Are You a Roboholic?
Roboholic? A lot of us who enjoy robots and robotics tend to get drawn into our hobby more than just a little. First we start out with a few robot toys. Then we buy a microcontroller and a few servos. Then we take a course, join a club and before long, our life changes. For the better you might ask? Well, it depends upon whom you are asking!
Roboholic Definition:
"A person with a physical compulsion, coupled with a mental obsession for building, programming or owning robots and robotic devices."
For those of you (us?) who think you might have a problem with too much robotics in your life, we have come up with a simple quiz to answer to see if your obsession qualifies you to be called a "ROBOHOLIC"!
Take Our Roboholic Quiz!
- Do you spend way too much money buying robots and/or robot parts?
- Do you spend way too much time designing, building, or programming robots or robotic devices?
- Do your robot-themed movies outnumber your non-robot-themed movies?
- Do you belong to more than 10 robot clubs?
- Is your idea of a GREAT NIGHT out, a night out with other robot geeks discussing the latest of Arduino "shields" and ROS?
- Have you lost your day job from spending way too much time designing, building, or programming robots or robotic devices?
- Have you gotten a new day job designing, building, or programming robots or robotic devices?
- Does your robot / android dream of electric sheep?
- Do you dream of electric sheep?
- Do you complain that Roomba the Robot will never be Rosie the Robot?
- Do you feel that a post-graduate degree in robotics with a minor in industrial automation and animatronics is just the beginning of the education that you need to survive in life?
- Do you add in your robots when counting the number of friends you have?
- Do your "robot friends" outnumber your human friends?
- Have you actually considered changing your name to "Arduino", "Asimo", “Bender”, or "Terminator"?
- Have you already changed your name to "Arduino", "Asimo" or "Terminator"?
- Did you root for the robots during the attack scene in the movie iRobot?
- Has your wife / husband / partner / S.O. threatened to leave you if you don't spend a bit more time with them than your robots?
- Have you already begun planning and/or construction of a robot wife / husband / S.O. because your wife / husband / partner / S.O. has already left you?
- Have you already completed building and programming your robot wife / husband / partner / S.O., and now introduce him/her/it to friends as a visitor from out of town?
- Has your life become totally, ridiculously, and embarrassingly unmanageable due to your over indulgence in robotics and robotic-related devices?
Give yourself 5 points for each question you answered “yes” to.
Scoring:
0 - 25 Points : Nothing to worry about. You are normal as normal people go.
30 - 50 Points: Not much to worry about. You are “normal” as geeks go.
55 - 75 Points: It’s time to start thinking about those daily RA (Roboholics Anonymous) meetings. You need help. People are probably suspecting things about you—and those things are far from normal. There is hope, so get with the program robobrain!
80+ Points: You are a ROBO-HOLIC and you KNOW IT, your ex-wife/husband/partner/SO knows it. The WHOLE WORLD KNOWS IT. Get on the phone, darn you and call RA right away. There might still be hope.
And if you can’t stop yourself, Google has a nice bright cube with a view of downtown Mountain View in the “Googleplex” waiting just for you. Don’t say we didn’t warn you!