#robotrepair

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Plastic Fantastic by Gene Oldfield (1979), Robot Repair, Sacramento, CA. "Mobile personal robot; contains random shift register; digitized wheel, relay diode steering section." – The Robot Exhibit: history fantasy & reality.

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Playskool Adventurer by Gene Oldfield (1979), Robot Repair, Sacramento, CA. This mobile, programmable, personal robot includes a sonar sensory system, and is adapted from a 6 wheel battery operated ride-on toy, the Playskool Adventurer (second image), with a rugged body shell made of fiberglass. “Gene Oldfield, mathematician, phycisist and teacher at a Sacramento area university is a happy home-robot tinkerer. His fascination with robotics goes back to the late 1950s. “It was intriguing to see mechanical rats like the ones in the Living Brain running around. That inspired me,” Oldfield said.” – Robot hobbyist: inspired since late 50s, InfoWorld, November 8, 1982.

The computer controlling the robot is most likely the 1978 Netronics ELF II featuring the 8 bit RCA 1802 microprocessor.

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Entropy by Gene Oldfield (1976), Robot Repair, Sacramento, CA. “Entropy, as it was called, was a mobile, three-wheeled robot powered by a car battery. A KIM single-board computer was interfaced to the sensors and relays by only seven microchips, which means that most of the processing was done in the computer itself. … Entropy was to operate without external wires, hook-ups, or data links. Data from sensors was processed on board. While doing the dishes and other seemingly simple tasks were impossible, Entropy did have the sensors and memory to be effectively mobile. It could travel from room to room and navigate through doorways. Sonar, using a tone-decoder chip, measured multiple reflections on distances ranging from one inch up to fifteen feet.” – The Everyone Can Build a Robot Book, by Gene Oldfield and Kendra Bonnet, 1984.

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Moth by Gene Oldfield (1984), Robot Repair, Sacramento, CA. "The concept behind the Moth is very simple. When you turn on the robot in a dark room, the photocells have a high resistance rate that blocks the flow of electricity. The Moth does not move. When exposed to light, however, the resistance is diminished. Current flows through the photocells to the transistors. The transistors act like amplifiers and increase the amount of current. The collectors send this boosted signal directly to the motors, which drive the Moth. Each motor is connected to the opposite transistor. The reason for this is that when you shine a flashlight at the right cell, you instinctively expect the Moth to move to the right (or toward the light). But it is actually the left wheel that pushes the Moth to the right, and vice versa. The brighter the light source, the faster the Moth moves." – The Everyone Can Build a Robot Book, by Gene Oldfield and Kendra Bonnet, 1984.

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FLAME by Gene Oldfield (1982), Robot Repair, Sacramento, CA. This three-wheeled, omnidirectional synchro-drive homebrew robot is controlled by the 6502 based SYM-1 microcomputer. “Flame, could point its body in one direction while its wheels turned and moved.” – InfoWorld, September 27, 1982. "Gene Oldfield builds robots for a hobby. … Building a SYM-based robot, Oldfield had 51 input/output lines at his disposal. Each 6502 chip could take 16 I/O lines, so three chips could account for just about all the I/O. Oldfield added extensions such as TTY, and RS-232 interface and four relay drivers. He even added a vision system, which took up eight lines. The only problem was that Oldfield “ran out of room to put the wires. It was cluttered.” " – InfoWorld, November 8, 1982.

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Clayton by Gene Oldfield (1982), Robot Repair, Sacramento, CA. “My brother’s lifelong adventure with robot building produced many variations – this one is called ‘Clayton’ in honor and recognition of another great California robot artist, Clayton Bailey. They were friends, my brother took me to visit Clayton and I was shown his wonderful and strange studio and collections. I was mesmerized with what I was shown. They both died last year – both were unconventional creative geniuses and we need more of their kind.” – Dr. Gene Oldfield’s Lifelong Adventure with Robots, Beto Oldfield.

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Robocycle by Gene Oldfield (1983), Robot Repair, Sacramento, CA. RoboCycle is a 10-15 MPH, two-wheeled, environmental mapping robot, based on a SYM SBC-6502 microcomputer with a sonar sensor. Robocycle appeared in “The Robot Exhibit” 1984 in New York, and also at the 1986 World's Fair in Vancouver, Canada.

HOMAGE TO A BROTHER AND HIS FRIEND by Beto Oldfield ‘Twas the nite before Ford Barney was ready Automation was beep A flash and a motion, My brother with wheels A fresh turn to beginning ROBOCYCLE to memory of 999 And words of Sir Robot Were click, swish and beep A flash and a motion, This family again to start Toward the new – So thank you, my brother, For creating this dream – And to you Sir ROBOCYCLE, I salute the charm of Your click and your flash, Your beep and your motion. Beto 3/12/86

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1802 ELF Computer robot by Gene Oldfield (1982), Robot Repair, Sacramento, CA. Here we see the robot without, and with its domed head (bottom photo, behind Entropy). “The I/O on the ELF wasn’t enough,” Oldfield said. “It had two ports, and one was dedicated to one-way input from the keyboard.” As a result, that model didn’t have that feedback from the environment. After 500 feet of programmed turns, the robot could be off-course. Feedback from the environment, such as a sonar provides, is important and necessary.” – InfoWorld (p27), November 8, 1982.