Hacking the RoboSapien

unassimilatible writes "The RoboSapien is a cool humanoid robot toy with pretty decent dexterity and 67 pre-programmed instructions. But the folks at The University of Freiberg have made the RoboSapien autonomous by installing a Pocket PC to its head. The Pocket PC is equipped with a camera and communicates via infrared to the robot, and the whole monstrosity can be programmed with Visual C++. The full API is available for download. I, for one, welcome..."

Comments

robosapien.tk

[jpmkm]

The best robosapien hacking site is robosapien.tk. I can't find my remote for my robosapien, so I've downloaded a program for my girlfriend's palmpilot(my monochrome visor wouldn't run the program) to control my robosapien. btw, looks like someone reads hardocp.

Re:robosapien.tk

[jpmkm]

Sorry about that, I thought it was on the robosapien.tk site. Anyway, the program is SapBench.

Mirror

[FiberOpPraise]

I have a strong feeling this site is going to go down with the video files and a direct link to a file. Here is a full mirror: http://66.90.101.31/~whateve/mirror/slashdot/www.i nformatik.uni-freiburg.de/%257Enimbro/robots.html

Be careful with these suckers

[mofochickamo]

My boss got one of these about 3 months ago as a preview release from a friend who is a distributor. Some of the pre-programmed motions were quite funny (like the Neandertal roar for scaring small children). The robot also has good walking ability and dexterity in general.

Though be warned, it isn't made out of the highest quality components. Much to the embaressment of my boss, the robot broke in his care. The head got stuck to one side. My boss and I considered opening it up and hacking it ourselves, but all we both had visions of giving the robot back to the distributor in many pieces.

Re:Be careful with these suckers

[Inominate]

Actually thats not broken, the instructions actually explain how to realign the head.

Re:Be careful with these suckers

[Distan]

The "head stuck to one side" problem is common, and can be easily fixed. From the official FAQ:

Q: Robosapien's head has turned to the right; I have not been able to re-center it. Do you have any suggestions for repair?

A: Lower his arms and twist his head all the way to the left, until you hear a "click".

Freiburg not Freiberg

[frostman]

In case anyone's curious, the name of the town is Freiburg not Freiberg.

But you probably figured that out from the URL, even if our noble editors did not.

Nice town, by the way.

Re:67 Pre-programmed instructions

[Anonymous Coward]

I get the joke, if no other mods do. He didn't actually say that afaik.

Chris

Robosapien in Servo Magazine

[Psion]

Servo Magazine had a feature last month on the Robosapien. Apparently, the designer felt very strongly about letting users hack the device, so he left plenty of space to add capabilities. The current issue of the magazine has a hacking contest for the toy. See Hack-a-Sapien contest.

Re:Fight!!

[Psion]

You're absolutely right about Qrio. Except:

• Qrio isn't commercially available yet.
• Robosapiens costs about $99 at BestBuy

So heck, considering the status of Qrio, I could almost get away with saying ED209 could kick Qrio's butt.

Re:Biomorphic robot indeed!

[ctr2sprt]

For those who're concerned, the parent is a movie of a robosapien with toilet paper around its head flapping uselessly in a bathroom.

I was a little worried myself, but I have mod points so I figured I'd do my civic duty and make sure it was safe.

obligatory MTG reference

[servognome]

Card Name: Dog
Card Color: Green
Cash Cost: 0
Type & Class: Creature - Canine
Pow/Tough: 1/1
Card Text:
During your upkeep sacrifice 5 food or bury dog
When Dog comes into play, gain control of all children until end of turn.
Tap to destroy target permanent
Flavor Text:
Sit Ubu sit, good dog Rarity: C
----------------
Card Name: Robosapien
Card Color: A
Cash Cost: 95
Type & Class: Artifact - Creature
Pow/Tough: 0/1
Card Text:
Upon Summoning place 10 battery counters on Robosapien
Everytime Robosapien becomes tapped remove a battery counter
Tap to gain control of target creature
Flavor Text: I am Robosapien
Rarity: U

It's Freiburg not Freiberg

[Anonymous Coward]

Burg = Castle, Berg = Mountain... ...

Re:It's Freiburg not Freiberg

[koi88]

That's right. But the tricky part is, both Freiburg and Freiberg actually exist.
Freiburg is a town in southwest Germany near the French border while Freiberg is in Eastern Germany, near Dresden.
and they both have universities (check it out: www.uni-freiberg.de)

Mark Tilden

[Smerity]

Mark Tilden, the designer of Robosapien (and of BEAM robotics for any of you who have heard of it) purposely left the Robosapien open for modification (god bless his soul ^_^) More people/companies should do this! =)

I'm actually quite interested in this, as I'm in the Australian Robocup Junior atm (Year 9) and this is a great platform to begin experimenting in bipedal robots. Heck, it could even begin it's own competition section (the robotic AIBO dogs have their own soccer competition)

Mark Tilden is also heavy researcher in the biomorphic robotics field, and through his experiments he has essentially created the BEAM robotics field.

If you haven't ever looked at BEAM robots, DO! They're can be amazingly simple (start here) and can then lead up to quite advanced and fun projects in robotics! And did I mention they're cheap =)

Solarbotics, one of the best resources for BEAM robots I know of

Robocup Official Website

Mark Tilden at WIKI

Re:67 Pre-programmed instructions

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, it was uttered by Bill Gates (I'm old enough to remember it when he said it!).

There appears to be, like with so many other Micro$oft things, astroturfing history revisionists trying to confuse the issue, but Gates REALLY DID say that, at least in my universe, anyway.