Klutz Acknowledges Evil Mad Scientist Labs For Bristlebots, Sort Of
Writing by Evan Ackerman on Monday, 23 of February , 2009 at 6:14 am
We wrote about Bristlebots back in December of 2007, when Evil Mad Scientist Labs posted a how-to tutorial on their website. At the New York Toy Fair last week, Klutz was displaying a book about how to build your own Bristlebot, with nary a mention of EMS Labs:
Evil Mad Scientist (and the maker community in general) were understandably a little bit ticked off, but in a statement Klutz said that it was just a coincidence:
Klutz is genuinely surprised by this reaction to our book. The development of “Invasion of the Bristlebots” by the Klutz creative team dates back to at least early 2007 and was developed internally like other Klutz products.
At the same time, however, Klutz marketing materials for the book directly reference a Bristlebots video on YouTube, and the Bristlebots YouTube video is the one created by EMS in 2007. Without actually admitting anything, Klutz has agreed to provide some kind of acknowledgment to EMS for their “exceptional work:”
…We began a discussion of ways that Klutz could acknowledge the exceptional work that Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories has done in Bristlebot research – starting with this message and continuing with acknowledgment in the next printing of the book and on the Klutz website.
…This episode has provided Klutz with a rather painful crash course in what makes the Maker community unique and powerful. Thanks for the education.
That’s nice of Klutz I guess, but it doesn’t really resolve much or answer any questions. EMS, being the classy outfit that they are, simply wanted a little bit of credit for what they did. But being the suspicious sort, I have to say that the timing is more than a little weird, and I get a bit worried when this sort of thing happens. The community of people who make things (like robots, or anything) just because it’s fun and cool and they can is an amazing resource, especially when they’re willing to share their ideas with the rest of the world. But if you came up with an awesome idea that was then commercialized by a big company who is probably going to make millions, how would that influence your willingness to share in the future?
Sigh.
After the jump, check out the original EMS Bristlebots video.
VIA [ Evil Mad Scientist ] and [ Make ]
Comments (2)
Category: DIY
- Add this post to
- Del.icio.us -
- Digg
Comment by Ben Bradley
Made Tuesday, 24 of February , 2009 at 2:30 pm
Legal disclaimers are generally lame and against the spirit of things, but they do have their uses. Maybe sites such as Evil Mad Scientist could say “All these bots, projects and ideas are free to use for non-commercial purposes with appropriate acknowledgments given. For other purposes, contact me and we’ll talk.”
I envision two of these side by side controlled by a microcontroller (I’m thinking an 8-pin DIP/soic such as Freescale MC9S08QG8) and a couple of down-pointing LED’s and photosensors to make a small, lightweight line follower bot.
And of course, this idea is free for anyone to use with proper attribution, etc. :)
Ben Bradley, member of Atlanta Hobby Robot Club.
Comment by Cindie Steege
Made Friday, 25 of November , 2011 at 7:20 pm
I enjoy the items you put in here. Very suitable information. Consider yourself bookmarked.
