Heathkit Hero 1 (ET-18) Robot
I recently acquiring this Heathkit Hero 1 model ET-18 plus some extra accessories from someone in Saskatchewan. It was originally owned by a school teacher who would have built this from a kit. One out of the ordinary modification is an additional nine LED display that externalizes the display of the Sense board. At the moment, I have to run this from the charger because the onboard batteries don’t hold much of a charge. After determining that the I/O board needs some pins adjusted along with some adjustments and lubricating the head bearings, all appears to be well.
Included with this Hero 1 robot were a good set of manuals and some cassettes including the ET-18 Demo cassette (ET-18-11) that adds some extra functions to the already on-board Demo ROM and a number of pre-packaged cassettes from Robotronix including two personalities including Hero Butler and Hero Pet and some games including Hop-To-It, Math Quiz and Voice Control. I was able to try out two of the cassettes so far on this unexpanded Hero-1 and they work well.
This is a long-time desired addition to my collection yet I am still on the look out for a Hero 2000. At some point I’d also like to get the Hero Jr to round out the set.
In any case, here are some external pictures of my working Hero-1 robot.
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- Hero 1 – External front
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- Hero 1 – External profile
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- Hero 1 – External right side
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- Hero 1 – External rear
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- Hero 1 – External top profile
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- Hero 1 – External top display
Accessories that came with the robot:
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- Hero 1 – power supply front
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- Hero 1 – power supply back
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- Hero 1 – wand front
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- Hero 1 – wand rear
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- Hero 1 – ET-18 Demo and Robotronix cassettes
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- Hero 1 – tape recorder
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- Hero 1 – Manuals and Illustration Booklets
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- Hero 1 – Additional books
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- Hero 1 – EE-1800 Robotics and Industrial Electronics
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- Hero 1 – EE-1800 internal chapters
Internal pics while I had it open for the check up:
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- Hero 1 – Internal front
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- Hero 1 – Internal right side
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- Hero 1 – Internal rear
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- Hero 1 – Internal left side
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- Hero 1 – Internal top
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- Hero 1 – Internal top profile
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- Hero 1 – Internal Arm attached
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- Hero 1 – top and outer panels
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- Hero 1 – Internal CPU board
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- Hero 1 – Internal Power Supply and Sonar Transmit boards
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- Hero 1 – Internal Arm Drive and Main Drive boards
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- Hero 1 – Internal Speech and Sense boards
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- Hero 1 – Internal IO board
Do you have a video of you working with your HERO ??? I would love to see a Youtube video of this.
I do not yet have a video but when I get back around to the Hero-1, I will make a video. Since I also have some personality software, it will be a little more interesting to see what Hero can do.