Well, their ridiculously primitive forerunners, anyway.
If you’re in London on 15th July and want to get an early look at what the future could hold for the human race, why not pop along to the RISC OS User Group of London (ROUGOL) meeting which takes place that evening?
The guest speaker will be Leo White, discussing and showing off some of his 3D printed robots, how he designs them, and the 3D printer he uses to produce some of their components. He brought an early Pi and robot arm to the group in June 2012, so this will show just how far and fast things have progressed in the last seven years.
Leo enters his robots in the Raspberry Pi Foundation‘s annual Pi Wars competition, whereby the Raspberry Pi-controlled robots compete in various non-destructive challenges to earn points.
Well, non-destructive up to a point. Going by the trailer, these challenges include popping an opponents balloons, and using a laser sighting system to launch missiles at targets. These may be innocent on a small-scale, but we’re teaching them how to fight, how to attack. As the technology improves, the robots get bigger, and the memory – even if the machines have different origins, thanks to the internet which never forgets – of their fellow robots being subjected to bullying and abuse, we have to wonder if this will end well for the human race.
On a lighter note, though, there will also be a Raspberry Pi 4 on show at the meeting, and the group is expected to discuss its capabilities, and the work needed to get RISC OS running on the newest version of the still credit card-sized board.
The meeting, which is free to attend, will take place from 7:45pm in the usual venue:
The Blue-Eyed Maid (upstairs, in the restaurant),
173 Borough High Street,
London,
SE1 1HR.
The restaurant serves a range of English and Indian dishes, and both alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. It’s well served by public transport, located between Borough and London Bridge stations – just a short walk from either, and the two stations are themselves only short trips from Waterloo (two stops on the Jubilee line to London Bridge) and Kings Cross/St Pancras (southbound on the Bank branch of the Northern Line to Borough).
For help or advice reaching the Blue-Eyed Maid, or for any other information regarding the meeting or the group, ROUGOL can be reached by telephone on 07970 211 629, by email, or via Twitter.
And don’t forget that ROUGOL also organises the annual London Show, which this year will be taking place on Saturday, 26th October, at its usual venue:
St Giles Hotel,
Hounslow Road,
Feltham,
TW14 9AD.
