robot store guy recommended it.  Hi Eric.

It wasn't until I got home that I remembered my dining room table was out of commission.  Well, unless losing a couple screws under piles of Valentine's Day garland seems like a good idea to you.  Yeah, me either.  Plus I have this thing with laying out all the pieces and making sure I have everything before I get started.  And by, "this thing", I mean, smartitude.  Its like intelligence with attitude.  Look it up.

The instructions appear to be in English.  That's a good sign.

Notice the EXACT replication of the instructions.

Once everything was laid out, it looked pretty straightforward.  That was a good instinct.  It was pretty straightforward.  All told, building the robot only took about 30 minutes.  About halfway through the process I figured out how it worked, which was a pretty awesome moment.  Once the motor is assembled, you attach it to the inside of the black plastic ball.  The motor has gears that make it rotate in a circle on the inside of the ball, causing it to roll.

Once the motor is put together and put inside the inner ball, the rest is cake.  Just screw the pieces of plastic together, press the switch and enjoy hours of fun.  You can roll it around the kitchen, the dining room, the porch!  Impress friends and business associates!  Scare the dog!  The smart robot does it all.

Pictured: doing it all.

Robot.  I am impressed by your ways.  Teach them to me.

Robot building, ya know, the intro level, was a lot of fun.  And the best part?  I'm done for the day so very very early.  Usually that's not a thing for me, but I've been operating on about a solid 4-5 a night sleep schedule for the past two weeks.  Its starting to catch up.  So, now that my brand spankin' new robot is done, I've found some great volunteer opportunities with a great organization and my journal has been updated... I get to NAP!  Oh man.  Today's like Christmas.  Amazing.