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Tragibots

Failure Can Be a Success
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Tragibots. Okay, so I have no background in electronics, but i have access to all sorts of weird electronics because my father is a mad scientist. Batteries, motors, wires,soldering irons, weird computer-chip-looking thingies. Then my house is a broken-electronics haven. We’ve got lots of radios, broken computers, fans, washing machines.

I unscrew them and gut them for their parts. Then I solder everything together and hope hope hope it moves. Sometimes they twitch or move (5 seconds maximum), but more often, I end up electrocuting myself.

When they’re dead, they go to the "robot graveyard." (a fish tank.) But sometimes, I'll use more elaborate disposal methods like "temporary burial in soapy dish water."

Running through your head now: "You freako, what's the point in building non-functioning robots?" Well, each robot failure is a success BECAUSE it's meant to be failure. And so if you fail, then it's a success right? You've succeeded at failing. Yay.

Added bonus: I film each Tragibot's death as well as the robot funeral. This video will be given to the future owner of the Tragibot for their own viewing pleasure.

screwdriverqueen, Dec 17 2002

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       One of those robots exploded, I think.
krelnik, Dec 17 2002
  

       Looks like a bunch of the annos got thrown in the fish tank. =/
Pharaoh Mobius, Dec 17 2002
  

       Are these itty bitty tragibots or great big gimungus ones? I'm all for the cute itty bitty ones. Any lifelike twitching is also a bonus, especially if you can get it on tape.
XSarenkaX, Dec 17 2002
  

       no no, i'll be fine.   

       i'm just waiting for my 37453th wind. :)
screwdriverqueen, Dec 17 2002
  

       xSarenkax - the robots come in different sizes, depending on their function. for example, a robot constructed in order to clean the inside of a violin would have to be pretty pygmian, because it would have to slip through the f-holes.   

       on the other hand, if you need something like say, a chupacabras-catching robot (posing as a mate for him, of course) you'd need something a little more chupracabra-sized (he's around 4" tall.)   

       the lochness monster or the giant squid is another story.
screwdriverqueen, Dec 17 2002
  

       What SDQ has described is the rationale of those with a fear of failure. Because they fear failure, they don't try to succeed, thus they don't fail. It is already an established idea.
ImBack, Dec 17 2002
  

       Things that go *bump* in the night come back to life if left intact. The desired goal between the author's first two ideas appear to be causing failure of that which causes fear. If it is dismantled, then incompletely put back together, then that which was feared when whole now has only form, but not function which (no longer) causes fear. Any parts AKA souvenirs are kept as a form of (elf)control. When the author/dismantler is good and ready to either toss (confirm <or> *confirm loss of* the fear) - the souvenirs out, or put them back in correctly - the things which go *bump* in the night...
thumbwax, Dec 17 2002
  

       //What SDQ has described is the rationale of those with a fear of failure. Because they fear failure, they don't try to succeed, thus they don't fail. It is already an established idea.//   

       don't be silly. :)   

       that's not even an idea, it's just a psychological defense mechanism that some individuals use in order to cope with that fear. it was never something that was created, it just exists.   

       it's also not the same rationale that i'm trying to explain. to me, there's a big difference between "succeeding" and "not failing." (wouldnt you rather get an "A" on a test than a "D-?")   

       "not failing" would be randomly and indifferently attaching parts to one another, in hopes of creating some sort of robotic likeness. by total coincidence, you end up with a some sort of useless malfunctioning electronic device. you think, "oh well, at least it's whirling." BUT if the failure of the robots to function properly is seen as the desired outcome on PURPOSE, then it is clearly a success!   

       to top it off, both the blueprint for, and the intentional failure/malfunction/twitching of tragibots isn't as easy as you think it might be! i've often spent long amounts of time focused on a building a single robot, carefully considering function, design, specific mechanisms, methods of burial, funeral rites, as well as camera angles.   

       sometimes, it takes hours and hours of attaching/disattaching various wires, getting parts to fit, soldering, dismembering/re-membering (???!) the entire thing. sometimes, it requires MONTHS of this type of experimentation to even produce ANY sort of movement in the tragibot. and god forbid, and this has never happened - what if, one day, one of the robots accidently, actually *gasp!* WORKS?   

       how horrifying. :(
screwdriverqueen, Dec 18 2002
  

       //BUT if the failure of the robots to function properly is seen as the desired outcome on PURPOSE, then it is clearly a succcess//
Well done. My previous annotation's point eggzackly. Most of what is *created* on the halfbakery isn't *created* at all - it exists only in the imagination. One momentarily hot croissant.
thumbwax, Dec 18 2002
  

       [ravenswood]   

       i wish i could film them on my own! someday...! unfortunately, i have no clue how to operate a camera or an editing machine. i've worked with a few friends who have attended film school though. i took several years of film history, however, so my knowledge of film technique is sufficient enough so that i can collaborate with a film maker. :)   

       i think it would definitely be fun to have a website about tragibots. but to do this, i'm going to have to produce many many more pieces, and this could take a while.
screwdriverqueen, Dec 18 2002
  

       //that's not even an idea//   

       If that isn't an idea, define an idea. An idea dosn't have to be an invention. Darwin had ideas, but he didn't 'invent' evolution.
ImBack, Dec 18 2002
  

       i would consider darwin's "ideas" more as theories, or conjectures.   

       from dictionary.com:   

       THEORY: "A set of statements or principles devised to explain a group of facts or phenomena, especially one that has been repeatedly tested or is widely accepted and can be used to make predictions about natural phenomena."   

       IDEA: "Something, such as a thought or conception, that potentially or actually exists in the mind as a product of mental activity."   

       but again, you missed my point. i never claimed to have came up with that particular rationale you mentioned, or even the rationale that *I* mentioned. who ever tries to take credit for human behaviour? that's kooky-talk. but i did come up with the IDEA of tragibots which is an artistic expression based on that rationale...
screwdriverqueen, Dec 18 2002
  
      
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