Hero

Hero sensors and controls.

The IR sensor can sense the warmth of a human in a cool room. The sonar transceiver is used for ranging and can be programmed to avoid obstacles. The light sensor is directional. Not shown, a microphone can record sounds. Output is through a series of LEDs on the head and via a Votrax SC-1 phoneme-based speech synthesizer. Distance moved is sensed via photo sensors on one of the three wheels. The system used an 8-bit 6808 processor and came stock with only 2K of RAM (this one is stuffed with 24K- wow). The remote is used to drive the robot around. The BASIC program ROM allows some simple programming via the RS-232 port on the back of the robot (Assembler could also be used). The keyboard is used to access various ROM routines such as guard, singing, system checks, etc.

Programming Hero

Programming the Hero for autonomous operation is difficult. Obstacle avoidance usually required moving a short distance, then ranging via the sonar, then turning or continuing forward motion if an object isn't detected. Moving toward an IR source (a taxis) usually kept it close to humans. Normally it would be programmed to avoid dark areas. Under ROM control the robot could wander on its own and, if it found itself stuck, it would yell for help. This was a good system if the programming structure mimicked a taxis or kinesis. More on kinesis and taxis is here. Information on Hero programming can be found here.

Hero 1 innards

Hero 1 fully clothed

Hero 2000

Heathkit also produced two other robots; both much more capable than the Hero Junior. The Hero 1 had more expansion options (including an arm) while the 2000 was a 16-bit machine. I owned and programmed a Hero 1, but he died several years ago. The Hero Junior still works if tethered to it's charger (needs replacement batteries).