Robot Dog Progress Showcase

Robot Dog (not really robotic yet)
3hrs

672 Polys

1310 Tris

/* Notes: This fella will be the playable character of the solo game I'm currently working on. I want him to exude strength and stability, but he should also be lovable. He is a caretaker. He'll need to be expressive, but within his limits of robotic movement and gesture. Finding the right balance of organic and robotic design elements will be crucial... and slightly difficult for me. 

Structure changes for upcoming progress updates should include:

-Major revisions to the general shape of the head and neck (he kind of looks like a mule from the front... something from Viva Pinata maybe... Not ok)

-A closer look at how the back legs of a dog are actually shaped. His are pretty chunky, and oddly angled.

-Addition of purposeful design to points such as the eyes, nose, jaw, ears, tail, joints.

My thanks to Micah Moore, my new Maya teacher for this semester, for his already helpful advice. I'll be designing Robot Dog throughout his class, so his input will likely have a pretty big influence on the game's feel. */

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S.E.E.K. - Kids & Robots

 

Training Tomorrow's Technicians

This summer I had the privilege of working with my dad, Ed Olson, in a program called S.E.E.K. (Summer Educational Experiences for Kids) to teach kids about robotics. We had two classes of about 16 kids each; the younger class at 7-9 years old and the older kids at 10-12 years. The task of the younger class was to make wall-hugging robot mice that used a two-way electronic switch to navigate it's way along a wall, the older class got to use Lego Mindstorms robot kits to design and program their own robot to make it through an obstacle course. It was an amazing experience that taught both me and the kids a lot - we helped them understand how robots really function and what their real-life purpose is, and encouraged them to have fun learning some useful (and might I add awesome) technical skills. Now if I can incorporate our teaching method into a game sometime in the near future...

My dad is, not to brag or anything, but probably the coolest dad ever. He is a retired rocket scientist (no kidding), now working as the program manager for the Integrated Systems Training Center at Cheyenne's local college. In his 'spare' time he, as seen here, teaches kids how to build robots, provides essential college life support for his oldest daughter (me),  coaches his youngest daughter through life as a 4th grader, pwns n00bs in CoD4, and attacks the unending project of home improvement. You rock Dad.

Here one of our kids watches hopefully as his robot does it's best to maneuver the obstacle course. There was a lot of trial and error involved, and it was inspiring and chuckle-inducing to see that "I've got it!" moment in their eyes every time they solved a new setback.

As a coder at heart, my biggest task with the older kids naturally fell to helping them program their robots. The Mindstorms development kit has a pretty sweet programming set-up. The GUI is made of blocks (following lego tradition) that the kids can connect in order to give their robot autonomous capabilities. They got to learn about some pretty advanced coding concepts like if statements and loops, and they took to it like SCV's to a mineral pile. Kids are smart.

Bonus!! I got to make robots. Way cool. 

Add to the geek repertoire that I've made a circuit board.

/**
@JM


**/

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Aibo

Toy Robot Dog "Aibo" (Sony)  

11 hrs  

Low Poly: 3990  

High Poly: 15678  

Notes: This was just a fun practice project inspired by all of the little robots my dad and I have been playing with & building lately (I'll post on that too in a bit). It was the first time I created a high poly version of any of my models, so that was fun :) There are a considerable amount of smaller details that I glossed over, but I'm content with the final product. Perhaps when I have a bit more modeling skill under my belt I'll do another robot with all the tiny components. 

P.S. Two whole posts in less than three hours! Holy crap!

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