Fight! Robot, Fight! The Amateur Robotics Movement in the United States John P. Sullins, Sonoma State University, United States of America Abstract: The study of Robotics was once the exclusive realm of elite research universities and corporations. The costs and logistics of building, programming, and maintaining a robotics platform in past generations were too high for the hobbyist or independent researcher. Over the last decade this has radically changed. Amateur robotics clubs are thriving, and knowledge generated by the robotics and AI research projects of the past, is now converging with the home and amateur robotics movement through inexpensive robotics platforms such as the Lego® Mindstorms™ kits. In addition to this, robot fighting leagues have also become very popular wherein participant build ingenious machines of destruction, whichthey operate via telerobotics in mock gladiatorial combat. The convergence of high-tech expertise with the home and amateur user presents a fascinating case study of the successful introduction of AI technologies into our everyday lives. We will look at how home users and hobbyists are creatively reshaping AI technology and identify the social values that are impacting, and being impacted by, the development of the home robotics community. In this paper I will review some of the recent de- velopments in the home robotics movement that point towards greater collaborative research in robotics across cultures and between professional and hobbyist. OCKED IN A cage with transparent Lexan shows that showcase robot fighting such as Battle walls, two combatants take their positions at Bots®, or Robot Wars®, few people know that there Lopposite corners. The master of ceremonies are hundreds of amateur organizations where people introduces the contestants along with their meet on the weekends to pursue their dreams of builders then, with a shout of “fight robots, fight!” mechanical mayhem. The machines begin to circle each other while hun- In addition to these activities, there is also a very dreds of spectators cheer them on. Each of the robotic large, and still growing, industry in educational ro- contestants weighs in at more than one hundred botics. Here the concentration is on building teams kilograms and the arena resounds as they batter the and understanding technology through the use of cage, and each other, in their efforts to destroy their robots, which are built to compete in various ball antagonist. Finally, in a shower of sparks and acrid sports or other technical challenges. smoke one of the robots ceases to function, and the While much of the activity I will focus on in this bout is over. The crowd cheers the surviving machine paper is taking place in the United States, amateur as it spins in victorious celebration. Off to the side robotics is a worldwide phenomenon and takes on of the arena, almost unnoticed, the human drivers distinct regional flavours. It is fascinating to compare and builders of the robot take a bow, while those of and contrast, for instance, the amateur robotics enthu- the losing machine haul their wreck back to the pits siast from Japan and Korea with their counterparts where dozens of other robot enthusiast prepare their in the US so I will mention a few observations regard- machines for the rest of the days fights. ing that topic as well, all of which I witnessed at the This scene plays itself out dozens of times nearly 2004 Robolympics1 in San Francisco California every weekend in regional, national and international where there was a significant intermixing of robot robot fighting events. While many people are famil- fighters and educational robo-enthusiasts from both iar with the professional, highly polished, television sides of the Pacific. 1 This event is now called the Robogames (http://robogames.net/). Figure 1: Fighting Robots battle in the Arena at the 2004 Robolympics in San Francisco California. Photo taken by the author. teen-year collaboration between the LEGO® Group Important Events in American Amateur of Denmark and the MIT Media Lab (Brand 1987, Robotics Ferrari 2002). It grew out of Seymour Papert’s work on the LOGO Turtle robotic toys that were developed Robotics and automation has a long and interesting in the late 70’s at the Media lab as an educational past beginning with the clockwork automata of the tool (Papert 1980). Refining the ideas advanced in eighteenth century (Brooks 2002). Research in robot- the LOGO Turtle project further, LEGO® Mind- ics, has up until now, largely been the province of storms™ is a very powerful toy that couples the big industry and academia.2 But, by the 1970’s ama- wonderfully engineered LEGO® bricks building teur robotics began to take shape, emerging from the systems with a brain brick or (RCX) that encases a hobby electronics industry. In 1977 the Robotics Hitachi H8 microcontroller to which can be attached Society of America was organized as a non-profit various sensors to give it information about its sur- group of like-minded hobbyists who meet to trade roundings and motors to power one’s robot for ideas and inspiration. There are many organizations motility and other actions. In addition to these com- and clubs like the RSA but it is one of the largest. ponents, there are the ingenious software packages These groups have traditionally been interested in that are used to program the brick. Some of these making autonomous mobile robots that do things programs are proprietary, such as the Mindstorms™ like navigate through a maze, follow lines drawn on or LEGO® LAB™, programming environments, but the ground, walk or crawl over uneven terrain, etc. others are freeware such as the more powerful NQC These early garage experimenters were hampered and Bircx Command Centre, which were developed by the cost of computer and electronic parts, but by by home robotics enthusiasts to enhance the capabil- the late eighties and early nineties this constraint was ities of these machines. beginning to change. Today robotics enthusiasts have While LEGO® Mindstorms™ is the most popular, access to kits and components that only large well- there are many other robotics kits available, ranging funded research institutions could have afforded in from the very inexpensive and basic, to those that the past. This change has brought about a minor are more expensive but with more power and versat- renaissance in home robotics that has greatly expan- ility. Still, even the most expensive kits are less then ded the membership in hobby robotics groups. Today a couple thousand dollars and give the home experi- there are hundreds of these organizations that cater menter access to components and software that used to all ages and all skill levels. to be very expensive indeed and in past decades Important innovations would have been available only to large research in- stitutions. There are a number of important recent innovations There are also a number of retail outlets such as that have encouraged the blossoming of the home Mondotronics, The Robot Marketplace, or Robotoys, robotics movement. Chief among them has been the which make it very easy for home users to acquire development of the LEGO® Mindstorms™ kit. Re- leased in 1998, this kit was the culmination of a fif- 2 For a good review of academic and industrial research in autonomous robotics as of the turn of the century see Menzel and D’aluisio, Robosapiens, MIT Press 2000. all manner of robotic technology.3 In fact, the it is growing quickly. According to studies by the growing demand for robotics in consumer electronics Japan Robotics Association, the United Nations is now being addressed by tradeshows specifically Economic Commission, and the International Feder- designed for robotics companies to showcase their ation of Robotics, in 2005 the personal and service mobile robotics products. Two of these events are robotics market will be worth $5.4 Billion, equal that called RoboNexus and RoboBusiness and are proving of industrial robotics, and by 2025 is projected to be to be well attended.4 While this market is nowhere about $51.7 billion or four times the size of the indus- near as large as that of the personal computer, it is trial robotics market, and this is excluding military as large as that of traditional industrial robotics, and and small toy robotics sales.5 Figure 2: Example of a robot built with the LEGO® Mindstorms™ kit. Photo taken by the author. The most thriving commercial robotics product to date has been the explosion of robotic vacuum The Dual Trajectory of American cleaners starting in 2003. In the US, Asia, and Amateur Robotics Europe, a number of companies such as Hitachi and Kärcher have ventured into this market (Kahney Even though home and hobby robotics is a relatively 2003). In the US the most successful has been an recent development, it is already too difficult to fol- upstart company called iRobot.6 Their robotic vacu- low all of the various fads and trends taking place. um product, the Roomba ®, sells for under $200 Still, in American amateur robotics we can easily (US), and is sold in a number of big retail outlets. see two main trajectories developing one in robot By July 2004 it had sold over 500,000 robots. One fighting leagues and the other in education. Bothof of the most interesting things about this machine is these trends are worth looking at from the standpoint that home users have begun to hack them in order to of the philosophy of technology as they provide make them smarter, or faster, or just more fun.7 The provocative case studies for exploring the social company iRobot, co-founded by the famous MIT values that are shaping this emerging technology.