Who is Beatty Robotics?
Beatty Robotics is a website for the Beatty family to share our fun robotic projects with our friends, family, and other roboticists around the world. We are located in Asheville, North Carolina. Our team consists of my eleven-year-old daughter (username: Lunamoth), my nine-year-old daughter (username: Julajay), and myself, along with moral support from Mom and our newborn baby girl! Lunamoth and Julajay are great solderers, electrical technicians, software programmers, and workshop machinists–and they are always filled with new ideas! It’s great to see their minds and their hands hard at work building cool high-tech stuff. We design, build, and program most of our robots ourselves, although we’ve built a few smaller projects, like the Tube Clock, from a kit. We use the Internet extensively to learn, interact with various communities of robotics enthusiasts, and buy electronic parts and raw material (especially aluminum!).
IMPORTANT 2013 UPDATE: Lunamoth is now 13 and Julajay is now 10.
The girls (Lunamoth & Julajay) showing off the early stages of their first I.C. 12 robot
How did we get into this?
How does a perfectly normal family get into robotics? OK, we were never perfectly normal, but we were pretty close. Then this happened…
One day, my eldest daughter, 11 years old, started taking things apart around the house. Screwdriver in hand, she opened up a remote control, an electronic timer, and a toy car. “I want to see how they work,” she said.
Intrigued by her curiosity, I said, “Now that you see what these things look like inside, do you want to build something yourself?”
“Can we build a robot?” she asked.
“Um, I suppose we could, but it will take a long time…” I said uncertainly.
“Can we build one of those cute little droids from Star Wars?”
“Well, we can try…” I said.
327 T Droid from Clone Wars
So my two daughters and I set out on our first adventure. We started drawing sketches, coming up with ideas, and learning what it would take to construct a small robot. Then we just jumped in and started building. We learned about wires, resistors, capacitors, voltage, current, and other electronics. We learned about chips, microcontrollers, and software programming. We learned about cutting, drilling, and shaping aluminum.
The girls insisted that our new robot have a name, so after much discussion, they decided to name it I.C. 12. The name is a play on words for “I see.” This robot was inspired by “327 T,” a little repair droid who searches for Ventress in the “Cloak of Darkness” episode of the first season of Clone Wars.
We had so much fun building I.C. 12 that we had an idea for a new robot, and then another, and then another…
Although our various projects vary from simple to complex, we strive for two goals: to learn everything we can and to have as much fun as possible.
I.C. 12′s eyes and head
Lunamoth: A proud roboticist !
I.C. 12 on our first workbench
Great work you are doing with your girls. Congratulations, I hope to have a kid who likes robotics in the future so we can build things together.
Awesome job ladies!!! Love to see girls interested in science and technology. Have you checked out FIRST robotics? Our daughter, Danielle, loves it and it provides her with a lot of opportunities to be creative and compete in an environment with other like minded teenagers. Plus, you get to build huge robots that compete against each other. I can’t wait to see what you come up with next! Keep up the great work!
Hmm kids taking apart electronics, that is going to be one expensive hobby when there older hehe
(My self was proof to that )
I have a 3 year old and I’m starting to think about how to get her involved in electronics & programming without pushing her into it. Do you have any general advice about raising curious kids that are interested in building things?
One the things I’ve tried to do is to always show my kids how things work, show them the structure and inside and principles behind the objects around them, whether it’s the electronic appliances we use in everyday life or the way the rafters of a building hold up the roof.
Your family rocks!
Hey RB, love your site and what you’re doing with you’re girls! A visitor arrived at my site by searching: New Kensington, Pennsylvania arrived from google.com on “Innovation | SOCIAL3R” by searching for beatty-robotics.
See blog post about Beatty Robotics and Vacuum Tube Clock: http://social3r.com/2011/09/24/build-your-own-retro-russian-vacuum-tube-clock/
I just found out my wife is pregnant, and now I can’t wait for my kid to get here so I can start learning all kinds of new awesomeness with them.
I can only hope my kids are so inquisitive and curious — I think what you’re doing is flat-out AWESOME. Can’t wait to see more!
Hey, what you are doing with your girls is great. I am glad you are getting them more and more into this field. I love robotics myself and was apart of a FIRST robotics team and now a mentor to it.
But make sure you begin teaching your girls things that are not soley based on robotics. Teach them life lessons through it. My four years in robotics taught me alot about life and robots.
What an inspiration your family is to all families with inquisitive kids! I love that you start with innocent curiousity and really explore it. What wonderful creations are made as a result! Julajay and Lunamoth, you girls rock! Keep asking questions, the results are amazing!
AWESOME!
You girls & guys rock!
I think you ought to get the department of defense to buy one of these modified to utilize .308 ammunition or even .22..
Great design and keep dreaming up more stuff!
Bravo!
Rob Breisch
58
Everett,WA USA
Awesome, now i have decided to build an robot by taking ideas from this project……congrats
My brother recommended I might like this website. He was once totally right. This publish actually made my day. You cann’t imagine simply how much time I had spent for this information! Thanks!
I am so proud of you, Beatty family !
Thank you very much.
I am so proud of you, Beatty family !
Thank you very much.
wonderful work u ppls are doing here…i was in search of this kind of work..
MAY GOD BLESS BEATTY FAMILY.