Meet Andy, the worlds first robot with a programmable personality

[Gunstar]

Has anyone ever seen one of these in person, or actually use and own an Andy the robot?

[AtariGeezer]

Not in person, but two of these sold on ebay in the last few months that went for a shiny penny.

I've been watching/wanting these

 

Jay

[utengineer]

Good find dude! Wow, it sold on Ebay for $200 eBay Auction -- Item Number: 110773099146

 

I wonder if Andy can hang with Johnny-5 or Wall-E.

 

From article(LOL): "His 4 'D' cell batteries will keep him active in excess of 7 hours."

 

 

 

Edited February 12, 2012 by utengineer

[Gunstar]

Apparently, it works by pulling on the cord and dragging it around a table!

[AtariGeezer]

I beleive it has a cable that plugs into the joystick port.

There is the Andy program that let's you run "scripts" that controls it's movement, lights and sound. It even has a bump detector...

http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-andy_21717.html..

 

Jay

[+Philsan]

I beleive it has a cable that plugs into the joystick port.

There is the Andy program that let's you run "scripts" that controls it's movement, lights and sound. It even has a bump detector...

http://www.atarimani...andy_21717.html..

 

Jay

Awesome!

 

Today we have Lego Mindstorms.

[Gunstar]

I'll have to find the old ad, and scan it, of the Radio Shack robotic arm too, I recall an article in an Atari mag that showed you how to progam it, IIRC, even play chess! Of course that procuct is more like turning your computer into a robot with an arm it can control.

Edited February 12, 2012 by Gunstar

[Gunstar]

I'll have to find the old ad, and scan it, of the Radio Shack robotic arm too, I recall an article in an Atari mag that showed you how to progam it, IIRC, even play chess! Of course that procuct is more like turning your computer into a robot with an arm it can control.

 

Found it! In the July 1986 edition of Analog, #44. The article is called 'Arm your Atari' and shows how to connect and use the TOMY Armatron robotic arm with your Atari. These used to sell at Radio Shack so I thought they were a Radio shack/Tandy product from memory: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armatron

 

Scans below, sorry about the stains on the scans, IIRC, you don't want to know what kind of stain it is. But no, I wasn't sexually attracted to the robot arm, but I think my cat was...ok, so I told you, it's 26 year old dried cat piss. Maybe I can still get DNA off of it and have the cat I had 26 years ago cloned.

 

For some strange reason, the forum won't let me upload the first page, it's black intead of white, but it scanned the same, twice, and it displays on my PC, but just won't upload. Nothing important there though, just introduction to the article and starts telling you to removes screws...

Edited February 12, 2012 by Gunstar

[puppetmark]

I always wanted an Andy ever since I saw it in an Antic magazine back when. It is almost the same as Androbots FRED. I bid on one of the e-bay ones, but I lost. Interfacing a tethered robot through the joystick port is not really that difficult. I have often thought about building an "equivelent" robot to Andy for the Atari. It might not be all that useful, but it would be fun!! <br>

 

My problem with most DIY robot projects is no matter how cool they are, and some of them are really awesome, usually look like a pile of exposed circuit boards and wires. So, if I design something, I want it to have a really cool shell, like the androbots which I think had a lot of personality. With some recent advances in plastic manufacturing, I think it might be possible to have something like that made in a short run and still be cost effective.

Edited February 13, 2012 by puppetmark

[Gunstar]

The problem with the Andy is if you come across one, does it have the Atari software for it? And any manuals.

I think I would have more fun making the Armatron pick up and move stuff than a robot rolling around and flashing lights. Now, attaching the Armatron to the Andy and programming it to go pick something up and bring it back to you would be cool. Robots need arms to be useful except for cleaning floors or swimming pools.

Edited February 13, 2012 by Gunstar

[utengineer]

Now, attaching the Armatron to the Andy and programming it to go pick something up and bring it back to you would be cool.

 

How about picking up a floppy and inserting it into a 1050?

[fibrewire]

eBay Auction -- Item Number: 140700705379

 

I had the mobile version of the Armatron as a kid. This would definitely be the best of both worlds, a tethered mobile robotic arm! I suppose you could rig it to a track and have it pull floppies out of a case, insert and remove floppies... Sounds like a project!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uETkrlxk1T8

[sloopy]

The only problem with those arms is, they were purely mechanical, so there was no position sensor...

 

fischer-technic is the company you want to look at... i used several of their products on that other 8bit computer that starts with 'A' ;')

I always wanted one of them for my Atari, but they were not cheap...

 

sloopy.

[puppetmark]

The problem with the Andy is if you come across one, does it have the Atari software for it? And any manuals.

I think I would have more fun making the Armatron pick up and move stuff than a robot rolling around and flashing lights. Now, attaching the Armatron to the Andy and programming it to go pick something up and bring it back to you would be cool. Robots need arms to be useful except for cleaning floors or swimming pools.

 

Yea, that's true, A robot with an Arm would be much more useful. I have also given thought to building just a new interface to an exsisting robot kit Even something like this wouldn't be too hard to interface:

 

http://www.super-science-fair-projects.com/owi-8800-kabuto-mushi-robot.html

 

Eventhough I think this kit has been discontinued, I like the idea of the claw for moving objects around.

[BillC]

For some strange reason, the forum won't let me upload the first page, it's black intead of white, but it scanned the same, twice, and it displays on my PC, but just won't upload. Nothing important there though, just introduction to the article and starts telling you to removes screws...

What's the file size? You can't upload anything over 2MB and I notice the largest attached image is 1.53MB.

[Gunstar]

I was saving at maximum detail, I've switched to high and they're only about 500K. Below is page one of the 'Arm your Atari' article, and also I found this wasn't the complete project, it was split up over two magazines and part 2 of 'Arm Your Atari' is also below

[Jet-X]

Shockingly enough, the only place I ever saw one in person for sale was at Disneyland of all places. It was in the gift shop on an upper shelf from the exit of where Star Tours exits. This was back in the 80s and I do remember the price being $129.

 

Odd for such a rare item to be sold at an amusement park

[lbaeza]

http://www.retrobits.net/atari/armyouratari1.shtml

 

http://www.retrobits.net/atari/armyouratari2.shtml

 

Regards

[Gunstar]

I can't believe what I just found! I have this old box of disks that was given to me, I hardly pay much attention to it after flipping through a few years ago becuase I already have what's there for the most part.

 

I was flipping through them this morning, looking for something else and I stumbled upon and original copy of the Andy robot command disk! It's so strange that I come across the ad, get interested, post about it, and then a while later find the disk for it!

 

Below is a pic of the disk, Commodore software is on the reverse side. I quickly checked to see that it loads, at least to the DOS menu, then I made an ATR of it. Pic and ATR below.

AndyRobo.ATR

[atarian63]

Had and sold these back then

[Gunstar]

I can't believe what I just found! I have this old box of disks that was given to me, I hardly pay much attention to it after flipping through a few years ago becuase I already have what's there for the most part.

 

I was flipping through them this morning, looking for something else and I stumbled upon and original copy of the Andy robot command disk! It's so strange that I come across the ad, get interested, post about it, and then a while later find the disk for it!

 

Below is a pic of the disk, Commodore software is on the reverse side. I quickly checked to see that it loads, at least to the DOS menu, then I made an ATR of it. Pic and ATR below.

 

I texted my friend who gave me the box of disks and he said he did indeed own Andy at one time, but the robot is long gone now.

[the.golden.ax]

I was always fascinated with these as a kid. Prompting my parents to give me a Robbie with the programmable tape deck for Christmas when I was 9. That was fun since we had the adam computer at the time and I used adam tapes in my robot.

 

AX