Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2019 April 1

= April 1 =

How close are we to being able to buy a robotic pole?
I see all kinds of crazy robots that look like dogs or humans or whatever, but the robot I want is a pole. It should have something like a mouse ball on the bottom with motor/sensors instead of just sensors to dart it this way and that, and a platter on top and maybe some hooks on the sides. You throw your coat, backpack, books, bag of rock salt, or in the case of the inspiration for this, some expensive and very heavy TV camera gear (a friend of a friend has a back problem), on top of it, and the thing should be reliably able to whir around the bottom end to keep upright and to bend inward toward its target position so it gets back where it was. Also you should be able to touch the side of the platform, have it recognize it's being touched by a finger (with lesser reliability, as it isn't mission critical) and then if you tug it upward or downward it should move either way with minimal resistance, telescoping at some internal joint. The mouse ball might also have little grippers that poke out in response to some kind of short range ring-pathed visual/IR/etc scanner to keep it moving smoothly on less-than-level ground (at least sidewalk cracks). If you push it sideways it should let itself lean a little so it moves in good balance, then whirs the bottom ahead when it's time to stop. If you try to push it at an obstacle that would prevent it from righting itself it should balk, pulling backward to provide a back pressure that escalates the closer it gets to trouble.

How close is something like this to existing? Can it exist with present technology? What's the hold-up? Wnt (talk) 14:29, 1 April 2019 (UTC)


 * A Segway, sort of? 67.164.113.165 (talk) 15:19, 1 April 2019 (UTC)
 * I guess it's April 1st again, isn't it... Oxygene7-13 (talk) 15:25, 1 April 2019 (UTC)
 * Nay, I meant this as a real question. I'd forgotten the Segway was self-balancing; I'm thinking the same thing in two dimensions rather than one though. Wnt (talk) 00:05, 2 April 2019 (UTC)
 * See Ballbot. YouTube has quite a few videos of ballbot projects too. CodeTalker (talk) 04:52, 3 April 2019 (UTC)

Freedom Toaster updating
In areas without widespread Internet access, how many public Freedom Toasters rely on sneakernet for updating, and how often are they updated? Neon Merlin  19:35, 1 April 2019 (UTC)


 * There are no areas without internet access. The Iridium satellite network covers the whole Earth, including poles and oceans. Iridium Burst would appear to be the best choice for internet toasters. --Guy Macon (talk) 07:22, 3 April 2019 (UTC)