3 ms·

Robinica: New 2 wheeled, programmable robots

18 points by e1ven 17y ago

skolor 17y ago
Huh, its kind of cool, but it definitely seems like vaporware to me. I can't find any prices for it anywhere, but I did find a few mentions of it being released "Q3 2008".
pmichaud 17y ago
It's under "Products" but there is no place to buy it or see a price. That's what I want to do.
mhb 17y ago
Why are these (whatever they are - no way to tell from the content-free site) of any more interest than Mindstorms or Vex?
- ivankirigin 17y ago
  Neither mindstorms or vex are very good programming environments. I'd like to see an open linux box with client libraries in a bunch of languages. The controller should be in a browser for any laptop that can connect to wifi or bluetooth, with a web server on the robot. No one should be building GUIs for a particular environment. You could also build a heroku-like environment to write code for the robot from the browser. You could add a graphical layer for kids who could eventually graduate to code. I thought this when I was working on robotics, and even more so having worked on the web for a while. I don't know if this system does this stuff. To my knowledge, no one does yet.
  - mhb 17y ago
    Maybe the new Vex WiFi improves that situation: http://www.vexrobotics.com/vexnet-upgrade-bundle.shtml http://www.vexrobotics.com/vexnet-upgrade-bundle.shtml
speek 17y ago
These things remind me of cylon raiders on wheels, but cool nonetheless.
- replicatorblog 17y ago
  I was thinking the tank droids from the Star Wars prequels. The product seems kind of lame, but the industrial design of the wheels is pretty sweet.
maxklein 17y ago
It seems boring. What will it do, roll against a wall, then roll back?
replicatorblog 17y ago
I think there is a lot of cool potential for a toy robot based start up that adds a layer of polish to a Mindstorms style interface. Something that focused more on a narrative than the educational aspect of designing robots. Imagine small rc bots that could be improved with new features/functionality via "expansion packs". For example you could have a base bot that you could add tank treads to or go with a biwheel design like these bots. You could design games to play with the robots like a sumo experience, a rockem sockem thing with touch sensors, etc. different designs would give advantages in different games. Combine addictive World of WarCraft style character customization with a relatively affordable robotics platform and you have a decent product for the $21B toy industry. Someone should do this for YC.

18 points by e1ven 17y ago

Huh, its kind of cool, but it definitely seems like vaporware to me. I can't find any prices for it anywhere, but I did find a few mentions of it being released "Q3 2008".

pmichaud 17y ago

It's under "Products" but there is no place to buy it or see a price. That's what I want to do.

mhb 17y ago

Why are these (whatever they are - no way to tell from the content-free site) of any more interest than Mindstorms or Vex?

ivankirigin 17y ago
Neither mindstorms or vex are very good programming environments. I'd like to see an open linux box with client libraries in a bunch of languages. The controller should be in a browser for any laptop that can connect to wifi or bluetooth, with a web server on the robot. No one should be building GUIs for a particular environment. You could also build a heroku-like environment to write code for the robot from the browser. You could add a graphical layer for kids who could eventually graduate to code. I thought this when I was working on robotics, and even more so having worked on the web for a while. I don't know if this system does this stuff. To my knowledge, no one does yet.
- mhb 17y ago
  Maybe the new Vex WiFi improves that situation: http://www.vexrobotics.com/vexnet-upgrade-bundle.shtml http://www.vexrobotics.com/vexnet-upgrade-bundle.shtml

speek 17y ago

These things remind me of cylon raiders on wheels, but cool nonetheless.

replicatorblog 17y ago
I was thinking the tank droids from the Star Wars prequels. The product seems kind of lame, but the industrial design of the wheels is pretty sweet.

maxklein 17y ago

It seems boring. What will it do, roll against a wall, then roll back?

replicatorblog 17y ago

I think there is a lot of cool potential for a toy robot based start up that adds a layer of polish to a Mindstorms style interface. Something that focused more on a narrative than the educational aspect of designing robots. Imagine small rc bots that could be improved with new features/functionality via "expansion packs". For example you could have a base bot that you could add tank treads to or go with a biwheel design like these bots. You could design games to play with the robots like a sumo experience, a rockem sockem thing with touch sensors, etc. different designs would give advantages in different games. Combine addictive World of WarCraft style character customization with a relatively affordable robotics platform and you have a decent product for the $21B toy industry. Someone should do this for YC.