Highlights From Embedded Systems Conference

Tetravus writes "The Embedded Systems Conference at Moscone Center in San Francisco is winding down. The finalists for this year's Best of Show include a Trek Style communicator that uses 802.11b, a home healthcare robot, and some crazy giant household remote."

Comments

Crazy Giant Household Remote

[Anonymous Coward]

To clarify, the "crazy giant household remote" is the Phillips iPronto. Yeah, it's real CRAZY!

Posted anon to avoid whoring

Re:Crazy Giant Household Remote

[Anonymous Coward]

ipronto lite, also available from Phillips, is not so nuts, it lets your palm device operate as a remote. It's hard to set up, but it's free and it works.

Hate that word

[Anonymous Coward]

I have heard the word "Embedded" a little to much this year. Time to give these devices a new name.

More info?

[Animats]

A more useful article would have helped. I'm going up there in a few hours to look at PC104 boards.

Re:More info?

[redheaded_stepchild]

I hunted around the site, but couldn't find this, maybe you could help... I just want to cruise around the exhibit floor...where is the registration info?? I KNOW it's not free.

Re:More info?

[MagicYoshi]

It is free if you fill out a survey. Otherwise it's $50 to see the exhibits.

Now available through this SPECIAL TV Offer

[RLiegh]

"when home healthcare robots attack" On VHS or DVD....

Re:Now available through this SPECIAL TV Offer

[HomieJ]

"Home Healtcare Robots Gone Wild"

Re:Now available through this SPECIAL TV Offer

[RLiegh]

I'm shocked! Shocked! Before long they'll fall into other depraved activities.

Re:Now available through this SPECIAL TV Offer

[Anonymous Coward]

No no no, Dr. Light converts them to save the world...

The Effect

[mao che minh]

They better hope that their web server won some kind of a "best in show", because here we come!!

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

This is news for nerds, thanks...

[glenrm]

Thanks, I was getting tired of the lawyer, EULA, privacy, politics stuff. These gadets rock! I actually got excited about a Microsoft sewing machine (luckily I came to me sense and found the iPronto to be a much cooler device). The exercise bike is something I have been thinking about designing myself for a long time, to bad it was not just a USB device with speed inputs.

Microsoft stole my idea...

[Max Romantschuk]

This feels really creepy... Years ago I was thinking about interfacing my parents' exercise bike with my computer (the bike has a serial port and sends out lots of data when you're pedaling). I figured you could have all sorts of motivational games and rendered landscapes to motivate your exercise... Now Microsoft has gone and done it.

So I guess my dilemma is if I should applaud it or just conclude that it can't be safe to have an exercise bike running Winows XP ;)

Re:Microsoft stole my idea...

[glenrm]

What model of bike had serial output? I have been looking for an exercise bike with USB or serial data output.

Re:Microsoft stole my idea...

[Anonymous Coward]

The alternative is to use an exercise bike to power an oldish laptop and play emulated games on it while listening to mp3's. I know I do.

Re:Microsoft stole my idea...

[ip_free]

No, as usual Microsoft stole somebody else's idea. i2workout

Re:Microsoft stole my idea...

[HeyLaughingBoy]

Don't be too creeped out. I work with someone who built a computer-controlled exercise bike about 15 years ago (actually a trainer for regular bike!). It's an idea that crops up from time to time among hardware hackers.

Re:Microsoft stole my idea...

[Caoch93]

NordicTrack offered this for their cross-country ski machines years before that website went up.

Re:Microsoft stole my idea...

[ip_free]

Yes they did, but you had to buy their CD (not much flexibility but many $'s). So if you like to work out to Polka music you are stuck. With this you can burn your own as many times as you like and supper impose your workout routine on the same CD.

Re:Microsoft stole my idea...

[Max Romantschuk]

What model of bike had serial output? I have been looking for an exercise bike with USB or serial data output.

I can't remember what model it was then, but the manufacturer was Tunturi (a Finnish firm). Their current models, complete with RS232 ports, can be found on this product page.

