Robix™ Rascal


About Robix

Topics:

Contact

  • Robix
    PO Box 35217
    Tucson, AZ 85740-5217
    USA

  • Email: desk@robix.com
  • Tel: (+1) 520 544 2390
  • Fax: (+1) 520 575 0703

Mission

Since 1992 Robix has been exclusively focused on bringing sophisticated, inexpensive robotics to the classroom and laboratory. Our Mission is to let our users experience the capabilities, limitations and promise of modern robots and to provide the software and hardware tools, and the inspiration, to move the field of robotics forward.

The release (2004-08-01) of the Usbor controller for hobby servos was a significant step along this path. With the ability to control 32 servos simultaneously with automatically coordinated servo trajectories with current reading on each servo; plus 32 additional external analog inputs; plus complete, ready-to-run professional-class hosting software for Windows 2000/XP, and Linux, the Usbor represents a true milestone in low-cost, high-level desktop and remote robotics.

Historical Highlights

Here are selected highlights of our long history:

  • 1992: First mention of our RCS-6 (later "Rascal") robot set, in PC Magazine: "Terminator: You've Seen the Movie, Now Get the Kit."

  • 1993: The University of Ottawa's Department of Electrical Engineering, on release of the first Rascal and its DOS-based software immediately purchased 10 sets for undergraduate classes. The Chair of EE, Dr. Emil Petriu, ordered not only the original 10 sets, but over the next decade ordered more than 30 additional sets.. During this period, Dr. Petriu also became director of the newly formed School of Information Technology and Engineering (SITE) at the university.

  • 1994-1996: The Rascal is reviewed in magazines around the world.

  • 1996: San Franciso-based C|Net includes a segment on the Rascal on their cable TV show, the Sharper Image. The episode airs many times on the Sci/Fi channel.

  • 1997: A two-student Middle School Team uses the Rascal DOS software to become the youngest-ever winners of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers Grand Prize at its 11th annual Student Robotics Competition, besting over 135 other Middle School, High School, College and University Teams.

  • 1998: A four-member College Team uses the Rascal to win Grand Prize at the 12th annual SME competition.

  • 1999-2000: Robix introduces Multi-Robot Windows software for Win95 and Win98. Support is added for Win Me and Win 2000/XP in both home and professional versions in the years that follow. All new software was entirely backward compatible with existing hardware. And all software was (and still is) Free for Download from the Robix website.

  • 2001:The United States Naval Academy (USNA) at Annapolis adds six Rascal sets to its Systems Engineering Lab where they are used along side far more costly, less flexible "standard" robots. Here is USNA's letter of appreciation of our support efforts.

  • 2001-2002: The United States DoDEA (Department of Defense Education Activity) contracts with Robix to supply the Rascal through 2006. DoDEA soon after takes delivery of more than 200 Rascal sets, almost twice their initial estimate, for use at Middle and High Schools located on bases around the world.

  • 2003: Workers at Lawrence-Berkeley Laboratory email a request for some of our structural aluminum extrusion and add a photo of their Rascal in use.

  • 2004: A long-time user of the Rascal set in at Lakeport Secondary School in Canada updates us on his Rascal sets, the oldest of which was purchased circa 1997 and used in several robotics classes per day.
    This is Leonard Aylward from St. Catharines, Ontario Canada.... We are still using the robix kits every day and they still preform flawlessly. In fact our original kit has been built, programmed and dismantled over 3000 times. (emphasis added)
    We feel this almost incredible record reflects much more on how well Mr. Aylward's program at Lakeport Secodary School is run than it does on the durability of our product. However, we have heard from numerous teachers that they have used their own Rascal sets hundreds of times with student teams over a period of years with only incidntal part losses which were easily replaced at reasonable costs.
    And, an interesting implication of these reports is that the the number of students who have used the Robix Rascal robot construction sets around the world can safely be estimated in the hundreds of thousands.

  • 2004: The first working prototype of our next generation servo controller, the Usbor, is demonstrated.

  • 2005: The Usbor is used to rapidly create (just 14 days) a WiFi-based control system for ignition, throttle, steering, braking, forward/reverse and armament activation of a prototype unmanned roadside bomb neutralizer. The Usbor allowed our customer to meet its demonstration deadline and, based on the all-day desert excercise, win a contract to move forward with initial production.

  • 2006: The Rascal is made part of the introductory robotics training programs at numerous large "wafer fabs" around the world. These wafer fabs are typicaly billion-dollar installations at which silicon crystals of over 100 Kg are grown or "pulled" from a molten silicon bath, then diamond sliced, etched and further processed to finally create computer chips. Much of this processing involves robotics, and the Rascal has become in many cases the first robot which new wafer fab personnel have ever experienced.

Legal

  • Robix is the name by which we are known to our customers and vendors.
    Our corporate name is Advanced Design Inc, an Arizona S-Corporation formed in 1989.
    This corporate name is used only for legal purposes and is not used in the normal course of business.
    Please Use Robix for all purchasing and support communication.
      For both the names Robix and Advanced Design Inc.:
    • EIN: 86-0623931
    • DUNS: 620998930
  • The "Robix" logo is trademark and property of Robix.
  • Our mailing address for all business is
    Robix
    PO Box 35217
    Tucson, AZ 85740-5217
    USA
  • Email: desk@robix.com
  • Tel: (+1) 520 544 2390
  • Fax: (+1) 520 575 0703

Licensing

Our simple license policy for software, documentation, and videos:

  • Unless clearly indicated otherwise on software CD or at download links on www.robix.com: All software provided by Robix for use with our classroom robot sets is provided free and with no limitation on reproduction or installation, including installation on servers, when used with Robix servo controllers. As of this writing -- see date at upper left of web page -- there are two Robix servo controllers: The "Usbor" controller on USB, and the "Ei" or "Electronic Interface" on LPT aka "parallel port".

    This policy specifically excludes the firmware of the Usbor controller, for which Robix claims copyright.

  • Unless clearly indicated otherwise at the download area of the document or video involved, or on the document or video itself if provided on physical media: All documents and videos provided by Robix or available for download from www.robix.com may be freely reproduced, and may be freely installed on computers, including servers.