Davin Sufer, CTO of WowWee, explains the Rovio at CES 2008. Available "summer 2008", $299.
What ever happened to Wow Wee making Toys. This looks too buisness like. You would use it for serious things. This is not a toy. It is also too expensive. Wow Wee has lost it.
I guess I won't be getting any Robos for a while.
Later....
Keep the robotic dreams,
-BG
http://www.robocommunity.com/article/12811/Cool-Programs-To-Use-For-Roboquad-...
Member
United StatesIt would seem their fuzzy wuzzy baby bots are their entry level toy line this year. The flyer with obstacle detection is a step above that.
I embrace the stretching of their product line up into the high tech gadget market. WiFi controlled bots with streaming video have a lot of appeal for those of us looking for tele-robotics hacks.
ScottE -- collecting and building robots for 40 years - details in profile
Moderator
Madison WI, United StatesYup, now we can get some real facial recognition and appropriate responses! I hope they make the PC software interface open & accessible so we can write our own apps to send commands to the Rovio.
Member
Melbourne, AustraliaI look forward to being able to chase my cats, no matter where in the world I am.
Demo of Rovio's Northstar navigation system. I think the guy picked him up several times to show that the mini-GPS keeps the robot on track no matter what :)
Member
United StatesI'm liking what I see. I only hope they've left enough toe-holds in the architecture that we can get in there and extend the capabilities.
The homing support hardware could be used to have Rovio "dock" with other types of stations if you could get at the lower level functions to use the detect and align subroutines.
The multi-wheel motor control to allow side slipping would let you keep a camera trained on something as it navigates around obstacles.
ScottE -- collecting and building robots for 40 years - details in profile
Member
Melbourne, AustraliaInteresting, I notice the when moving on autopilot, it doesn't really take advantage of the omni-directional capabilities (I think it should be able to move towards it target and rotate to face it at the same time). I wonder if that is to allow the person controlling it to always see where it is going with the camera.
Something else interesting, the wheel base is not an equilateral triangle, now I don't really know how much of a difference that makes, but all the omni directional bases I have seen use a wheel base that forms an equilateral triangle.
Member
United StatesThe angled wheels would seem to require some amount of side slippage to work. The interpolated rotation of the wheels result in movement not necessarily in line with any of the wheels.
I'm curious as to how that slippage is managed across different surfaces. I'd expect a wheeled bot to be very good at moving from tile to wood to berber to shag. If the dependence on a side slippage makes running on a deep pile carpet a problem, it makes this style less useful to me.
ScottE -- collecting and building robots for 40 years - details in profile
Member
Melbourne, AustraliaThe wheels are designed with slippage specifically in mind. The segments rotate freely, as needed. Bellow is a photo of similar wheels.
It should manage most surfaces without to much issue, though cat hair might be a problem, I can see those segments getting a bit gummed up. I suspect the "Mini-GPS" helps the ROVIO adjust to variations in surfaces on the fly.
Member
United StatesCool. Sort of a cross between a lumpy track to dig in, and a caster to spin freely. At different points in the rotation it will either "bite" or "slip".
I wonder how this will compare to standard wheels, tracks, and walking for power consumption. I suppose it will depend upon how efficiently the omni-wheels are driven. It's three motors, versus two for a typical wheeled chassis. On the other hand, it can maintain progress towards a goal without stopping, rotating to realign, and then restarting.
As much as I like the idea of walking robots, I'm thinking that a wheeled robot on a smooth surface will be more power efficient than a walking robot. Converting a spinning motor to a spinning wheel is easier than converting a spinning motor to an oscillating joint.
Fully articulated legs would have an advantage for rough terrain. None of the current WowWee offerings have knees, so rough terrain for them is more of a problem than it is for a rugged wheeled chassis. The average RC car with knobby tires can cover more terrain than an RSV2 can.
I will definitely be looking forward to more technical details on Rovio and the other new, wheeled offereings.