Re:Microsoft stole my idea...

[Caoch93]

The product to which I was referring did not come on CD nor was it sold with a CD.

Windows XP on my bike

[stanmann]

Great, now I can get a blue-screen while I exercise. And of course, no mention of the included games, so I'll be trying to play solitare and minesweeper while pedalling with all my might

Re:Windows XP on my bike

[mpxcz]

I just hope that when XP crashes I don't crash and burn with the bike...
maybe they'll do the a Segway+M$ next for those who don't want to pedal

Wakamaru

[Hayzeus]

Robust? I guess, so, at least until it hits those stairs...

Segway vs. VCB, Round 1

[Theodore Logan]

The Segway was, according to tech gurus and investors worth billions of dollars, going to be one of the greatest inventions ever, on pair with the wheel and the fire. Eventually we would design cities to fit the needs of the Segway, and not the other way round, we were told.

This was two years ago. Now that it's finally here it can't even claim the Best of Show prize at the Embedded Systems Conference, an honor that instead goes to some unheard of gizmo called the Vocera Communications badge, which appears to be nothing more than a wearable intercom telephone with built in voice recognition.

Makes you wonder...

Re:Segway vs. VCB, Round 1

[/dev/trash]

Just remember don't always believe what you hear or read.

Re:Segway vs. VCB, Round 1

[mahler3]

It was much longer than two years after automobiles became widely available before U.S. cities began to be designed around them, as opposed to streetcars, rail, and pedestrians. It finally took a joint venture between GM, Mack Truck, Standard Oil, and others, who systematically bought up the privately owned transit companies, ripped up their tracks, and replaced their routes with buses. The first waves of automobile buyers (driving on government-funded roads, of course) had drained enough previous ridership revenue from the transit companies that it wasn't too expensive to buy them out.

Cities might eventually be designed to support the Segway, or something like it, but it won't happen just because it's a neat technology. Short of a prolonged public crisis, such as a severe oil shortage, it'll take someone with deep pockets, good political connections, and a solid profit motive to make it happen.

This is just a thought, but the Segway pushers in the U.S. might want to ally themselves with bicyclists in advocating expanded lanes for all vehicles in the ~15 mph speed range. (Yes, I know that many cyclists ride faster than 15 mph. So include a passing lane. :-)

Some of those things look pretty neat..

[Anonymous Coward]

But the Segway? What? How is that 'Best of Show'? For one, it's not that new. For another, it just reeks of payola. It may be a technological innovation (it is, IMHO) but the fact it's failing in the market makes me think it's just showing up here as a B2B marketing fund transfer.

The Microsoft exercise bike looks like a lot of fun, though.

Re:Some of those things look pretty neat..

[confused philosopher]

The Segway won't be failing the market when they find a market lazy, fat, and rich enough. Those rich people just haven't found a use for them yet. Maybe transportation devices for their oxygen tanks, or butlers?

Re:Some of those things look pretty neat..

[Anonymous Coward]

real bests of show:

1. expresslogic booth babes
2. wind river maserati
3. fpga drum machine... dope

Finally, I can go home

[confused philosopher]

"Trek Style communicator that uses 802.11b"

Beam me up Scotty. What! You aren't Scotty? Why the hell are you on my network!

Re:Finally, I can go home

[stratjakt]

More like:

"Beam me up Scotty"

"I kinna do it cap'en. You be only 4 yards away you lazy yank!"

Either that or Kirk's down on some planet pointing his pringles can around aimlessly hoping to find the enterprise.

Re:Finally, I can go home

[DrMrLordX]

This device will not be complete unless it comes with

a). a transporter room and
b). Dutiful redshirts who will either walk thoughtlessly into ambushes and traps for you or otherwise die hideous deaths for your amusement/benefit.

Scotty, half-vulcans, and tribbles cost extra. Or you can pay more for the Snotty model. Just imagine the wife saying, "He beamed me twice last night! It was wonderful!"

