I understand the sentiment for a getaway robot, however, I believe there are better alternatives for introducing people to robotics such as Mindstorms that you mentioned or Arduino. To clarify, by "better" I mean such that actually get you building and making things, rather than what to me at least boils down to playing with a toy.
It may be just the matter of personal preference, but to me this project is closer to the RoboSapien than it is to, say, making things with LEGOs or Arduino. It does not aim to teach anything about the mechanical aspect of robot building, connecting wires, soldering. Simplifying robotics for the sake of attracting everyone to it may be diminishing returns because at the point where a huge crowd is attracted not much of actual 'robotics' is left.
For those really interested in building robots, picking up a micro board and some parts online would be much more educational. Also, ability to program micros, connect wires and put parts together is something that robotics enthusiast should strive to learn, it's a big part of the hobby!
This being said, I still wish them best and hope they will succeed with their project. After all it is a cool ting to build! :)
> To clarify, by "better" I mean such that actually get you building and making things, rather than what to me at least boils down to playing with a toy.
To me, this is one of the attitudes that relegates robotics to the background. Tinkering together hardware is one small part of robotics, but even if you're interested mainly in other aspects you are forced into it.
I'm very interested in the autonomy and programming aspects of robotics rather than in soldering. A ready-to-roll platform that allows me to write my own code is exactly what I want. I've learned enough to design and build my own robot (motor drivers and the rest of it) and have done so, and I realize that this part is something I could hand over to pretty much anyone with an EE degree, or better yet just buy the hardware platform pre-assembled. I can do it but I'd rather not, because this isn't where I personally can do anything truly interesting.
There's room for hardware tinkerers and software people, and people in between. There's no reason for a one-size-fits all attitude that mandates that you need to assemble hardware to be "into" robotics.
That's actually an awesome point. A robot construction kit that you could connect to a phone would be a cooler way to really learn about robotics than a delivered, finished robot.
Even if it were modular -- so that you learned nothing about connecting wires, soldering, etc. -- having the experience of getting to choose how you build your robot and what sensors and drive train and such that you use would make a huge part of the experience. It's definitely fundamental to what makes Mindstorms so valuable.
It may be just the matter of personal preference, but to me this project is closer to the RoboSapien than it is to, say, making things with LEGOs or Arduino. It does not aim to teach anything about the mechanical aspect of robot building, connecting wires, soldering. Simplifying robotics for the sake of attracting everyone to it may be diminishing returns because at the point where a huge crowd is attracted not much of actual 'robotics' is left.
For those really interested in building robots, picking up a micro board and some parts online would be much more educational. Also, ability to program micros, connect wires and put parts together is something that robotics enthusiast should strive to learn, it's a big part of the hobby!
This being said, I still wish them best and hope they will succeed with their project. After all it is a cool ting to build! :)