Proposal: The People's Robot

[David Bump]

I don't know about you, but I'm sick of seeing "robots" and telepresence machines and robot assistants that are priced many hundreds or thousands of dollars -- at any rate, way more than I believe they need to be. You can get perfectly functional Android tablets that have a camera (or two) and a mic for around $100. An Arduino is less than $100. A mobile base like the one used by the Roomba SHOULD be under $100. Maybe use an RC chassis. Put them together with the software that's already available for Android tablets, plus some new stuff (particularly some AI -- but a lot of that is available already, too) and a WiFi connection to the owner's existing computer/laptop and hard drive, and I believe you could have an awesome little robot that would be fun AND truly helpful, learning and changing and offering new things to do, games to play, picking up on things you need to remember and all that -- and all for the price of one of Apple's overpriced tablets.  

 

Yes? No? Anybody want to try making a business? I think we're about to the point where something like this could make money on volume of sales rather than price per unit, but I'm just an outside observer and wannabe tinkerer/dabbler. 

[Nicolas Oros]

Hi David,

you might want to look at these:

http://www.ramblebot.com/

http://www.overdriverobotics.com/

http://www.romotive.com/