In order to eventually build your dream robot, you need to have a functioning computer, so it was time that my old MacBook Pro (Mid-2014) got a Solid State Drive upgrade.  Seeing as I didn’t even have enough storage to upgrade to the new Big Sur mac IOS, this seemed a fitting time to open up my beloved MacBook Pro for the very first time and do some surgery.

I chose the OWC (Other World Computing) SSD Drive Upgrade kit with the Envoy Pro enclosure to keep my old Solid State Drive in the game and out of a landfill.  While admittedly a little shabby in the production value, we hope it will provide anyone in a similar upgrade situation with enough valuable information to help them make their decision.

 
We hope you enjoy our new Youtube video.

MacBook Pro (Mid-2014) OWC 480 GB SSD Upgrade with the Envoy Pro Enclosure

Join us on our journey to make our dream robot, one circuit at a time!

The Goal:  Create our dream Humanoid Robot, capable of complex activities, aware of its environment, and having the Four Laws of Robotics as its base consciousness.

Fans of the Science Fiction writer, Issac Asimov, will be familiar with the Three Laws of Robotics but we here at Smithbotics felt it wise to add a fourth law to prevent some possible bad actions from nefarious humans with bad intentions. Once we get to to the level of development where our robots can make decisions, we’ll program them with these modified Laws of Robotics:

1.  A robot may not allow harm to happen to a human by any action or inaction.
2. A robot will obey specific orders from its owner unless it conflicts with the First Law of Robotics
3. A robot shall obey instructions from humans in general unless they conflict with the First or Second Law of Robotics
4. A robot shall not allow harm to come to itself unless that conflicts with the First, Second, or Third Law of Robotics.

This is a very lofty goal and will be a difficult project to complete, especially since there is so much for us to learn and develop along the way.  So the only way to tackle this is by working at it, one circuit at a time.  We’ll be working with Arduinos, Rasberry Pis, other microcontrollers, microprocessors, full motherboards, servos, linear actuators, batteries, breadboard, and a myriad of electronic components and electromechanical systems to make this all happen.

We invite you to join us on this long journey where we will be learning many things along the way, and attempting to share what we’ve learned as well on this website and Youtube videos.

(C) 2016 -2021 – S. Steven Smith, Smithbotics.com