ScottE -- collecting and building robots for 40 years - details in profile
Member
Melbourne, AustraliaNot quite. The wheels are designed so that the only part of it that ever touches the ground is the caster. The casters are designed to slip, which means the wheel can drive along one axis, but will slip along the other. If any other part of the wheel comes in contact with the ground, it would reduce the ability of the wheel to slip.
Member
United StatesThanks for the clarification.
Guess I'll have to dig out my old physics book and bone up on vector sums to plot how the various wheel force vectors sum up. I've almost got the mental model built and my brain wrapped around it.
It is a slick design, and the control theory that busts the desired end vector into the required rotations for each wheel intrigues me.
ScottE -- collecting and building robots for 40 years - details in profile
Member
United States&Deity bless the web....
A Tutorial for Omni Wheel Robots
With simple graphics for my aging simple mind.
ScottE -- collecting and building robots for 40 years - details in profile
Member
Melbourne, AustraliaWhen I did "Introduction to Robotics" at university, they had 6 different robots, of which a robotic base similar to this was one (which is why I have a passing familiarity with it). Unfortunately, due to time constraints, we had to pick three to work with, and I didn't actually get to use it. I'd be interested in seeing what you come up with.
Moderator
Madison WI, United States
Member
United StatesThe control equations are interesting, in that there are multiple solutions for wheel rotation that can give the same resulting vector. There will be a "best" solution that uses the most force for the wheel closest in line with the desired direction of travel.
In the picture I linked, the two diagonal wheels each cancel half of the other wheel's force. The uncanceled force components add to the force of the wheel that is inline with the direction of travel. You effectively get two wheels worth of force from the three wheels that are driving.
The tutorial site goes on to compare a 4 wheel solution with a 3 wheel solution. The orthogonal vectors for four wheels leads to a more efficient design, but there's the additional cost of the extra drive wheel.
ScottE -- collecting and building robots for 40 years - details in profile
Switched show Rovio episode, this shows a little bit more about how the Rovio is controlled :
Member
Oradea, RomaniaI wonder ... "what this little guy can do and Spyke WiFi robot cann't?"
"Who need's a robot that do not looks like a one? It look's like a unlubricated Omni-Wheel turle
(I heard some squeaks). The touchPads on the footPads from Robosapien makes it look like skateing but this type of robot ...
P.S.: It's my oppinion , not necesarly the truth ... I like ROBOTICS world with ALL it's ups and downs even if it's Wow Wee or some other Company. Take a look at:
Spyke Wifi Robot
(LEGO Mindstorms NXT I do not have to put on the list because IT WELL KNOWN !!!)
Horia Pernea
http://www.roboticage.eu
Member
United StatesRobots come in all shapes and sizes. A robot doesn't have to have legs or arms.
I'm of two minds when it comes to calling something a robot.
There are toys, which are not technically robots, but which "look" like an ideal of what a robot is. I have a shelf full of toy "robots" that don't satisfy any other definition of robot other than their appearance. Examples are R2D2, C3PO, The Terminator, Robby, B9, Battle Bots, etcetera.
Then there are devices that match the technical definition(s) of what a robot is. Those devices have programmable movements. They get bonus points if they can sense their environment and make decisions based on what they sense. There's more bonus points if they can manipulate the environment around them. They might look like a tank, a car, a plane, a blimp, R2D2, or have a humanoid shape.
Using the technical definition(s) for a robot, there are more rolling cart robots in the world than there are humanoid ones.
ScottE -- collecting and building robots for 40 years - details in profile
Member
Oradea, RomaniaI like humanoid that's right ... but look at Spyke Wifi Robot (it has wheels). I just want to say that Wow Wee goes into direction of NOT SO INTELIGENT robots.
Even so I will be currious about that FemiSapien and RoboRemote , but pardon me because when I look at my RS Media and look back into my computer screen and see those "robots" I go in the kitchen and eat all the food, turn the water ON to maximum and run into the apartment and yell with the hands waveing upside my head.
