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Balderdash |
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Idea Name:
Balderdash
Overview:
Robot that lives under the couch and pushes the dog's ball out when it goes underneath
Concepts/Skills:
Some sort of recharger will be necessary so he can just
live under the couch. He'll need to be able to figure out how to stay under the couch, and probably stay a little back from the
edge to avoid chompers. And he'll need to be able to identify the ball only when its entered into his region,
navigate to it, and shoot it out. And there's potential that
he'll need to be able to navigate ridge where carpet and hardwood meet.
Description:
I don't really remember the game Balderdash that much so forgive any historical inaccuracy, but I seem
to recall the game is based upon this little guy running around pushing round bombs and stones. That's what I need. My dog loves running around with
a squeaky ball and he throws it with his mouth and kicks it with his feet all around the house. Its lots of fun. At least it was lots of fun until I
got a couch that has about 4 inches of ground clearance. Now the ball always gets stuck under the couch and then the dog comes over to me looking for
help, or he'll try to dig his way through the carpet until he collapses (which is one of the funniest sights when he slowly sinks to the floor out of breath).
So here's where the robot idea came from. I want to build a little guy that lives under the couch and whenever the ball comes underneath, he'll push it out.
This would allow me to remain in couch potato mode and will also allow the dog to continue playing. So firstly the robot would need a way to know its boundaries
so it'll stay under the couch. This will be crucial because if it comes within snout-range of the edge, the dog will chomp it to bits. His world is half carpet, half
hardwood because the couch is halfway on the carpet, so he'd need to be able to overcome that edge, or maybe there'd be two and each stayed on only one type of
surface, but then they'd need to talk to eachother which will be even harder. Next, the robot
will need a way to recharge while under the couch so it can live there without me getting involved. And finally it would need the ability to notice when the ball
comes underneath, navigate over to it, and then fire the ball out from under the couch (while avoiding paws and snout). I'd proabably also make the
robot drive over to a flashlight so that way I can retrieve it without having to fish around under the couch. As a final capability, the robot may need to
be able to avoid obstacles because there's a pillar right in the middle of its little world under there.
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