From: Chris Wilkson <ecwilkso@xxxxxxx>
To: <stella@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, October 17, 2002 1:41 AM
Subject: Re: [stella] BLINT: Branch, Conditional Lint
> On Thu, 17 Oct 2002, Mark Graybill wrote:
>
> > it occurred to me to wonder whether anyone's used the 2600 as a robot
> > controller yet. The image of a 2600 console with a pair of arms
emanating
> > from a cart popped into my head. Sheesh, I better get to sleep before I
> > start drawing a schematic or something...
>
> Yes, I did this a few years ago.
...
> So I actually built the powerdroid from a VCS and let it wander around the
> halls of MIT.
> Two independent drive wheels with two smaller rear wheels. You could use
a
> joystick to drive it around, or you could plug one of 2 sensor boards in
and
> give it some (pretty limited) AI. It was great. It kept falling down
stairs,
> but it was a heavy sixer. I think it could have survived a real Deathstar
> blast! Don't remember what happened to it though...it's been 6 or 7
years.
>
That's neat. I bet the VCS-droid could stand plenty of punishment. What did
you use to supply power?
There's a multitude of ideas of what one could do story-wise with a VCS
droid in a Star Wars universe...
The VCS-droid drifting through the debris field of the exploded Deathstar
until it bumps into a custom-model Tie-fighter. The droid grabs hold with a
little claw...
The VCS-droid works its way through the jungle planet, pursued by ewoks,
using moves learned from Pitfall...
The VCS-droid struggles with Yoda over his staff, with Yoda devolving toward
his Grover ancestors under the stress. Finally it challenges Yoda to a game
of Combat. It defeats Yoda in Tank Pong. Yoda "fries" the console in
frustration...
The VCS-droid used as a display for a briefing to Imperial troops, using
graphics from the The Empire Strikes Back...
The VCS-droid climbs into the unusual alien rotary-wing conveyance, surveys
a bank of baffling controls, then slaps a Choplifter cart into its slot so
that it can fly off and save the day...
etc, etc.
The combination of the 1977 console with the 1977-series movies is just too
good.
-Mark G.
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