I-Sobot arrives
I-Sobot arrives
by wintermute
Wed Dec 12, 2007 4:49 am
My $179.99 I-Sobot arrived yesterday from Amazon. It's cute as can be. I can't manage to leave it alone for more than fifteen minutes at a time. And to think that I had expected to be asking "Is that all there is?" soon after unboxing the little critter!
First of all, it's tiny; it's hard to get an idea of just how small it is from the photos and videos. I've named it "Shorty." The ingenuity of its construction is impressive, cubed. I gotta give props to Tomy's engineers. Shoehorning 17 DOF into a package that size is an amazing feat, to say nothing of the ingenious programming. Everything is very well thought-out.
Shorty went to work with me today and wowed my co-workers; they loved all the novelty sequences. To paraphrase Galatea from Bicentennial Man, "It's got personality!" Sure, I'll probably soon tire of the dozens of pre-programmed phrases, sounds, and movements, but so what? Tomy provides the ability to program custom sequences that incorporate up to 240 movements.
I'll be getting a 1HV soon, but Shorty will always have a seat at the table. He's my "pocket Robot." Everybody should have one.
First of all, it's tiny; it's hard to get an idea of just how small it is from the photos and videos. I've named it "Shorty." The ingenuity of its construction is impressive, cubed. I gotta give props to Tomy's engineers. Shoehorning 17 DOF into a package that size is an amazing feat, to say nothing of the ingenious programming. Everything is very well thought-out.
Shorty went to work with me today and wowed my co-workers; they loved all the novelty sequences. To paraphrase Galatea from Bicentennial Man, "It's got personality!" Sure, I'll probably soon tire of the dozens of pre-programmed phrases, sounds, and movements, but so what? Tomy provides the ability to program custom sequences that incorporate up to 240 movements.
I'll be getting a 1HV soon, but Shorty will always have a seat at the table. He's my "pocket Robot." Everybody should have one.
by Tom Servo
Wed Dec 12, 2007 2:52 pm
It sounds great! I like the whole idea of a robot with the functionality at the price it is offered at - hopefully this is a sign of things to come.
I look forward to seeing competitors offerings and moreso, the hacks that will follow for both the i-Sobot and similar machines.
I look forward to seeing competitors offerings and moreso, the hacks that will follow for both the i-Sobot and similar machines.
by wintermute
Sun Dec 16, 2007 4:58 am
Speaking of hacks, I had an intriguing idea: Controlling an i-Sobot with an onboard Picotux or similarly tiny single-board computer running Linux. Perhaps it would generate IR and communicate directly with the existing IR port. Many technical issues would need to be solved, of course, but pulling it off would be a super-hack, given that it's such a minimalist platform.
by Tom Servo
Tue Dec 18, 2007 7:32 pm
Sounds pretty hot. I remember reading something very similar using a PIC on a (dare I utter the word here) robosapien.
I think instead of the PIC driving an IR transmitter it outputted to the input of the 'brain' after the IR signals were intercepted (again using a PIC) and made sense of.
I think instead of the PIC driving an IR transmitter it outputted to the input of the 'brain' after the IR signals were intercepted (again using a PIC) and made sense of.
by wintermute
Wed Dec 19, 2007 5:23 am
Is it just me or does the i-Sobot appear to have a codpiece in a strategic anatomical location? Mind you, I'm in favor of anthropomorphism, but there's more than a bit of irony in the fact that a robot that doesn't even have a face has the suggestion of genitals. Surely, some Japanese designer is snickering about slipping one past the suits who approved his design.
by wintermute
Mon Jan 07, 2008 7:27 pm
daxx2k wrote:I got mine todayit's great!!!
And I'll bet after this French roboteer hacks it fully (and thanks to Robots-Dreams for spotlighting his site), many more folks will be joining us as i-Sobot owners. He feels i-Sobot is an inexpensive robot development platform with great potential, and wants to add sensors, camera, etc. I'll be following his efforts with great interest.
