[ale] robots

[Pete Hardie]

Joseph A Knapka wrote:
> 
> Pete Hardie wrote:
> >
> > Jeff Hubbs wrote:
> > >
> > > Who cares?  Certainly they don't - and as long as my bots have legs that
> > > are too strong for the blades to cut and some means of detecting and
> > > correcting a blade jam (sense blade motion; reverse blade motion if
> > > blade is stuck), what do I care if they bump into each other?
> > >
> > > > Or as you discussed having real dumb
> > > > avoidance/collision behavior.
> > >
> > >   My mowbots can be safely investigated,
> > > sniffed at, and even peed on by cats, dogs, and kids.
> >
> > I'm curious about something here - I may have missed some of the discussion -
> > but it seems to me that the issue of bot collision and kidproofing you describe
> > seem to contradict each other - the bots are tough enough to not be harmed by
> > a leg getting into the cutter, but the cutter is not going to cut the nose off
> > a curious dog?
> 
> Presumably if the cutters cut slowly enough, the curious
> critters will have time to get out of their grip before
> any serious damage is done. And a minor nip might
> discourage further investigation.
> 
> Still, I think the blade-jam-detection-and-reverse
> plan might be better.

That's kinda my point - if it's a fire-and-forget swarm of
bots, then someone is going to stick a finger in the cutting
area, and it *better not* do more than break the skin, or
there will be legal problems (I'm assuming that it's reasonable
for a blade to cut skin, and that an unsupervised toddler who
gets a cut from a yard tool is not a problem, while one who loses
a finger from a yard tool is)

-- 
Pete Hardie                   |   Goalie, DVSG Dart Team
    posting from, but not     |
	speaking for:             |
Scientific Atlanta, Digital Video Services Group


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