Thursday 25 September 2008

Spykee Meccano Robot

I remember my Meccano set that I played with when I was growing up. Lots of nuts, bolts and pieces of metal. This Spykee robot represents the new face of Meccano that I could only wish was available when I was a kid. I can just imagine the creative hacks that we will see in the near future! Thanks to Sven for the system overview.

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  • Spy robot. Spykee can be controlled within your home network using a WiFi connection. Just install some software on your PC or Mac and you can remotely send commands to Spykee. The video and sound from Spykee’s webcam are transmitted to your computer.
  • Telepresence. Because Spykee has a WiFi connection it can easily connect to the Internet. This opens up many new possibilities for the robot, such as remotely controlling your robot from any place in the world via Internet.
  • Digital music player. Spykee has a 2W loudspeaker. So just send MP3 music to Spykee and you can enjoy your music.
  • VOIP phone. Use the Spykee robot together with Skype, MSN or GoogleTalk to talk with your friends! Because Spykee is mobile, you can now talk with your friend from any place in your house.
  • Video surveillance. Spykee can be programmed to send you an email whenever it sees things that are suspicious. Your robot will now guard your room!
  • Infrared auto-park recharging. Mobile robots have a limited time to operate due to their batteries. Spykee is a smart robot that will automatically recharge itself when its batteries are low.
  • Processor. Details about the specific processor that Spykee uses and possibilities for further hardware extensions is currently not know. If anyone has some info then please post it on the forum.
  • WiFi. Spykee is WiFi enabled. According to its specifications the robot should work within a distance of 100m under optimal conditions.
  • 2DC motors. Spykee has two motors that can be independently controlled so that it can drive forward, backwards, turn left and turn right.
  • Camera The camera has a resolution of 320×200 pixels and under optimal conditions it has a framerate of 15fps.
  • IR auto-parking recharge system. Spykee comes with a docking station to automatically recharge its batteries.
  • Lights and optical fibres Not only can Spykee make sound, it also has lights to cheer up your room!

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Thanks Robert.


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