1980s Childrens Toy Returns

[altek]

Anyone notice the Wakamaru robot manuf'd by Mitsubishi looks just like some 1980s version of a robot from a cartoon, or some toy that I seem to recall, although the name escapes me. Apparently a big round clunky robot with yellow plastic case is going to be the personal assistant of the 21st century.

I think the designers watched the Jetsons too much when they were children?

Why I'm not going

[BadDoggie]

As soon as you say "embedded" anything, Kevin Warwick (a.k.a. Captain Cyborg) shows up. I just can't take any more media whores.

Doesn't anybody notice?

[The Kryptonian]

The Vocera product is a Star Trek communicator! They even call their custom wireless TCP/IP protocol "Turbo Treck".

This proves my thesis that the kids who grew up watching Star Trek twenty years ago are out there by the thousands trying to build it today.

(Whadya know, a relevant post for once..)

Re:Doesn't anybody notice?

[redheaded_stepchild]

Am I the only one who noticed that the wireless glove, and thought COOL! I always wanted that 'cyberspace' feeling.

Walkie-Talkie?

[GigsVT]

Why waste 802.11b spectrum on voice communications? There are already many chunks of spectrum available for voice communications, but very little available for unlicensed digital use.

Re:Walkie-Talkie?

[snubber1]

newsflash: 802.11 is a protocol not a spectrum.

If it were using the 2.4 Ghz spectrum it could trash 802.11. However, this device can simply hop onto an exising network and play nicely instead.

Re:Walkie-Talkie?

[GigsVT]

What are you talking about? How exactly does it use 802.11b without using spectrum?

Re:Walkie-Talkie?

[bill_mcgonigle]

But a walkie-talkie gives you broadcast voice, this gives you a virtual unicast "Riker to Picard..." (how do they hear that in realtime?). There are digital walkie-talkies that you can use sort of point-to-point with digital codes, but they would lack the directory service these units provide.

Additionally, this system or similar could provide a far greater range and a far greater user density, at a far greater cost. For example, all the students on a campus spread over 2 sq miles.

Re:Walkie-Talkie?

[GigsVT]

Well, you could get creative with CTCSS tones and voice recognition to implement something similar over normal analog broadcast. It isn't as potentially secure as this though.

It's cool, but I don't think it would scale as well as you think it would. Have you ever tried putting 10,000 802.11b nodes within range of each other?

BTW- You know, I never understood on Star Trek why sometimes they tapped the badge before talking, and sometimes they didn't. Seemed pretty inconsistant. I guess they could explain that by saying there was a sort of VOX mode that wasn't always enabled. :)

Re:Walkie-Talkie?

[bill_mcgonigle]

It's cool, but I don't think it would scale as well as you think it would. Have you ever tried putting 10,000 802.11b nodes within range of each other?

I've been involved with one, had a friend do another on that potential scale. Lots of access points, three-color maps, signal strength meters, reflectance diagrams, blueprints, etc. Many campuses are doing it, despite the relative inefficiency. I still think it's more of a hack than anything, but it can work if you spend enough money. 802.16 might be more useful for this application.

iPronto remote

[Anonymous Coward]

Wow, that Philips iPronto remote sure is big with lots of buttons and stuff for controling everything in my house!

But does it have a function to mute my wife?

Designed for familiarity

[Ra5pu7in]

This robot is supposed to be for a much older generation. We're talking about senior citizens old enough to have trouble getting out and around. What is a 60-year old familiar with when it comes to household robots? Not at all the same thing as a techno-geek.

(Also, seeing as technology is nowhere near giving us Chobits, Cyber-Dolls, and Seconds, any attempt to have a household robot look like that would fail dismally.)

Microsoft's entry actually sounds cool

[anonymous loser]

The Exertris Interactive Bike combines the fun and addictive quality of computer games with the health benefits of exercise. Using a concept called pedal-to-play, the player/biker is required to use their pedaling energy to power elements inside the game; all games are based on this premise. The bike's interactive gaming system is built on Microsoft Windows XP Embedded -- an operating system that delivers the power of Windows in componentized form and a toolset enabling rapid development of reliable devices.

