robot posts

Filed under: Cult of Mac, Odds and ends, iPhone

Found Footage: Use your iPhone in your Halloween costume

by Tim Wasson (RSS feed) on Sep 8th, 2009

Are you still struggling to find that perfect Halloween costume this year? Here at TUAW headquarters we've seen people dress as iPhones, more iPhones, even more iPhones, iPods, and of course more iPods. If you're looking to use Apple gear for your costume in a way that's a little more unique, check out this robot head made using MouthOff, aluminum foil, tons of tape, and of course an iPhone. While the execution leaves a little to be desired, the idea is a solid one that can be adapted to many types of costumes. If only the iPhone app supplied a hole to eat and drink through, this costume idea would be flawless.

[via Engadget]

Tags: costume, halloween, iPhone, iPod touch, IpodTouch, mouthoff, robot

Filed under: Odds and ends, Found Footage, iPhone, iPod touch

Found Footage: Robochan gets a 3GS upgrade

by Tim Wasson (RSS feed) on Jul 28th, 2009

Back in May, our own Steven Sande reported on a robot with an iPod touch for a head. At the time, Robochan was pretty limited in capability and could only mimic back taught poses and stumble around drunkenly.

A lot has happened in two short months. Robochan has received a brain-transplant courtesy of the iPhone 3GS as well as other software changes. He's been given alarm functionality to wake you up at a specified time, basic human interaction, and motion teaching and playback. But most importantly, Robochan can now dance around drunkenly to match his drunken walking.

As a robot fanatic I can only hope we see a more sober version of this robot on store shelves everywhere, but I'm not holding my breath.

Tags: iphone, iphone 3GS, Iphone3gs, ipod touch, IpodTouch, robochan, robot, video

Filed under: Odds and ends, Found Footage

Found Footage: Power Mac G4 Cube Transformer Robot

by Steven Sande (RSS feed) on May 29th, 2009

Although the Power Mac G4 Cube is one of the all-time classic cool-looking Macs, wouldn't it be even cooler if your Cube could transform into a robot? TUAW reader W from thinkingbricks.com used a LEGO Mindstorms NXT kit and a Cube body to create a Cube-bot with both autonomous and remote control modes. The following video is one of four on thinkingbricks.com that show the 'bot in action.

Here's a challenge to W: could you take an old original Mac case and do the same? It would look a lot like the walking Mac of Bloom County comic strip fame...

Tags: cube, lego mindstorms, LegoMindstorms, robot

Filed under: Odds and ends, Found Footage, iPhone, iPod touch

Found Footage: A robot with an iPod touch for a brain

by Steven Sande (RSS feed) on May 18th, 2009

Thanks to a little Twitter birdie named Guy Kawasaki, we learned about this little humanoid robot (Robochan!) who has an iPod touch as a brain, user interface, and "face".

It appears that Robochan might have a slight drinking problem (he falls over when he walks), and we're not quite sure about whether the elevator music playing in the background is emanating from his speaker or not, but this is a very cool use for an iPod touch.

Inquiring minds want to know: are any TUAW readers hard at work on a fembot with an iPhone for a brain?

Tags: iphone, ipod touch, IpodTouch, robot, video

Filed under: iPhone

iPhone iRobot control

by Mat Lu (RSS feed) on Jun 23rd, 2008

A while back we showed an iPhone being used to control some remote control planes through MobileSafari. Now some researchers at the University of South Florida have taken the idea to the next step with a native iPhone application to control an iRobot PackBot. As the above video demonstrates, the iPhone not only allows them to direct the PackBot, but even displays video from the robot's on-board camera. The iPhone connects directly to the PackBot via wifi and does not require a proxy machine or even an access point.

Apparently the next step is to use the iPhone's accelerometers to control the movement by tilting, with video from the camera displayed full-screen. They're also going to use touch controls for zooming and panning the video. It's a cool proof of concept; somehow, though, I don't think this one will be appearing on the App Store anytime soon.

[via Engadget]

Tags: iPhone, iRobot PackBot, IrobotPackbot, robot

Filed under: Gaming, Education

ChipWits lives on

by Victor Agreda, Jr. (RSS feed) on Oct 12th, 2007

Back in the days when Apple pretty much owned the educational market, the Mac was new and Oregon Trail was the pinnacle of edutainment, there existed a little program called ChipWits. I played on my Laser 128, but there were versions for the Commodore 64 and Macintosh. Now some 20-odd years later ChipWits makes a triumphant return as an Adobe AIR app, so you can get your robot on with a Windows machine or a Mac (and hopefully Linux someday).

ChipWits is a programmable robot game. You build and program your little robot dude to travel through various environments (called rooms). Each one has specific rewards and risks, which makes programming the robot guy interesting. That may sound dry as toast, but your robot eats pie and drinks coffee. He can see, smell and touch. He can zap bugs but isn't too happy with bombs. The bit of whimsy thrown in with the robot-building makes for a really enjoyable game. Plus, it's surprising how fun debugging your robot can be.

The big improvement in what the authors are calling ChipWits II is that you can now create your own missions. If something like Desktop Tower Defense is your bag, the Mission Editor will appeal to you. Currently you can try ChipWits 15 times and buy it for $14.95. The release price will be $19.95, and the authors are donating 10% of their profits to 3 non-profit organizations.

Tags: adobe-air, chipwits, classic-mac-game, education-game, educational-game, edutainment, game, gaming, ibol, mac-gaming, programming, robot

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