Page 78 - Phonebox Magazine April 2010

Just another ordinary day in
the life of a robot programmer
Well OK, maybe not that ordinary. In fact actually a bit of a one off, and very exciting.
Avid readers of the Phonebox will recall Mr Asahi, the world’s first robot barman, appearing in this magazine. Local man, Neil Billingham, was responsilbe for building and programming Mr Asahi. More recently, Neil and his robots were asked to appear on Richard Hammond’s
BBC2 show ‘Engineering Connections’. The show won’t be broadcast until 2011 and they understandably won’t let us tell
manand his woolly mike. And did I mention it was very cold.
Richard Hammond was busy filming another part of the show whilst we set up the robot on a table in the middle of the engineering shop floor. There were balloons involved in our filming, and the research assistant duly blew up six or seven in plenty of time for filming. Turning our backs for just a few minutes to watch Richard Hammond doing his thing, and the engineer whose yard we were in, quickly snipped the ribbons and the balloons were on the ceiling. So we are establishing the priorities here: 1) cup of tea from catering van 2) wind up the research assistants 3) maybe get some filming done.
The filming was actually very efficient. Richard Hammond is lovely (and before you ask, no he is not as small as he appears on Top Gear), very approachable, brilliant in front of the camera and excellent at putting
nervous Neil at ease before he had to talk on camera.
They probably filmed about two hours in all, which will be cut to just a few minutes. This
included Neil instructing Richard Hammond as to how to move the robot, Richard operating the robot and getting it to demonstrate the engineering point they were making, and Richard interviewing the scientific expert who could explain all the theory. We have no idea whether Neil’s cut will make it to screen, but the robot will certainly star. It was a fabulous, once in a lifetime experience, and we can’t wait to see what the final show will look like! HB
you much
about the
robot and
what it
was
doing. But
the whole
filming
process was really exciting, and we can tell you all about that.
The
star of the show, a 6 axis Denso robot from AA Robotics
15
seconds of fame. Robot programmer, Neil Billingham is asked to appear with a robot on Richard Hammond’s BBC2 programme, Engingeering Connections
The show was filmed in Hereford, and Neil and I trekked over there on a gloriously sunny, but very cold Saturday morning. We were expecting some kind of clean, scientific, laboratory type of environment, and were a bit surprised to find our location was a very messy, chaotic engineering yard. It has also been used to film Scrap Heap Challenge, so you get the idea! We were a bit
early and were
therefore concerned
that we had found the
right place. But the catering
van was already there, so clearly priorities were right, and we were where we should be.
PhoneBox Photo Competition
Has Spring sprung?
It feels late with many plants just starting to bud though lambs in Olney are much in evidence. Readers are invited to send* their favourite picture with Spring 2010 as its theme.
The winner will receive 50%
off any KevinViney Photography product and have their picture published in PhoneBox magazine.
Actually, the catering van was pretty much it in the way of ‘filming lifestyle’. No make-up, no wardrobe, just a couple of camera men with hand held cameras, and a sound
The Competition will close on 31st May 2010 and the winner will be announced by 30 June 2010. Send your entries to the PhoneBox via yvonne@olney.co.uk - please ensure your original jpeg image is supplied along with your name, address and phone number)
78 Phonebox Magazine