WonderBorg facts for kids
The WonderBorg (also known as ワンダーボーグ in Japan) is a cool, programmable robot kit that first came out in 2000. It was made for the Bandai WonderSwan handheld game console and also for Microsoft Windows PCs. This robot looks and moves just like a real beetle, with working antennae and six legs!
Building Your WonderBorg Robot
The WonderBorg came in two different kits, one for the WonderSwan and one for PCs.
- The WonderSwan kit included a special game cartridge. This cartridge had all the software you needed to program your WonderBorg. It also had a built-in infrared (IR) transmitter to send commands to the robot.
- The PC kit came with a software CD for Windows computers. It also had an infrared transmitter that you could connect to your PC using a serial port.
You had to put the WonderBorg together yourself, which was part of the fun! You could even customize it a bit. For example, you could choose different sized gears to make your robot stronger (more torque) or faster. You could also replace its six legs with wheels if you wanted. The kit even came with stickers to decorate your robot and make it look unique.
Once it was built, the WonderBorg needed three AAA batteries to power it up. It could then react to the world around it using seven different sensors:
- Infrared receiver: This sensor lets the WonderBorg receive commands from the WonderSwan or PC.
- Antennae: These are two separate touch sensors, one on the left and one on the right. They help the robot feel its way around.
- Eyes: These are two separate infrared LEDs, one on the left and one on the right. They help the robot "see" things.
- Light sensor: This sensor detects how much light is around the robot.
- Floor sensor: This sensor checks if there's ground ahead, so the robot doesn't fall off edges.
- Internal clock sensor: This helps the robot keep track of time for its programs.
- Steps sensor: This sensor counts how many steps the robot takes.
The WonderBorg has two separate motors, one for the left side and one for the right. This allows it to move forward, backward, turn while moving, and even spin in place!
Programming Your WonderBorg with Robot Works
Both the WonderSwan and PC versions of the WonderBorg came with special software called Robot Works. This software made programming easy and fun, even if you didn't know a complex programming language.
Instead of typing code, you used a graphical user interface (GUI). This means you dragged and dropped instructions onto a grid. On one side of the grid, you could place the WonderBorg's different sensors. The sensors placed higher on the grid would get priority. Then, you would tell the robot how to react to each sensor's trigger. For example, you could program it to turn around if its antennae touched something.
The WonderSwan version of the software also had a special "pet" program. In this mode, your WonderBorg would act a lot like a Tamagotchi, which was another popular virtual pet from Bandai. This pet mode was not included in the PC version.
