R2-D2

R2-D2 is possibly the most famous robot ever created. He was first used for the movie “Star Wars: A New Hope” in 1977. In using the robot during filming for the first movie, they used two different versions. One version of the RD-D2 robot was remote controlled. This version was used just for scenes in which the robot moved around. The other version of the R2-D2 robot was just a standing unit. Inside this standing version, actor Kenny Baker had controls so that he was able to manipulate lights and appendages on the outside of the robot and could also control very limited movement. The purpose of the standing version was to allow Kenny Baker to be able to imbue a sense of personality into the robot.
The height of this robot was 3 feet 2 inches. Rather than using words, this robot used beeps and whistles to communicate. Its “voice” was created by Ben Burtt using an ARP 2600 analog music synthesizer. For movement the robot had 2 standard legs that rolled and also had a 3rd retractable one if needed.
Over the years the technology used for making R2-D2 improved. By “Return of the Jedi”, improvements in the remote control version of the robot lead to it receiving more time on screen than the version controlled by Kenny Baker. In episodes 1-2 of the Star Wars saga, computer graphics were used to make R2-D2 appear on screen in addition to the remote controlled and actor controlled versions. By episode 3, actor Kenny Baker was no longer used in controlling the robot.
For possible improvements on the robot, I would think the only possibilities would be to have it actually speak rather than just beep and have it do things like jet around in the air in real life rather than just digitally. I think this robot contributed to giving robots in future movies personality. The fact that so many people like the robot even though it only moves and beeps while it does not actually talk is very impressive. Because of its impact on people, the R2-D2 robot was inducted into the Robot Hall of Fame in 2003.


Sources:
http://www.starwars.com/databank/droid/r2d2/?id=bts
http://www.answers.com/topic/r2-d2
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/R2-D2
http://www.robothalloffame.org/r2d2.html

Jacques de Vaucanson's "The Duck"

In 1739, Jacques de Vaucanson built a mechanical duck which ended up being called, “The Duck”. The Duck could do many things: flap its wings, muddle in the water with its beak, quack, eat, drink, digest its food, and excrete the food. Each wing of the duck supposedly had over 400 moving parts. Over all, The Duck had over 1,000 moving parts located within its body and inside the base on which it stood. The moving parts were powered by a weight system. In order to build The Duck, Jacques de Vaucanson needed to be very precise which led him to create a precision lathe which was used to cut threads. In addition to the precision lathe, Vaucanson was the first person to use a rubber hose. Rubber hoses were used for The Duck’s digestive canal. Inside The Duck’s digestive system, there were chemicals that would “digest” the food before it was excreted.
If it is true that this duck contained the first rubber hoses inside of it, I would say that the rubber hoses were the biggest contribution to robots in general. The concept having hoses inside of robots that can transport liquids around inside of it is still used today. Robots that use hydraulics today use the same idea of having liquids run through tubing although in today’s cases the liquids running through the tubes help the robot move as opposed to The Duck, whose tubing only transported the food through the “digestive system”.
A suggestion I would have for improving The Duck would be to eliminate the platform that it stood on. By removing the platform, it would be possible to make the duck be able to roam around on its own. Maybe if the duck was able to roam around on its own, it could also be made so that if it walked into a body of water it would be able to swim in it until it reached land again and then be able to continue roaming around on foot.

Sources:
http://www.swarthmore.edu/Humanities/pschmid1/essays/pynchon/vaucanson.html
http://music.calarts.edu/~sroberts/articles/DeVaucanson.duck.html
http://books.guardian.co.uk/extracts/story/0,,650977,00.html