David SzondyMeccanoid G15 KS brings Meccano into the robot age

The Meccano Meccanoid G15 KS is compatible with standard Meccano parts

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Meccano is one of those toys with a very strong nostalgia element， involving memories of hours spent bolting together a toy wheelbarrow or a coffee table-size Forth Bridge. But 21st century kids relate more to smartphones than traveling cranes， so Meccano has come up with its Meccanoid G15 KS – a kit robot that can be programmed using motion capture.

First marketed in 1901， Meccano wasn‘t so much a toy when it started out as a prototyping system aimed at kids. It was a mechanical construction set based on standardized engineering parts with which children could build everything from a simple car to a mechanical analog computer， if they were inventive enough and bought a large enough kit.

Meccano was intended as an educational toy that taught basic engineering principles， problem-solving， manual dexterity， and had the goal of producing the next generation of engineers. It must have got something right， because in its heyday it was a rare university engineering department that didn’t have at least one project on the bench that wasn‘t a Meccano lash-up.

In recent years， Meccano has passed through several owners and has been less about general kits than building specific projects， such as a specific car or an airplane， but the Meccanoid G15 KS moves out of the toy corn thresher league and into open source robotic building platforms. In many ways， it’s a return to the more general， innovative kit days， but wrapped in a specific product.

Aimed at ages 5 to 14， the emphasis is on simplicity and ease of use. The kit even comes with ergonomic tools and “user-friendly instructions，” which is a bit of shock for those of us who remember the basic spanners and instructions with deliberate errors included to encourage problem-solving.

In its basic construction， the Meccanoid G15 KS has a movable head and arms， motorized feet for rolling about， and LED eyes with over 500 colors available. It uses large polygonal， grid-like， high-impact polycarbonate construction plates， which seems a bit of a deviation from the old girders and symmetrical metal plates， but Meccano says that the new parts are compatible with classic Meccano – opening up unlimited design possibilities.

But what makes the Meccanoid really stand out is its programmability. Meccano says that no experience is needed to teach the robot once assembled， because its “Mecca Brain” has three programming modes. It can be taught by means of a “ragdoll avatar” app from a tablet or smartphone， or it can be programmed using Learned Intelligent Movement （LIM） – this means that you can move the head and arms， and the robot will follow suit， even repeating what‘s said to it. And finally， there’s motion capture， where the Meccanoid mimics your movements using the camera of a smartphone mounted in its chest.

According to Meccano， the Meccanoid responds to over 100 pre-programmed voice commands and can learn more. It knows thousands of phrases， tells jokes， knows fun facts， asks questions， starts conversations， plays games， and can remember names and birthdays. In addition， it has 12 interactive modes and adapts to its environment.

The Meccano Meccanoid G15 KS comes with 64Mb flash memory with updatable firmware， Bluetooth connectivity， a rechargeable Ni-MH battery， dual 6-amp motor drivers， and eight servo motors with bidirectional communication.

It goes on sale in August for US$399.

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Meccanoid G15 KS將Meccano公司帶入機器人時代 meccanoid G15 KS帶來Meccano到機器人age

meccano meccanoid G15 KS標準Meccano部分

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Meccano是其中的一個玩具具有很強烈的懷舊元素，包括回憶小時玩具手推車或螺栓連接咖啡桌大小的四橋。但第二十一世紀的孩子們更多地涉及到智能手機比起重機，所以Meccano想出其meccanoid G15 KS–套件的機器人，可以用動作捕捉程序。

在1901第一次銷售，Meccano是沒有這么多的玩具的時候，它開始了作為一個面向孩子的原型系統。這是基于孩子們可以從一個簡單的汽車機械模擬計算機的一切標準的工程部分的機械結構，如果他們發明的足夠買一個足夠大的包。

Meccano的目的是作為一種教育玩具，教基本的工程原理，解決問題的能力，手的靈活性，在生產下一代工程師的目標。它必須有正確的東西，因為在它的全盛時期是一個罕見的大學工程系，沒有至少一個項目上，不是Meccano應急。

近年來，Meccano經過了幾個業主和有那么一般包比建設具體項目，如一個特定的汽車或飛機，但meccanoid G15 KS移出玩具玉米脫粒機聯賽進入開源機器人平臺建設。從很多方面來說，這是一個回歸到更一般的、創新的試劑盒天，但包裹在一個特定的產品中。該試劑盒甚至還帶有符合人體工程學的工具和通俗易懂的說明，“這是對我們這些誰記得基本扳手和蓄意的錯誤指令，包括鼓勵解決問題的一點沖擊。

在基本建設，在meccanoid G15 KS有一個可移動的頭和手臂，機動腳滾動，并導致眼睛超過500種顏色可供選擇。它使用大量的多邊形網格狀，高沖擊聚碳酸酯建設板塊，這似乎有點從舊梁對稱的金屬板有偏差，但Meccano說新零件與經典的組合玩具–開放無限的設計可能性兼容。

但是，是什么讓meccanoid真正站出來為它的可編程性。Meccano說無需經驗教給機器人一旦組裝，因為它的“麥加的大腦”有三個編程模式。它可以通過平板電腦或智能手機“布娃娃頭像”APP意味著教，也可以利用所學的智能運動程序（LIM）–這意味著你可以移動頭部和手臂，和機器人會效仿，甚至重復的對它說什么。最后，還有動作捕捉，在meccanoid模仿你的動作，使用智能手機的攝像頭安裝在其胸部。

根據組合玩具，的meccanoid響應超過100預編程的語音命令，可以了解更多。它知道成千上萬的短語，講笑話，知道有趣的事實，問問題，開始對話，玩游戲，并能記住姓名和生日。此外，它有12個互動模式和適應環境。

meccano meccanoid G15 KS配備64MB閃存可更新固件，藍牙連接，可充電鎳氫電池，雙6-amp電機驅動器，和雙向通信的八個伺服電機。

它的銷量在8月399美元。