It is too expensive for the ultimate 2007 profitable "cutting-edge" toy company for a Robosapien Ressurection?!? 
Horia Pernea
http://www.roboticage.eu
Member
Oradea, RomaniaIf we look at WIKIPEDIA we see:
A robot is a mechanical or virtual, artificial agent. It is usually an electromechanical system, which, by its appearance or movements, conveys a sense that it has intent or agency of its own. The word robot can refer to both physical robots and virtual software agents, but the latter are usually referred to as bots to differentiate.[1]
While there is still discussion about which machines qualify as robots,[2][3][4] a typical robot will have several, though not necessarily all of the following properties:
I can see more contradiction between Wow Wee's up-comming "robots" and those properties. Coincidences (not specific implemented features only coincidences) there are a few. My phone (not giving the Brand) with OS it's more programable and interactive (degrees of intelligence) with it's envoirment than those "robots".
Horia Pernea
http://www.roboticage.eu
Member
United StatesI see no contradiction with the posted Wikipedia definition of a robot with regards to the subject of this thread, the Rovio.
It probably adheres to the definition better than of anything that is currently released.
Anybody who has watched an RSV2 lurch across carpet would hesitate to call the motion dexterous and coordinated.
Lets see, the Rovio appears to have
- advanced location detection capability to locate itself within a room
- additional sensor capability to home in on a charging station and avoid obstacles
- intelligence to map its way from where it is, to a known coordinate in the room, including rerouting if its path is disturbed
- movement in any direction without the need to rotate its body
- additional articulation for the separately controllable sensor arm
Until we've seen the details we won't know just how programmable it is as a standalone device. We have heard that it has the inherent ability to store locations and that the Rovio can be controled via WiFi from a PC to navigate to different locations. That means that the Rovio/PC combination is very programmable.
Yup. Sounds good to me.
The only thing it apparently is lacking is a manipulator to affect its environment. The same could be said for the RoboQuad or RoboPet. If you've ever tried to program an RSV2 to navigate to, and pick something up on its own, you'll know that it's hands are pretty non-dexterous and un-coordinated.
If you're talking about FemiSapien or Mr Personality, I agree those appear much more toy like than RSV2. The FlyTech BladeStar offering reportedly has more automation onboard than the Dragonfly does. Neither of those qualifies as a robot in my eyes.
ScottE -- collecting and building robots for 40 years - details in profile
Moderator
Madison WI, United StatesYes, I think hacking the Rovio to add a couple of manipulators is a very exciting thing to look forward to! I don't think you could command any of the current (2007) WowWee 'bots to go to a specific location in your house, including RS Media which launched with a list price at least twice what the Rovio is expected to cost.
I'd be really super happy if WowWee offered a stripped down version to be used as a general robotics base unit, like the iRobot Create series.
Member
Melbourne, AustraliaI'm not certain a stripped down version would work. what would you like to see removed from it for a stripped down version? unlike the Roomba that had the vacuum to lose, I'm not entirely certain you could pull anything from it (except some of those LED's), to me it seems so far, that if you pulled anything you would loose "vital" functionality.
milw said: Yes, I think hacking the Rovio to add a couple of manipulators is a very exciting thing to look forward to! I don't think you could command any of the current (2007) WowWee 'bots to go to a specific location in your house, including RS Media which launched with a list price at least twice what the Rovio is expected to cost. I'd be really super happy if WowWee offered a stripped down version to be used as a general robotics base unit, like the iRobot Create series.
I was thinking that the Rovio could carry a second robot, one with non-line of sight control like the I-Sobot. It could drop the I-Sobot off at a specific location with pinpoint precision & you could use the Rovio's webcam to see what the smaller robot is doing.
Only problem is that the I-Sobot doesn't have enough mass or strength to push/manipulate objects with it's arms. Getting back onto the Rovio is also another problem :)
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