Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!ncar!boulder!agcsun!jackm From: jackm@agcsun.UUCP (Jack Morrison) Newsgroups: comp.robotics Subject: Re: CM Ambler Rover Message-ID: <806@agcsun.UUCP> Date: 31 May 90 18:55:09 GMT References: <3708@jato.Jpl.Nasa.Gov> <95816@philabs.Philips.Com> <1990May30.182249.22352@watmath.waterloo.edu> Reply-To: jackm@agcsun.UUCP (Jack Morrison) Distribution: na Organization: Ampex VSD Golden Engineering, Golden, CO Lines: 25 In article <1990May30.... M.W.Tilden writes: >Brooks at MIT seems to have a reasonable solution. They've built a >6 legged walker which uses a simple Algorithmic State Machine network >as the control (simulated in a single 8bit 68HC11 processor). The . . . >the work was being done for inter-stellar rovers, and a 8bit uP is >certainly more robust and compact than the multiple high-speed 68020 >systems . . . > >Anybody know why this work is not in the running for space exploration? > I know a high-school student that built a 6-legged walking robot (about 3 feet long) run entirely from a dozen or so switches on a remote panel. No computer at all! (so there :-) Not that it would walk on its own... The idea of several "small, fast, and stupid" rovers instead of one lunking monster certainly has merit, and I believe such concepts *are* in the running (walking?). They may not get as much press, maybe because prototypes tend to look like consumer toys instead of real space hardware. -- "How am I typing? Call 1-303-279-1300" Jack C. Morrison Ampex Video Systems 581 Conference Place, Golden CO 80439