🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <monte.721678933@joplin.wri.com> monte@joplin.wri.com (Monte Seyer) writes:
>Could someone please post or email me the information on
>the Nitinol kits someone had posted a couple of weeks ago.
>
>thanks,
>
>Monte Seyer
>monte@wri.com

If Stiquito is the robot you are looking for, it is still available
from

	Computer Science Department
	215 Lindley Hall
	Indiana University
	Bloomington, Indiana 47405
	ATTN: Stiquito

A lot has been happening with this robot.  Briefly:

	- Dynalloy, Inc. has licensed the design and has kits
	  available for $19.95 quantity one, with volume
	  educational discounts up to 50% ($10/kit)

	- IU will continue to make smaller quantities of kits
	  per order (5? 10?) to researchers on the net for $10.
	  All orders received through the end of November 1992
	  will be honored (unless someone wants 100's of kits!)

	- TR363b (Part 2) is on track:  one PAL controller has
	  been burned & works; an FPGA controller simulates; and
	  an IBM PC interface for tethered Stiquitos is complete
	  (the students doing it are now looking at a tiny Logo
	  for Stiquito).

AT THE STIQUITO LIQUID-VAPOR INTERFACE
--------------------------------------

The most enjoyable part of my work with Stiquito has been the
development of a nitinol oscillator.  It works, operating for
several hours on an alkaline 9v cell, and 45 minutes on what
was probably a partially-discharged 9v NiCad.

The impact is this:

Sometime after November (if all goes well), a version of
Stiquito will be released that needs only two (2) more
wires to allow self-contained walking.  Add a 9v cell to
the new Stiquito, and it will walk.  No transistorized
oscillators, no VLSI controllers. 

Of course, you can add these, as well as CPU chips, etc.
to control direction & rate of walking, but the tripod
gait (or canter, or etc.) will have been moved below the
IC boundary.  This makes multi-legged robots (centipedal)
more feasible than before.

Cheers,
Jonathan