You know, I've been wishing for something like this for a long time. I get bored out of my mind on traditional aerobic exercise equipment, and especially on days with crappy weather, I have no choice for getting a good aerobic workout indoors (except the obvious, uh...alternative, which is difficult when my fiance is several thousand miles away). For the same reason I enjoy playing DDR and Konami's excellent Mocap Boxing game. I play DDR at home as a workout alternative to treadmills, but Mocap Boxing is too expensive to do every day, but I still go play 5-6 games every once in a while. That game makes my arms really tired, but it's a great workout and really fun.

Re:Microsoft's entry actually sounds cool

[Caoch93]

You know, I've been wishing for something like this for a long time. I get bored out of my mind on traditional aerobic exercise equipment, and especially on days with crappy weather, I have no choice for getting a good aerobic workout indoors (except the obvious, uh...alternative, which is difficult when my fiance is several thousand miles away). For the same reason I enjoy playing DDR [konami.co.jp] and Konami's excellent Mocap Boxing [konami.co.uk] game. I play DDR at home as a workout alternative to treadmills, but Mocap Boxing is too expensive to do every day, but I still go play 5-6 games every once in a while. That game makes my arms really tired, but it's a great workout and really fun.

Heh...I just made a post like this in a different thread. Konami has made attempts at the video game/exercise crossover, but not with DDR. They've done traditional "treadmill games" as have been available for quite some time. I honestly think DDR is a very serious cultural entry in video games, bringing in the competetive spirit of fighting games, dance culture, and a kickass workout. I bike and lift weights, too, but the DDR is a more intense workout and is the only workout that I enjoy and will virtually never slack off on.

BTW, if Mocap Boxing makes your arms tired, you need to punch less with your arms. I find I have much better endurance at it when I don't just jab (which uses mostly arms) but add in hooks, crosses, and uppercuts, which use your back muscles more extensively. My arms are much less tired then, my shoulders and back get a workout, and because I use the larger muscle groups there, the workout is more cardiovascular.

Anyway, I gotta say- Konami's on their game (no pun intended) with their non-standard interface stuff. It's a pity they haven't capitalized on it as far as they could.

Re:The (slashdot) Effect

[Anonymous Coward]

let's rather hope it didn't, because otherwise those embedded devices would suck arse

ESC Special Reports from LInux & Windows angle

[Anonymous Coward]

LinuxDevices.com has published a detailed SPECIAL REPORT on the Embedded Systems Conference which includes a summary of Linux oriented announcements, plus a story on the best-of-show awards, and also the PC/104 design contest winners, announced this morning. Its sister site, WindowsForDevices.com, has published a similar special report, but more oriented toward embedded Windows perspective -- that one includes a table of the awesome set of gadgets and devices on display in the Microsoft pavilion.

Video game exercise bike

[umoto]

I want a bike like the one on the finalists page, but did you notice who the bike exhibitor was? Hint: resistance is futile. ;-)

It seems like it would be easy to build a bike like that and tie it into a few Linux games. The only connection you'd need between the bike and the game would be a speed sensor. (You might add force feedback later.) Has anyone tried enhancing your exercise program like this? Did it motivate you to exercise as often as you hoped?

Re:Video game exercise bike

[Caoch93]

Konami has had something like that out for a while, and this goes back even further to when NordicTrack offered an interface from your NordicTrack to your computer to play a game by skiing on the thing and playing with controllers on the handles.

The problem I've seen in the past is that, in order to encourage pedalling/skiing/etc, the game invariably is a game where you make a character go faster or slower based on your exercise pattern. You know something? If I'm running in a hamster wheel, I don't want to see how my work is aiding a fictional character who is likewise running. I'm trying to ignore the drudgery of my workout, not be reminded of it! I'd rather watch the TV in the gym or read. At least then my mind is elsewhere.

