HERO (robot)

HERO (from Heathkit Educational Robot) is a series of several educational robots sold by Heathkit during the 1980s.

The Heath Company began the HERO 1 project in October 1979, with the first release in 1982.Whatever Happened To Heathkit?, By Lou Frenzel, Electronic Design, Feb 18, 2009 Models include the HERO 1, HERO Jr., and HERO 2000. Heathkit supported the HERO robot line until 1995. The units were either sold as assembly kits or prebuilt by Heathkit for an additional fee. The 1980s models are considered collector's items, due to their rarity.Classic Heathkit Electronic Test Equipment, By Jeff Tranter, 2013, Page 12.

For the most part, they cannot perform practical tasks, but are more geared toward entertainment and education above all.

HERO 1 (ET-18)

HERO 1 is a self-contained mobile robot controlled by an onboard computer with a Motorola 6808 CPU and 4 kB of RAM. The robot features light, sound, and motion detectors as well as a sonar ranging sensor. An optional arm mechanism and speech synthesizer was produced for the kit form and included in the assembled form.Mark J. Robillard: HERO 1 - Advanced Programming and Interfacing, H.W. Sams 1983. Howard Boyet: Hero 1 - Advanced Programming Experiments, Heathkit/Zenith 1984.

To make this power available in a simple way, high-level programming languages were created. For example, the ANDROTEXT language is a HERO 1 editor and compiler developed in 1982 for the IBM PC.

HERO 1 is featured on a few episodes of the children's television program Mr. Wizard's World.Building A Robot: The Crash Course, By William J. Broad, Published: May 3, 1983, The New York TimesRobots: Best Educational Platform Ever, Apr 25, 2013 by Lou Frenzel, Communiqué Byte magazine called HERO 1 "a product of extraordinary flexibility and function ... If you are interested in robotics, Heath will show you the way". volume 8 number, 1 January 1983

Release date Price Kit US$1500 ,Assembled Tech Watch, By Cynthia McClean, Page 78, Black Enterprise, Jun 1985, Hero 1 - Kit US$1150 / Assembled US$2149; Hero Jr - Kit US$599.95 / Assembled US$1000 Discontinued Units sold 14,000 (across 8 years) Media Assembly manual, user's manual, technical manual, and speech dictionary Power Batteries: four 6-volt gel cellCharger: 120/240 VAC, 50/60 Hz charger CPU Motorola 6808 Memory RAM: 4 kBMonitor ROM: 2 kB Storage Compact Cassette Display six 7-segment LEDs Sound Votrax SC-01 speech synthesizerHero Robot Frequently Asked Questions, Donnie V. Savage Site (Included with Assembled version and $149.95 option for kit) Input Hex keypad with 17 keys Dimensions 20 inches high x 18 inches wide (50 cm x 45 cm) Weight

HERO Jr. (RT-1)

A smaller version called HERO Jr. was released later. Heathkit intended it for the home market, and therefore made it less complex, and more self-contained. Like HERO 1, HERO Jr. has a 6808 processor, but only 2 kB of RAM. It has onboard speech synthesis, a Polaroid sonar range sensor, a light sensor, a sound sensor, and an optional infrared sensor. Other optional components include a pair of extra batteries to double the operational time between charges, from an estimated 4 hours to 8 hours. A remote control accessory allows users to drive the robot around. It includes a motion sensor that causes the robot to croak "SOM-THING-MOVE" when it detects a source of motion.

Heathkit released several add-ons to increase the robot's capabilities, including a transmitter to activate a home security system in the event it senses movement while on "guard duty". Also, additional cartridges with programs and games were produced, as well as a components to allow the user to directly program the robot.

The drive mechanism is backward compared to the HERO 1, with the drive and steering wheel in the back of the robot. The head section features an indentation to allow the robot to transport up to . The robot can speak several phrases from various films that involve robots or computers. It is capable of remembering and repeating back its master's name, singing songs, reciting poems, acting as an alarm clock, and making its own combinations of phonemes to create a robotic gibberish.

Release date Price Kit US$599.95,Assembled US$1000 Discontinued Before (Assembled)HERO Jr, DAMARK International Advert, Page 136, Popular Mechanics, Oct 1987 - Public notice: Heath no longer make factory assembled model. They decided to produce the kit version. So we brought the remaining inventory..., Manufactures recommended price US$1078.85 DAMARK PRICE: US$2981995 (Kit) Units sold 4000 (across 8 years) Power Batteries:6 V 3.8 A·h x2, x4 optional CPU Motorola 6808 1 MHz Memory RAM: 2 kB, expandable to 24 kBMonitor ROM: 32 kB Display 9 LEDs Sound Votrax SC-01 speech synthesizer Input Hex keypad with 17 keys Dimensions highRobot helps at home, Page 25, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Oct 9, 1984 Weight

HERO 2000 (ET-19)

The much more powerful HERO 2000 includes several onboard microprocessors, onboard speech synthesis, several sensors, and the ability to add expansion cards using a passive backplane.John D. Hubbard, Lawrence P. Larsen: Hero 2000 - Programming and Interfacing, Heathkit/Zenith 1986.

Release date Price Kit Assembled Electronics Newsfront, By William J. Hawkins, Page 28, Popular Science, Feb 1986 Discontinued Units sold 3000 (across 8 years) Power Battery: single 24 amp-hour battery,Charger: 120 VAC charger included CPU Intel 8088 (Main)6 slave Z-80 processors (11 with optional arm) Memory RAM: 24 kB, expandable to 576 kB, Monitor ROM: 64 kB with integrated BASIC Display 16 head-mounted LED status indicators (eight are user definable)RS-232 serial port Sound Silicon Systems SSI 263 (analog formant) speech synthesizerI believe you are referring to the SSI 263 from Silicon Systems. Steve Ciarcia had a Circuit Cellar article based on it and the Hero 2000 used it for speech. .., Subject:speech chips, Post by Alan Matthew, 23 Nov 1996 04:00:00 Input hexadecimal keypadRS-232 serial port Dimensions Height Professor Robot, Page 13, The Rotarian, Jun 1986 Weight

HE-RObot

The HE-RObot is the result of a strategic partnership between Heathkit and White Box Robotics, marketed to the educational market. When available, it cost up to . Heathkit sold approximately 50 of these robots before bankruptcy in 2012.HE-RObot: The Next Generation of Heathkit HERO Robots Posted by james on December 26, 2007 at 03:16 PM in Do-It-Yourself, Robots - Retro Thing914 PC Bots Community , Forum

Developer White Box RoboticsDecember 12, 2007, News & Events, White Box Robotics Release date Price up to Discontinued Unitssold approximately 50 OS Windows XP Pro Power Batteries: 2 x 12V 9Ah Lead Acid BatteryCharger: SONEIL 12V Intelligent Battery Charger (3A) CPU Intel Core Duo Memory 1 GB DDR2 RAM Storage 80 GB 2½ in. SATA Hard drive Dimensions Height Weight Website (Historical)

HERO (robot)

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