the thread regarding projects requiring time and money you do not have

[Tron]

I can't be the only one with ideas too big for my wallet here.
Being the thread startin' guy, I think its only fair I start this shit off.
For a while now, I've wanted to build a robot to play a bass and/or guitar, with the ability to upload tablature so I could rock out with a robot.
What I have in my head is a hand that moves on a track alongside the fretboard, that checques its position through, say, an old ball-mouse LED-wheel full of holes-phototransistor ensemble.  The fingers would individually move, everything being controlled by microcontrollers, and there'd be some sweet picking system that i havnt thought out yet.  Possibilities of sly phrases while playing bass
"Daaayumn thats funky", etc
Also, possibly motors affixed to the tuning pegs with a feedback system going on with a hacked digital tuner for ultimate permanent tuning.
Wouldn't that be freakin sweet?  Yeah, thats what I thought.
I think I've seen it done before on the New Music or some junk.
Hell yeah.

[Admin]

I have a friend who did that with a piano thingy, using a solenoid for each key.
I have also seen the guitar playing robots, pretty sweet too . . . so good luck.
I still think it will cost u lotsa $ tho =P

[Tron]

Oh hell yeah, considering I'd have to shell out for a new guitar and all.

And no robot of mine'll play a cheap guitar.  Never.

So, Mr. Admin, do you have any projects that would drive your wallet into the depths of hell?

Unrelated:  new fluke 110 true rms multimeter, won it at the skills manitoba competition, electronics category.  Third place mothafuckas

[Admin]

ive actually never spent my own money on a robot before . . .

ive always applied for grants or had the lab i was with pay for it all. or id just scrap old stuff laying around. but hey ive collected $4k to pay for everything over the 3 years, so yea i guess my wallet would scream.

also unrelated:
i bought my Fuke (no, not a typo) multimeter for $8 in Burma.

[Tron]

What kind of robots did you get grants for?  You should add a tutorial on how to go about getting a grant

[Admin]

my robots are at
http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/~jsp2/robotics

and i did write a tutorial on how to get money for robots, sorta.
its on the how to build a robot page for beginners, like the 2nd or 3rd paragraph.

hmmm maybe i should write one a little more detailed? or do you think that is good enough?

[Kage]

well... heres a helluva idea... not terribly creative, in fact, i think i mightve seen it somewhere before. but i digress. anyway, does anyone have an idea how i could wire my 1992 ford tempo 2 door manual transmission car to be remote driven? i was knida thinkin some kind of motor in the power steering or something, and sillenoids (im pretty sure i spelled that wrong) on the stick shift. and some doohicky or other to push the gas and clutch and brakes and crap... anybody got any thoughts on this? and is this legal? thanks

[Tron]

hmmm maybe i should write one a little more detailed? or do you think that is good enough?

Maybe a little more information on who you would go to to apply for a grant...
mind you, it would probably be different for different countries

well... heres a helluva idea...

I saw a clip of that on mythbusters actually... I think they just had an H-bridged motor operating the steering wheel, but I didn't see what they had workin the pedals.  I think the best way would be to screw physically pushing the pedals, and rig up a way to do their work inside the engine with some electrically controlled valves or some shit.  I think you'd want an automatic to make it remote control, because to operate a stick with solenoids or motors would be one hell of a bitch.  Itd be one hell of a toy tho, ill tell ya that

[Admin]

yea i saw it on mythbusters too. they ripped out the steering wheel and put a geared motor in its place. i dont remember the pedals or anything else . . . but i do remember them using an RC controller. i dont think solenoids would have the travel distance for pedals tho . . . perhaps a hydraulic piston thing?

its at the bottom of this page
http://www.rcdriver.com/articles/hyneman_1.shtml

[grated_geek 3000!]

Yeah.  I think they used a hydraulic thingy for the pedals.  I have that episode taped on VHS somewhere, give me a few years to find it.

[Admin]

ok several people asked for a tutorial on how to raise money for robots,
so here it is:

http://www.societyofrobots.com/robotfunding.shtml