Honestly, I'm amazed Konami hasn't leveraged its Dance Dance Revolution product line for gym use. Dance Dance Revolution is, thus far, the only video game I play where I get a workout and enjoy doing it. I could imagine that Konami could sell conversion kits for the aerobics rooms in gyms that would allow people to have an experience similar to DDR. There's such a strong culture built around that game series that I would think it'd be ripe for spinoffs in markets other than the pure video game market.

Re:Video game exercise bike

[Anonymous Coward]

Noone is going to develop linux games for an excersize bike, just like noones going to develop a linux based electric razor or linux scented soap (actually dogs produce that when you take them out for a walk). Linux users dont excercise, shave or bathe.

Microsoft sewing machine and Kazaa...

[CommieLib]

Share-wear?

Now become impotent from video games

[confused philosopher]

"The Exertris Interactive Bike combines the fun and addictive quality of computer games with the health benefits of exercise."

So once they have you addicted, and you can't stop pedaling, you will find that the Venous Cavernosa [sp?] at your tailbone will have been compressed for so long that you've dangerously restricted bloodflow to your privates. Unless it comes with a special seat to reduce this [which it doesn't appear to in the picture], this device will make you more impotent than most /.'ers.

Stairs?

[Ra5pu7in]

Two things:

This is Japan. Compact living spaces - not sprawling two-story and three-story homes.

This is for home-bound elderly. Someone who can't climb stairs in their own home is not going to live in a home with stairs.

Re:Stairs?

[Hayzeus]

My point, I suppose, is that in general, home robots aren't ready for prime time just yet. For stairs, substitute things like loose carpeting, furniture with odd protrusions that get past the obstacle sensors, exceptionally steep door thresholds etc.

Moreover, there are a number of similiar units being offered as "house sitters". While there may be something useful to the telepresence aspect, there is a lot less value even to this if the robot can't be made to do anything really useful remotely (like turn off the gas stove you accidentally left on).

Some of these have even been promoted as roving security "watchdogs". If I break into a house, however, I imagine that the first thing I'l be stealling will be your $4500.00 "watchdog".

All of this stuff still looks like expensive novelty items, IMHO. Still, the day is probably coming...

a couple of ideas

[mckwant]

I concur, general aerobic workouts indoors suck, but you might consider a TiVo. I know it's saved me bundles of times. Old movies are terrific. Be careful, though, as Farscape's bobbing camera made me motion sick while running.

For a while, when we had a treadmill, I also used a one handed PS1 controller to play games. Got through most of FF9 that way. The controller eventually died due to harsh conditions (sweat from the palms, dropping it against the treadmill occasionally, etc.), but it was well worth it.

Just some thoughts.

Bitsy at the top!

[thpdg]

We're becoming a big user of the Applied Data Systems "Bitsy Board" here at our place.
It's a really handy StrongARM platform, and I'm glad to see it at the top. If you're working on a project, check it out: ADS It has a ton of I/O lines, lots of useful built in functions, and a good default configuration.

-Patrick aka Dosman!

Well..

[Scott Francis[Mecham]

..Seattle Public Utilities loves them.

Kirk to enterprise

[phorm]

Beam me down an end-tag... we've got too much bold here

Seriously though, I wonder how much it would take to trim this thing down... make it look a little more communicator-like.

Next year I'm going to watch out for the replicator or transporter beam. Personally, if they ever make something like that (and they probably wil one day) - I'd be very wary of being transported around, but it'd be fun to transport other things.
I wonder if you could be so specific as to transport things off of people, would make a very fun test at the ladies gym.

Boring shape

[ralico]

Yeah, but look at its shape. If it was something besides a boring rounded bottom box...
Oh wait, it sort of looks like a cyclops Darkt Vader.

Karma Whoring

[Drakonian]

Hack the Gibson!

OK, I confess. I don't even know what the allusion is to but it seems to get a lot of people a lot of karma.

Re:Karma Whoring

[Zarquon]

"Hack the Gibson" is from the bad, bad movie "Hackers". The MaGIC digital guitar (here) uses Cat 5 (ethernet cable) but not ethernet signaling.

