October 29, 2008
'ObamaBot' Campaigns on Wheels at the U. of Florida
No presidential candidate has yet courted the robot vote, but a six-foot-tall humanoid with a square head, flashing eyes, and a Barack Obama T-shirt is campaigning this week at the University of Florida.
Three engineering students — Camilo Buscaron, a sophomore; Bryan Hood, a junior; and Andres Vargas, a graduate student — built ObamaBot in two weeks with spare parts and $250 of their own money, according to The Independent Florida Alligator, the university’s campus newspaper.
The robot is operated by remote control. It stands on a Segway-style powered wheelbase and can rotate 360 degrees, as well as wave its arms (and the campaign signs attached to them).
“We’re trying to get people aware of the early voting and get people to vote who wouldn’t have voted otherwise,” Mr. Hood told the Alligator. “We all know that robots represent change and the future.”
Mr. Hood hopes to endow his robot with a more-human head and voice-activation software that will let it proclaim campaign slogans to passersby, the Alligator reported. —Sara Lipka
Posted on Wednesday October 29, 2008 | Permalink |Comments
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Great idea to inspire people to get out and vote, but why not make a generic robot, and let voters decide for themselves who they want to vote for in the election.
Inspire people to think for themselves!
— Kacy Oct 29, 05:02 PM #
It is their time and money, if they want to promote voting for Obama, so be it – I applaud their initiative.
— Kyle David Oct 29, 05:17 PM #
Obamabot? Was that the candidate himself or merely one of his supporters?
Now THIS is too good to pass up:
“We all know that robots represent change and the future.”
Enough said.
— Take Back the U! Oct 29, 06:59 PM #
Since Obams is a mere “robot” to the socialist/Marxist idea of taking what many spent a lifeime earning…
Then, I must say I’m happy to see the two followin words printed in the Chroncile, connected as it clearly shows this publications socialist/leftst agenda:
Robot=Obama=Socialism= a lot of pissed off people (Some Dem’s included) that, if forone moment forget about getting a free handout from the government,
Obama’s grand vision wil never get through Congres..if he’s elected.
Obama is a socialist folks…you can deny it, act like he is your “messiah,” but he will never be able to “spread the wealth” (Oh, check and see where he has his millions saved…Swiss bank accounts….but, ask him: why not trust ourbanks,the system you want to socialize. He is like Elmer Fudd in te Bugs Bunny cartoons.Always trying but neve succeeding.All the “PhD” folks that like call themseves “Dr” but just couldn’ make it through medical school (the real “doctors”) can sit on Nov. 5 and cry.
McCain will win the Electoral Colleg…and Gov. Palin will (win or lose) be the Liberals biggest nightmare for oh,the next 20 years.
Go Sarah! Go McCain!
You Lib’s will cry on Nov. 5th.
Buth, hey, when you can be smart: Be Republican. This will be one victory party I wil not miss.And the next V.P.,Sarah Palin…trust that you have many supporters in academe.
— Mike Oct 29, 07:49 PM #
Hey Mike, go get a degree first. Or at least use spellcheck.
— Jeff McNeill Oct 29, 08:36 PM #
Mike, my wondrously thundering lad,
To correct you: the “real doctor” is the doctor of philosophy. Or medicine. Both terribly ancient. Medieval, as it were. However, what you seem to call a “real doctor” happens to be the bachelor of medicine, a physician. The title “doctor” is, in your case, a honorific, all preceding labours and desperate cramming of Gray and the rest of the illustrious medical texts notwithstanding. The REAL Doctor of Medicine is, on the other hand, a very different pair of boots, and requires an even stiffer amount of labour. I know. Personal experience, so to speak. And now that you are illuminated on terminology, be a good chap and trot off to thunder elsewhere whatever political philosophies and credos you may believe in. Mind, since you are prone to factual errors, we may not believe you, but as long as you remain harmless we shall clap our hands in collective merriment, and cheer you on. If for no other reason, than simply to break the utter boredom of our socialistically doctoral lives in which we spread your wealth liberally around. So off you go, dear man, no time to waste, and all that…
— Dag von Lubitz Oct 29, 08:42 PM #
“socialistically doctoral lives.” At least you admit it. Good for you.
— Mike Oct 30, 03:24 AM #
Oh, Mike, Dear. Must you really be such a dreadful bore? You really have to understand that when you get paid as nicely as we do, you become a socialist par force – there is simply not enough own wealth to spread around, see? You also ought to get a degree as Mr. McNeil suggests above, and try that type of spreading yourself. Good for your moral spine and as a substrate for learning the socialist ways. The change of philosophy might also better serve you, since the conservative approach you showed us is, well, not really conservative, but rather terribly and embarrassingly on the “un-doctoral” side, if you follow the drift here. Coming from a royalist, this is not a condemnation, merely a suggestion to be a bit more erudite and careful about language. You don’t write like a good conservative. For a socialist you just don’t express yourself with enough sociallist verve to convince the masses. But you are really superbly fitting into what Germans would call “Lumpenproletariat.” Sort of, on the dullish side. So off you trot, as we have said before, get your new conversion and socialist epiphany, and don’t get mixed with your betters, or else you will get bollocked, quite unnecessarily at that, all the time.
— Dag von Lubitz Oct 30, 06:30 AM #
I think it’s admirable that there’s a candidate who inspires college-age kids to get involved and vote. I frankly don’t care which party they represent.
— ap Oct 30, 12:39 PM #
I am somewhat disappointed. I was excepting something more grandiose and extravagant. “Remote control sign holder” would have been a more accurate moniker. Alas, it’s what I’ve come to expect from the average college engineer.
— Ken in Oregon Oct 30, 07:03 PM #