Dr. Thomas Tilley won the 1st prize in the tethered robots category of the 2012 AFRON “10 Dollar Robot” design challenge.
The challenge was hosted by The African Robotics Network (AFRON) from 14 June to 15 September 2012.
More information is available from http://www.robotics-africa.org.
According to Dr. Thomas, “Lollybot is essentially a modified USB joystick with wheels, a Chupa-Chup bump sensor on one thumbstick, and a line sensor patched in to the other thumbstick. The robot is designed to be built from scratch by the user for a total cost of US$8.96 (excluding scavenged parts).”
More information is available from http://www.tomtilley.net/projects/lollybot/.
According to Wired Magazine,”Suckerbot, designed by Thomas Tilley, a computer scientist living in Thailand, started with a hacked PlayStation controller, and wound up winning first prize in the tethered robot category. In this case, the tether is the controller’s USB cable, and Tilley attached the rumble motors to a pair of wheels. Suckerbot’s list of parts comes to $8.96, but the real genius is the Chupa Chups. Tilley needed a way for the robot to sense if it ran into something, so he stuck a lollipop in each joystick. Whenever the Suckerbot bumps something, the weight of the sucker tips the joystick forward, and a signal is sent to the processor. ”
Articles about Lollybot (formerly known as “Suckerbot”):
- Wired Magazine
- IEEE Spectrum
- engineering FOR CHANGE
- Popular Mechanics
- Ken Goldberg, “Cloud Robotics & African Robotics Network Design Challenge” at World Maker Faire 2012 (the Suckerbot announcement is around 20 min 40 seconds in)
- Slashdot
- thairath (Thai)
- JuSci.net (Thai)
- golem.de (German)
- V2 (Finnish)
- Solidot (Chinese Slashdot)
- All Nokia (Russian)
- All Digital News (Russian)
- onliner (Belarusian)
- Webwereld (Dutch)
- PC Week (Russian)
- The Murray Valley Standard
- Narika Sci. (Thai)
- Exhibition at CITRIS (Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society) (January 24 – March 15th, 2013)
- The CITRIS Signal, March 2013 (PDF version)
- Makeshift Magazine
- Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Awards
- World Robot Business and Entertainment
- Ultra Affordable Educational Robot
- Digital October (Russian)
- Robot App Store Blog
- Barcamp Chiang Mai 2013 (PDF)
- CNXSoft – Embedded Software Development
- Gamepad5 (Chinese)
- Ъ-Секрет фирмы (Russian)
- Theory and Practice (Russian)
- Geek.com
- MyDrivers.com (Chinese)
- Mail.Ru Group (Russian) English translation on Sysmagazine
- Make:
- Ashesi Robotics Experience (ARX) 2013: The Truth About A Myth & The Fantastic Tuesday
- TEDx Chiang Mai, 2013
- Lakritsipiippuvallankumous (Finnish)
- Hack a Day
- IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine
- Machine Design
- Ashesi Robotics Experience (ARX) 2013 Lollybot Workshop
- Занимательная робототехника (Russian)
- Ciencia xplora A3TV (Spanish)
- OpenMind
- Ventureosity
- Xcluesiv Cloud Technology
- Medium
- Talks at Google
- CNN International Edition
- CNN Español Edition (Spanish)
- EXPO21XX Online Exhibitions
- Developing World Robotics
- ORIGO (Hungarian)