Trade show loot!

[kirkb]

I use "trade show loot" as a baromoter for how well the industry is doing. 3 years ago, I topped out at about 15 t-shirts for a single day at ESC.

This year, I only got one. And it was from Microsoft. Everybody else was giving away pens and candy and garbage like that. I guess we know who's dominating the embedded systems space nowadays.

Re:Trade show loot!

[cpeterso]

well, Microsoft likes to think so:

No. 1 Embedded Operating System Provider Worldwide

"The strong interest in Windows CE .NET as well as Windows XP Embedded by industry leaders has been instrumental in securing a No. 1 position for Windows Embedded products. According to Venture Development Corp., Microsoft led in worldwide shipments of embedded operating systems for 2002. "

"For 2001, Microsoft led revenue for embedded operating systems according to International Data Corp. document 27653, Worldwide Mobile and Embedded Operating Environment Market Forecast and Analysis, 2002-2006. "

Re:Trade show loot!

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh Please... you weren't even trying! In fact, I wasn't trying, and still had three T-shirts, plus a multi-tool, a $200 development uP development kit, various other bits of swag foisted on me yesterday. Nothing from MS. Analog Devices also passed out nice travel thermos mugs at their Metreon party. ESC was a little smaller than last year, and smaller still than the year previous, but not bad at all considering the economy. Also I think your way off the mark in your MS deduction. I mentioned to several vendors that I would never consider a MS solution even if they paid me (burned too many times, the ethical issues, and also how MS is always trying to find a subtle way to screw you, while most other vendors actually want to help)... and the vendors all said they hear that a lot, and that embedded Linux is coming on strong- even partners in the MS pavilion told me that. VxWorks, QNX, ThreadX, OSE all have their place, but Linux is getting most of the design wins for devices that are resource-rich and soft-real-time, i.e. exactly the market CE is targeted at. (I'm suspicious I'm responding to a MS PR shill, if so I apologize for feeding the troll).

RLI HG-100K

[Kinthelt]

This is much cooler than most people probably think at first glance. I'm pretty intimate with the Red Lake MotionScope series of cameras. And trust me, having that kind of resolution, speed, and robustness all at the same time is an incredible engineering feat.

For comparison, the MS-8000 is capable of 8000fps, and has a resolution of about 160x120. Don't even think about bumping it around. And it's quite a good camera! The HG-100K is just better.

Why else do you think

[Anonymous Coward]

they made it so big and heavy?

Windows Powered Treadmill

[xRelisH]

Great.. I hope there are at least the CTRL, CLT and DEL Keys on that thing. Or perhaps you're supposed to run backwards, hold the start button and jack up the speed in order to reboot the thing.

wakamaru == Dalek

[docbrown42]

Does anyone else thing that the wakamaru looks a bit like a Dalek?

Someday, some hacker is going to reprogram these robots to run around screaming "Ex-Ter-Min-Ate" like a demented Hitler (until they fall down the stairs, at least).

Derek Bok?

[Ryanwoodings]

I'm kinda' ignorant... who is Derek Bok?

Revenue leader?

[jeepliberty]

"For 2001, Microsoft led revenue for embedded operating systems according to International Data Corp. document 27653, Worldwide Mobile and Embedded Operating Environment Market Forecast and Analysis, 2002-2006. "

The key word is revenue. If you use "units manufactured" the results may be different.

Re:Revenue leader?

[cpeterso]

well, the same quote says, "Microsoft led in worldwide shipments of embedded operating systems for 2002." Presumably "shipments" is counting units sold or manufactured, not revenue.

Exercise equipment with serial ports

[n7ytd]

What model of bike had serial output? I have been looking for an exercise bike with USB or serial data output.

Most "commercial" (read: health-club quality) equipment has such a feature. Ask for "CSAFE" compatible equipment, then go to Fitlinxx who maintains the open standard.
Disclaimer: I design exercise equipment electronics, but do not work for this company.