Archive for July 20th, 2008
Consumer Robotics
“Designed and developed through a close collaboration between Disney, Pixar animators and Thinkway, the Ultimate WALL·E features 10 motors, giving it a high level of movement and animation (…) An innovative touch programming system lets kids direct WALL·E simply by making patterns on the remote’s touch pad. With voice activation and a follow-me mode, WALL·E can follow the sound of a human voice and detect someone entering a room.”
Read Disney’s press release on Maker Faire.
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Last month I was reading Carol Manguis’ article, “Disney’s New Robot“, when I realized it has been a while since I last posted anything about robotics. By the way, Carol makes a quick point about robots starting to become part of our mainstream lives as toys, such as WALL-E, which retails for about $200. This robot incorporates 10 motors and a variety of sensors. Here is the video:
However, there have been a few robots out there designed to fit in our homes already. They might neither have humanoid features nor showcase preset emotions and, many might be embedded as part of larger systems such as luxury vehicles. Two quick examples: iRobot’s popular Roomba, an autonomous vacuum cleaner, and ConectR, a derivative model featuring teleprensence.
Interestingly enough, the current issue of Robot comes with a four page article on the so-called RoboCAM prototype. This concept combines iRobot’s Create platform and a wireless network camera from Panasonic. The resulting robot can be remotely controlled over the web, using just an Internet browser displaying live video, telemetry and controls. Steve Norris provides a briefing on his website.
| J. de Francisco |  |
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| Chicago, IL 20 July 08 |  |
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