Chicago Tribune | `Nervous' toys, kind of dumb, are enlivening robotics
Like animals, they respond by sensors to environment
By Barnaby J. Feder
New York Times News Service
Published February 25, 2002
Mark Tilden recalls being a lonely child, repeatedly uprooted by his family's moves around Canada. He took comfort in his gift for constructing toys, especially mobile toys.
"I was born a compulsive builder," Tilden said. "I made my first robot out of sticks and rubber bands when I was 3."
Tilden, now 41 and a resident of Los Alamos, N.M., figures he has made thousands more since then. His designs have included machines to explore other planets, mine-clearing devices, toilet bowl cleaners and, more recently, a line of toys called BIO-Bugs.
The footlong creatures, which vaguely resemble roaches despite having just four legs, were a hit at the 2001 Toy Fair in New York and were brought to market last fall by Hasbro.
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