I need YOUR ideas!!

Helloooo all!!!

I wasn't sure where I should post this, but this seemed an ok place......

So I've recently been informed that this summer, as part of my research project, I need to do one of three things--

  1. Design, build, and engineer a new robot that has never been created before that would somehow be helpful to the world (either on a small or large scale--it really doesn't matter though)

  2. Take a robot that is (somewhat) widely used and build onto it to make it better

  3. Take a current (somewhat) well known robot and apply it to something it has never been used for before

I need your ideas and suggestions for robots you think should be built!! All suggestions are greatly appreciated!! To get into the details of why I'm doing this, I'll explain below--

This will be for my Authentic Science Research project (for the Intel Talent Search) which I will need to write an paper on and submit next fall. My mentor told me two days ago that she wants me to come up with a research idea that I'd be able to complete. But I need your help! I'm a little low on brain juice, so I need inspiration and ideas from you all!! Every idea is helpful!!!

If this plan actually works out and I do one of the above 3 things from now until the fall, I will happily put your name in my acknowledgments section of my research paper, and (if I build a new robot) I will some how get your name printed somewhere visible on the bot. I know the reward is not that intriguing, but its something!

Thank you all so much and I hope to hear from you soon!!!

P.S.--I'm not asking you to come up with a project, just any ideas of robots you might want to see made.

Cheers!

--Matt--

This will be for my Authentic Science Research project (for the Intel Talent Search) which I will need to write an paper on and submit next fall.

think they expect you to be the creative genius ...

I want a robot that can find water in the desert.

Or a robot that checks streets for bumps (there is an iphone app for that btw)

Or a robot that can help bringing my groceries to my car

Or a robot that walks my dog when it rains

Or ... just find something you dislike or are too lazy for or incapable for and make a robot doing it for you

Or a robot that generates ideas :wink:

As I stated in my P.S. , I don't want people doing the thinking for me, I just want ideas for a little boost to get me going. Thanks for the contribution!

I'd go with #2 or #3. Perhaps take a Roomba type robot and add some new funtionality - wander around the house & test temperature & humidity of each room for example.

hmm....interesting...............do they have robots that paint walls for you yet?

sora628:
hmm....interesting...............do they have robots that paint walls for you yet?

They have lots robots that paint cars (all the car manufacturers have such robots), but not walls. Commercially speaking, renting a robot to paint your house is much, MUCH better than hiring a human. That would be an instant success.

Another cool thing would be a very tiny robot that could run wires in your house. No more breaking walls just to run a wire/cable. It is a PITA having to run new wires (or replace old ones) in a house or anywhere for that matter.

Another kind of robot would simply be a kiosk placed in hospitals and health care centers that would instantly measure a patient's weight, height, body temperature, blood pressure, heart beating rate, calculate IMC, as a few questions through a touch screen panel and automatically add that to the patients historic. This would save the doctor's or nurses's time in doing so. Doctors always waste time measuring that and making questions that could as well be answered through a simple YES/NO GUI. Do you know where I am getting at?

Anyhow, good luck with your project.

All very good ideas!! thanks! I might have to take you up on one of those....my mentor wants to work in the field of social service and health care robotics, so that last one might be a really good idea. And a robot that runs wires through your house.....I'm thinking of a few ways to tackle that--

  1. have a camera and lights on the front of a little bot that has a drill and someway to move around.
  2. have a sensor that tells you where the robot is in the wall
  3. ...........well, there are a lot of ways--I must ponder some more! I will get back to you on that!

But if I were to create a robot that paints walls, I feel like i'd be depriving people of jobs! idk I'll have to see

Last time a similar question was posed, I asked for a robot that would remove dandelions from my lawn. I still don't have it =(

to completely remove JUST the dandelion or just to like chop off its head ?(henceforth, the robotic lawn mower!)

The dandelion has to be removed, just cutting it wouldn't be a permanent fix. Easiest way would likely be to spray a broadleaf weedkiller on it.

But if I were to create a robot that paints walls, I feel like i'd be depriving people of jobs! idk I'll have to see

Every robot takes away a job but it frees people from doing repetitive jobs too.

I think any painter would like to have robots as standing on a long ladder to paint is not that fun when it is windy.

Think inkjet + AeroSpider Commercial - YouTube

The dandelion has to be removed, just cutting it wouldn't be a permanent fix

How about one that picks a dandelion, blows the fluff off while counting its breaths, then tells you the time? One of those would have saved me a ton of effort when I were a wee lad.

@robtillaart, I used to play with those as a younger kid! I was thinking more of an arm, but that would be a possibility I guess

@JimboZA, me too! I actually have a picture of me as a 5 or 6 year old in a dandelion field.

Hi Matt,
we have in our garden a lot of wild strawberrys and it a nasty work to harvest them. So i already thought about some 4 or 6 legged (leng legs not that it get:s stuck) robot, tiny enough not to hurt the plants, but intelligent enough to go through (the somehow marked) terrain and look at every tiny strawberry if it's ripe and if yes, harvest it.
Not so easy, so i do have to harvest the strawberrys myself yet...
Regards Mekanax

Implement cleverbot and text-to-speech into a robotic head that can display basic emotions. Have your processor decide whether the response is positive or negative, and move the mouth "muscles" according to the pronuciation of the text-to-speech.

This will likely require a single-board computer rather than a microcontroller, but the arduino can be the motor/face controller.

Have a look at this link:

http://www.gosphero.com/ It would be nice to make it to do something useful. Apparently it's very robust - even pet and water proof!

Cheers