Just when you thought it was safe to sleep worry-free of the robot apocalypse, Romo plugs into your iPhone, syncs up – gears moving – and runs rampant across the apartment!
This is no futuristic noir fiction; this is reality.
However, the Romotive creators have not implemented their smartphone robot to eliminate humanity, but rather they wish for us to have fun with them, the bots.
The Romo looks like a transparent toy tank, which is fun in and of itself, but the bot is so much more. And for a donation of just seventy-eight dollars consumers can revel in the revelatory possibilities of a robot made to be tinkered with.
This bot comes with the physical body and also the software to make Romo a learning, roaming entity.
Romotive uses a supercomputer that is already owned by myriad consumers – the iOS of the iPhone and iPod touch, or the Android’s OS – to act as their device’s brain. Then their “robotics platform adds everything that the smartphone is missing – movement, accessories, and [the] physical capabilities that a true robot needs.”
Romo connects to the actual smartphones, seated and strapped in place, through analog frequencies, and the idea is that Romo’s programming possibilities are infinite: anyone can create Apps to get the robot doing robotic-type things.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFBcRC-9ITA
To get the bot users started, Romo comes with three programs:
There is the “RomoRemote” App that brings a voyeuristic spy element to the little guy, as owners can see where Romo is going via the smartphone’s camera and can even instruct Romo to speak to unsuspecting friends (for that Holy Sh*T moment).
Romotive took a page out of Nintendo’s book with the “Romo Kart” App that pits your friends in a mixed-reality version of the classic Mario Kart game where the user can send digital attacks and make a friend’s robot spin out of control, disable their power, deflect bombs, and reverse their controls as you race!
Then there is the “Drag and Drop Programming Module” application that allows for easy commands to be acted upon such as Romo’s future movements, conditional statements, loops, and more.
The inventors at Romotive even encourage the hacking of their bot! Note to hardware hackers: We encourage you to take Romo apart and find new uses for the interface between smartphone and motors! We only ask that you share your inventions with the community on http://romotive.com/forum.
Let’s get some arms on this bad boy and teach Romo to get us a sandwich!
