Need advice on buying a robot, I wait?, will prices go down?

[Chemical]

Hey,


Well im new to the forum so first i'll say hi, Im 15, I live in England.
I've been interested in Robots most of my life but what really sparked my interest was when I bought a RSv2, I love the little guy but it is a toy as is robopet and others, and although I really love them and there extremely advanced for there price tag, they are limited in hardware hacking, you can only really do commercial hacks.

I will continue to buy these types of robots as there fun, but what I really want is a good solid base, something that isnt going to be completly forgotten the year after, as I can afford things like robopet year after year, but i can't afford a proper bi-ped year after year, my problem is all i could really afford is something like £350, over time i could save more and spend more, but if i want to buy something in '06, £350 is really my limit.

Here are all the robots I can think of that could work.

Robosapien v3 - I hear this robot will only be $500, be true bi-ped (so it will be able to stand on one leg and everything), walk up stairs and will be more hacker friendly then the previous RS's, 3ft too, sounds like its just what i want, but the problem is, its releasing for Xmas 07, which is close to 2 years away!, and i can't see the date changing as they have 3 other robots releasing in summer 06, winter 06, summer 07.

P-Bot - This robot looks cool, but i have doubts about it being hackable, i think its more a novelty, will definatly try to pick it up but I dont think it will be anything really special.

Robonova 1 - Definalty wouldnt complain with one of these!, but at $1,000, it would have to half in price atleast.

KHR-1 - Same as robonova.

Robofie - Same as above, except it would have to half its price, then half it again....



So as you can see, not to sure on what to do.

So basically my question is what would you suggest doing?, do you see KHR/Robonova halfing?, do you think v3 is going to be worth a 2 year wait?

Or is there another robot/kit you could recommend that i've missed?


Another idea was to purchase the CD software, and and build the robot (KHR/Robonova) from scratch, but I could see many problems arise from this and how much would i really save?



Any help would be more the appreciated, thanks

[bauermech]

Hi Chemical,
Ooh, that's a tuffy. I too went through a similar process of finding the best economically priced way of getting a robot. I considered building one from scratch, but after adding it all up, I would've probably spent a lot more than just buying a kit. I think I got my Robonova for about $900 USD, but that's still over budget huh. As far as seeing a price drop soon... The KHR-1 just had one not too long ago, but not at the rate you're looking for. I imagine the Robonova's will maintain their price for a while longer as Hitec is most likely keeping the rate of production to a minimum until the demand increases some. I could be entirely wrong though... I'm just guessing. You can only make a servo so cheap before compensating the quality.

[Guest]

Hi Chemical,
Ooh, that's a tuffy. I too went through a similar process of finding the best economically priced way of getting a robot. I considered building one from scratch, but after adding it all up, I would've probably spent a lot more than just buying a kit. I think I got my Robonova for about $900 USD, but that's still over budget huh. As far as seeing a price drop soon... The KHR-1 just had one not too long ago, but not at the rate you're looking for. I imagine the Robonova's will maintain their price for a while longer as Hitec is most likely keeping the rate of production to a minimum until the demand increases some. I could be entirely wrong though... I'm just guessing. You can only make a servo so cheap before compensating the quality.

Thanks for replying, this is a hard decision, i keep hoping a new robot will appear at an affordable price, but realisticly, thats unlikely.

As you can see above, ever candidate has a major problem whether its price or release, I don't know if ebay will save the day, but even 2nd hand, half price for a new product is unlikely.

[Chemical]

just realised I wasnt signed in, but just to clarify thats my post above ^

[rep001]

Chemical
Hi i ordered and just recieved my Robonova-1 today.I to am new to all of this but have to say for the money (£590 plus some P+P from Robosavvy) it is very good value and as far as i can see it is an ideal platform for many years to come as more items become available to bolt on commercially and it is a hackers heaven.Get car washing and helping old ladies across the road and get stuck in................
i wish you well.

[Guest]

Chemical
Hi i ordered and just recieved my Robonova-1 today.I to am new to all of this but have to say for the money (£590 plus some P+P from Robosavvy) it is very good value and as far as i can see it is an ideal platform for many years to come as more items become available to bolt on commercially and it is a hackers heaven.Get car washing and helping old ladies across the road and get stuck in................
i wish you well.

Hi, am trying to make money all the time, but my prediction if I make a fair bit of money is to have around £350/$600 spare through the year, it would take my another year almost to make it £600/$1000.

I guess I just have to do what im doing which is saving money and watching robots over the net/ebay like a hawk

[Chemical]

*sigh* i did it again, im not used to having the "reply" option when not signed in.

[gsferrari]

Did anyone see the OmniZero robot performing??

I think it just BLOWS away the Robonova and KHR-1 and pretty much every other biped out there...except perhaps the Qrio and Asimo.

But imagine what the designer managed to do on a significantly smaller budget than Honda and Sony!! His Robot is almost as good in terms of locomotion at least!!