

Show HN: RiQ – An Arduino based robot with a tablet based programming interface - curiousphil
http://riq.edventureslab.com/

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patja
It looks like a good choice for equipping your own child with an engaging
platform for physical computing and robotics, but at in its price range of
"hundreds of dollars" there are many good choices. It is at the "nice present
for a privileged child" price point. We could really use more choices that are
at the $20 - $30 level where it becomes an easier decision to equip whole
classrooms with one for every student in the class.

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edtechdev
It's a trade-off between features/usability and price. I'm sure this one has
its niche. It's much cheaper than a Lego Mindstorms kit, and probably easier
for kids to use since they have the android and ipad interfaces.

But there is an ultra low cost (~$10) robot kit in the works (trade-off of
course being less features/usability), but it's not available yet:
[https://sites.google.com/site/affordableeducationrobot/home](https://sites.google.com/site/affordableeducationrobot/home)

At $99 is the Pi-Bot [http://pi-bot.org/](http://pi-bot.org/)

$50 Hack-E-Bot [http://www.hack-e-bot.com/](http://www.hack-e-bot.com/)

$100-$150 littleBits [http://littlebits.cc/](http://littlebits.cc/)

$99-$250 Finch & Hummingbird
[http://www.birdbraintechnologies.com/](http://www.birdbraintechnologies.com/)

$250 Arduino Robot
[http://arduino.cc/en/Main/Robot](http://arduino.cc/en/Main/Robot)

$100-$150 Parrot Minidrones
[http://www.parrot.com/usa/products/minidrones/](http://www.parrot.com/usa/products/minidrones/)

and many others

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pcsrobotics
Hi all,

Thanks for looking at the RiQ and for the great comments. I'd like to point
out three things since people are looking at it:

1) Regarding the price, as the CEO of PCS Edventures, I'd love to be able to
offer it for much less - we do a lot of work in developing countries and we're
working on versions that would be less expensive. Unfortunately, this little
guy has high quality fischertechnik components, rechargeable lipo, built in
shields for 2AMP DC motors, servos, etc. as well as custom designed injection
molded parts such as the case, swivels, and system adapters. In addition to
just the "stuff" the creation of something like this involves a hardware
engineering team, a software company specializing in Unity game development,
and an education team that works on the builds and projects and curriculum.
Sheesh that's a lot of expensive stuff and people!

2)The Open physical platform approach of RiQ is something we are very excited
about. The specialized case has the ability to connect to fischertechnik,
LEGO, K'Nex, and other systems. There is even an R/C adapter that allows you
bolt it onto your favorite RC vehicle. We wanted to create something that
educators or home users could integrate with just about anything.

3) Same philosophy with the Arduino compatible nature of the board - you can
program it with the UI we have developed or with the Arduino IDE - that's the
path we want students to take so they can learn quickly with our system but
move on to more advanced work.

Hope you don't mind the sales pitch, I am familiar with all the items listed
in the last post - lots of choices out there. We want ours to stand out so let
me know what else you think it needs. We're adding on new sensor packs and
capabilities as quickly as possible.

Best wishes,

Robert Grover CEO PCS Edventures, Inc.

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Animats
Would somebody please develop a modern sonar system for low-end robotics?
Those guys are using sonar sensors from the 1980s. They give you the range to
the nearest thing in a cone about 90 degrees wide. They're from an obsolete
generation of self-focusing cameras. There's been some progress since then.

Robot sonars should have capabilities comparable to bats by now. You've
probably got at least an ARM processor available. There's a startup trying to
do this ([http://www.chirpmicro.com/](http://www.chirpmicro.com/)) for mobile
gesture recognition.

