Zylatron Robot by Humanoido

Zylatron Robot

Designed & Built by Humanoido

Zylatron robot was built in 1984 over a 3 month period and is my first full computer-controlled robot, named after the Z80 chip which drives it and the 1982 Disney movie Tron.

Constructed from new, surplus and spare parts, he is now the father of a generation of spin-off robots.

Zylatron specs from the original sales flyer in 1984 as typed with an Olivetti ET221, one of the first Electronic Typewriters using a machine font daisy wheel

Specs: Male. Autonomous. BASIC computer on board, speaks multiple languages with SPO256-AL2 speech allophone synthesizer, obeys commands with homebuilt speech recognition unit, sees in total darkness with ultrasonic vision, mobile,

has secondary analog-based eyes and ears. His electronic nose detects and counts air contamination. He has served to control a telescope observatory and operate CCD cameras. He has also served as the primary droid to control a Robotic Virtual Cyber Space Telescope. He talks to another robot using spoken English. Mobility and computer power are derived from a motorcycle battery. A 9-volt battery powers the speech recognition board. Accessories include a Sony 9-inch TV, RF modulator, experimenter's power source, battery charger, and tool kit. The back side contains a programmable power section with custom etched printed circuit board, power meter, and connectors for hardware programming. There are additional ports for talker experiments.

Zylatron described at a 1984 web page

The brain is a surplus TS-1000 microcomputer with added 8-port I/O board and expanded 16K RAM pack. The brain, memory, mic., speech
synthesis, and speech recognition (at rear) reside at the top most level on a tempered masonite platform. The ultrasonic eyes platform is mounted under the top level on threaded rods. The bottom level, made from plywood, contains the ambient light eye and motion control mechanics. Two large surplus DC-driven PM motors feed motion via belts and pulleys. The middle level has relays, a battery, and huge filtering capacitors. Tact sensors are located on front and back. Each motor has isolation circuits to limit power spikes and EMI. In first software demo mode, he navigates around the room announcing himself, "I am Zylatron." (Loaded programs are kept nonvolatile and changed using the membrane computer keyboard keys.) Additional applications include education, robotics experimentation, software programming in machine language (ML) and BASIC, and Artificial Intelligence (AI). Programs written in AI allow personal conversations.
While at the IPRC, I was approached by people interested in utilizing Zylatron to dispense medication to the elderly. He earned a red ribbon at the World's 1st International Personal Robotics Conference in Albuquerque New Mexico, appeared on national television, and was published in a book (A Layman's Introduction to Robotics by Derek Kelly, Petrocelli Books, Princeton NJ, ISBN 0-89433-265-1).

Tron Series Robots Built by Humanoido
1) Zylatron by Humanoido
https://humanoidslabs.blogspot.com/2020/03/zylatron-robot-by-humanoido.html
2) Son of Zylatron (SOZ) by Humanoido
https://humanoidslabs.blogspot.com/2020/03/son-of-zylatron-by-humanoido.html
3) Bugatron (Da Chong) by Humanoido
https://humanoidslabs.blogspot.com/2020/03/bugatron-bug-robot.html
4) Manatron
https://humanoidslabs.blogspot.com/p/manatron.html
5) Automatron by Humanoido
https://humanoidslabs.blogspot.com/2020/03/automatron-robot.html