

Sneak peek of the greatest toy robot ever invented - ukdm
http://www.geek.com/articles/gadgets/sneak-peak-of-the-greatest-toy-robot-ever-invented-20120210/

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tomkin
When I first saw Rovio[1] for sale on eBay, one clever eBayer decided to
charge $1 to let you use it. Since you could control it remotely through wifi
and the camera, you were able to roll around his house.

So then I thought, what about taking this further? Like an arena where you
could _battle_ them or something? Better yet, get a warehouse and build rooms,
escalators, themed areas like a park or waterfall. Allow people to use their
mobile device to log in to their bot, avatar toy, etc and control it. You
could do things like teleport to other parts of the warehouse, where you'd
just embody a different bot. With augmented reality, you could even sell
"stickers" to decorate your bot or battle car, etc. Advertising could be
tastefully placed around the areas as an additional revenue stream.

Of course, prox sensors would be a must if the object of the environment isn't
to bash everyone to bits.

It's pretty far fetched, but I think it would be fun!

[1] <http://www.robotshop.com/wow-wee-rovio-spy-robot.html>

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iliis
It actually already exists ;)

<http://mech-warfare.com/>

Altough you can't play from home, but all the players have only the cameras of
their bot to look around. So far they play with electric airsoft pistols and
each bot (which has to be a walker, so no wheels or anything) has a few
standardized sensor plates to register hits.

As most control the bots via WiFi, it would certainly be possible to host such
a competition via internet.

[I never played this myself, but it _looks_ like fun!]

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fatpanther
I was stoked to see this - Jaimie is a unique guy. ("Greatest toy robot ever
invented" is typical to his brand of...enthusiasm.) His YouTube channel is
worth checking out (<http://www.youtube.com/user/JMEMantzel>). He lives in the
woods (I think in Vermont), and for the past few years has been working on
building a LIFE SIZE version of this toy. Looking at his YouTube page just now
it seems that he's had a kid so that'll slow the Giant Robot Project down a
bit, but I'm happy to see he's sold his idea & it's going forward!

Edit: his web site: <http://jamius.com>

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nate
Jamie and his wife's enthusiasm for life is infectious. That is an awesome
family. I spent an hour going through his videos last night. I can't believe
how much energy that guy has to do everything in his life.

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bombermouse
I'm sorry but that's is not a lego mindstorm. While it does looks somewhat
customizable it doesn't seems to encourage creativity like the mindstorm does.

But hey!, second place is not bad.

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jessriedel
I think this is aimed at a substantially younger crowd. Your 4 year old isn't
going to be programming anything on the Mindstorm, but he could definitely
have fun with the OP toy.

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motoford
I can;t believe this article didn't even mention Jaimie's claim to fame, the
giant robot videos. Those things are hilarious. "I'm gonna make a giant robot,
but I have to build a shop first. Oh, and I don't have wood, but I have trees,
time to build a sawmill. Oh, I don't have electricity either..." Good stuff.

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slamdunc
Brilliant - here's Part 1 that you mentioned (he's posted 300+ videos). I'm
afraid I've wrecked what's left of the work day as I follow the saga.
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86Krv3gE-c4>

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scotty79
Does anyone know if hexbug spider uses same principle or is it substantially
different in any way?

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dubrock
Is this even technically a robot?

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freehunter
Yeah I was thinking the same thing. While robots can technically be directly
remote controlled, generally that definition is limited to using remote
control to perform a task. I'm not sure that firing ping pong balls fits into
at least _my_ definition of "performing a task".

Maybe the definition is changing as a result of robots moving from industrial
to consumer. Perhaps a "toy robot" as this thing is described can just be any
controllable moving machine that does anything more than just move about (like
RC cars/helicopters do).

