Geocaching Robot

[+lacomb]

I was going out to this site for another reason and happened to see "geocaching" now, last time I visited this site I had no idea what this was and it didn't interest me in the least. But this time it attracted my interest, just thought I'd share.

Geo robot

[knowschad]

I was going out to this site for another reason and happened to see "geocaching" now, last time I visited this site I had no idea what this was and it didn't interest me in the least. But this time it attracted my interest, just thought I'd share.

Geo robot

That is very cool! But that thread is four years old now... what took you so long?

 

If I may:

 

 

Subject: [DPRG] geocaching robot

From: David P. Anderson

Date: Sun Jan 8 20:18:11 CST 2006

 

 

Howdy,

 

I had an interesting experience on this beautiful Sunday

afternoon.

 

I was out running jBot, and we encountered a group of kids

playing in the park. A few came running over, and they often

do, and began asking questions, and I was answering them and

chatting as we followed the robot through the trees. This one

little 10-year-old (my guess) girl was particulaly inquisitive:

 

"What is it?"

 

It's a robot.

 

"Who's driving it"

 

It's driving itself.

 

"Really? How does it do that?"

 

Well, there's a computer on it. It has sonar, like a bat. Hear

that little ticking sound? Run out there in front of it and stand

there and see what happens.

 

So this little girl ran around and stood in the robot's path and it

maneuvered around her and continued on it's way. I'm not sure why

that is more impressive than maneuvering around the trees, but kids

alway seem to be enthralled when they realize that the robot will

interact with them.

 

"Wow that's AWESOME! Where is it going?"

 

Well, it started up the street in a driveway and it's trying to

get to the center of that basketball court around the corner across

the park over there.

 

"How does it do that? Is there a GPS on it? Or is that a cell-phone?"

she pointed to the GPS mounted on the robot.

 

It's a GPS. It's trying to get to a GPS waypoint. You know what that

is?

 

"Yes."

 

So 10 year olds in 2006 know what a GPS is. I feel so old!

She ran excitedly to her group of friends and told them the

news:

 

"You gotta come see this, it's AWESOME. He has a GEOCACHING ROBOT!"

 

A geocaching robot. What an interesting idea. Out of the mouths

of babes, as they say.

 

When working with the robot, I have always assumed that the human

(me) would know in advance where the destination waypoint(s) lie.

It had not occurred to me that the robot could be used to _find_

that destination waypoint for the humans. A robot for geocaching

--- what a great idea!

 

They all wanted one.

 

So they came and gathered round the robot, geocachers every one,

and asked "How much did your Geocaching Robot cost?" and "Where did

you get it?" and "Can I buy one?"

 

For the entrepreneurs among us, this might be something interesting

to comtemplate.

 

They chased the robot around for a while and tried to block its path

and giggled when it would find it's way through their tangle of legs,

until we got close to the basketball court and I asked them to

let it go.

 

But when we got there, a game was in progress. Hmmmm.

 

So as the robot approached the court I stepped up boldly and said,

"Hey, guys, this robot is trying to make it to the center of the court.

Can I get you to pause long enough for it to do that?"

 

I've actually done this before, and as before, everyone was so surprised

that there is a robot heading toward them that they just stand there

and let the robot pass. It found the center of the court, and turned

around and headed back toward the park.

 

Then as the robot and its entourage of now maybe 20 kids headed away from

the court, the little girl's friend or maybe older brother spoke over

his shoulder to the confused looking basketball players, who were still

watching us all disappear off into a drainage ditch.

 

"It's a Geocaching Robot," he offered matter-of-factly. Several of the

players nodded their heads, and they all went back to their game.

 

best regards,

dpa

[+KeeperOfTheMist]

wow that is just awsome. and not the robot part (though that would be a nice item to have ) the part of the kids and the Basketball players knowing exactly what geocaching is.

 

hmm i really do want one of them robots though.. follow it to the cache then you know it is within 20-30ft of the cache (good signal day).

pure coolness all around though

[+geodarts]

Perhaps the upgraded 2010 model will find the cache for you without you leaving the house. But then the pesky robot will want its own Groundspeak account.

[knowschad]

Perhaps the upgraded 2010 model will find the cache for you without you leaving the house. But then the pesky robot will want its own Groundspeak account.

Armchair caching at its finest! "Hey.... my name is on the log. So what if I never left the house?"

[+William.Banfield]

The brilliant Dr. Solly has already made his own geocaching robot. It is awsome, just wish i could work our the password for it