http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/07/meet-sparky-the-diy-mac-mini-telepresence-robot/ Engadget Comments for Meet Sparky, the DIY Mac mini telepresence robot http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/07/meet-sparky-the-diy-mac-mini-telepresence-robot/http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/07/meet-sparky-the-diy-mac-mini-telepresence-robot/Nov 7th 2008 1:19PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/11/07/meet-sparky-the-diy-mac-mini-telepresence-robot/http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/07/meet-sparky-the-diy-mac-mini-telepresence-robot/Nov 7th 2008 6:26PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/11/07/meet-sparky-the-diy-mac-mini-telepresence-robot/http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/07/meet-sparky-the-diy-mac-mini-telepresence-robot/Nov 7th 2008 6:28PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/11/07/meet-sparky-the-diy-mac-mini-telepresence-robot/http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/07/meet-sparky-the-diy-mac-mini-telepresence-robot/Nov 7th 2008 1:21PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/11/07/meet-sparky-the-diy-mac-mini-telepresence-robot/http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/07/meet-sparky-the-diy-mac-mini-telepresence-robot/Nov 7th 2008 1:31PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/11/07/meet-sparky-the-diy-mac-mini-telepresence-robot/http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/07/meet-sparky-the-diy-mac-mini-telepresence-robot/Nov 7th 2008 1:37PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/11/07/meet-sparky-the-diy-mac-mini-telepresence-robot/http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/07/meet-sparky-the-diy-mac-mini-telepresence-robot/Nov 7th 2008 1:43PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/11/07/meet-sparky-the-diy-mac-mini-telepresence-robot/http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/07/meet-sparky-the-diy-mac-mini-telepresence-robot/Nov 7th 2008 1:45PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/11/07/meet-sparky-the-diy-mac-mini-telepresence-robot/http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/07/meet-sparky-the-diy-mac-mini-telepresence-robot/
I remember seeing a video of a telepresence robot going around an office. Where was that?]]>Nov 8th 2008 6:06PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/11/07/meet-sparky-the-diy-mac-mini-telepresence-robot/http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/07/meet-sparky-the-diy-mac-mini-telepresence-robot/Nov 7th 2008 1:29PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/11/07/meet-sparky-the-diy-mac-mini-telepresence-robot/http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/07/meet-sparky-the-diy-mac-mini-telepresence-robot/
Raise each edge of your lips slowly, then think about Steve Jobs turtleneck shouldn't be hard.]]>Nov 7th 2008 1:32PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/11/07/meet-sparky-the-diy-mac-mini-telepresence-robot/http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/07/meet-sparky-the-diy-mac-mini-telepresence-robot/
An Acer Aspire One or something similar (9" display, integrated webcam, speakers, sub 3lbs) would be the perfect brains for this unit. Toss in an arduino to control the servos and you could built the whole deal for under $500. The Mac mini is going to be more expensive, heavier, require external speakers, display, and webcam.

You can even put OS X on the Aspire One if that's an issue, but all the tools needed are pretty much cross platform anyway, I'd venture to say this could be executed just as well on linux or windows.

That being said, kudos to the people who built this. It IS a nice, budget implementation. I just can't help thinking how it could be streamlined even further without making any significant sacrifices to the functionality.]]>Nov 7th 2008 1:37PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/11/07/meet-sparky-the-diy-mac-mini-telepresence-robot/http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/07/meet-sparky-the-diy-mac-mini-telepresence-robot/Nov 7th 2008 1:34PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/11/07/meet-sparky-the-diy-mac-mini-telepresence-robot/http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/07/meet-sparky-the-diy-mac-mini-telepresence-robot/
]]>Nov 7th 2008 2:17PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/11/07/meet-sparky-the-diy-mac-mini-telepresence-robot/http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/07/meet-sparky-the-diy-mac-mini-telepresence-robot/http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/01/msr-h101-hexapod-kit-lets-you-build-your-own-nightmares/ now just time to figure out a telescoping head..]]>Nov 7th 2008 2:30PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/11/07/meet-sparky-the-diy-mac-mini-telepresence-robot/http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/07/meet-sparky-the-diy-mac-mini-telepresence-robot/
Basically: With NEAR-to-life robots, we'll just be focusing on all the stuff that isn't realistic. The robot will just feel "wrong". If you make it obviously non-human (like a screen with a cartoony face on it emoting at you) people accept it as non-human and proceed to treat it like a human.

You see the same thing in animation films. Beowulf vs. any Pixar film, anyone?]]>Nov 7th 2008 2:51PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/11/07/meet-sparky-the-diy-mac-mini-telepresence-robot/http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/07/meet-sparky-the-diy-mac-mini-telepresence-robot/Nov 7th 2008 7:57PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/11/07/meet-sparky-the-diy-mac-mini-telepresence-robot/http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/07/meet-sparky-the-diy-mac-mini-telepresence-robot/]]>Nov 7th 2008 2:52PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/11/07/meet-sparky-the-diy-mac-mini-telepresence-robot/http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/07/meet-sparky-the-diy-mac-mini-telepresence-robot/Nov 7th 2008 7:55PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/11/07/meet-sparky-the-diy-mac-mini-telepresence-robot/http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/07/meet-sparky-the-diy-mac-mini-telepresence-robot/Nov 7th 2008 3:21PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/11/07/meet-sparky-the-diy-mac-mini-telepresence-robot/http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/07/meet-sparky-the-diy-mac-mini-telepresence-robot/http://gomistyle.wordpress.com/

I want them to convert my Miata to electric...]]>Nov 8th 2008 2:29AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/11/07/meet-sparky-the-diy-mac-mini-telepresence-robot/http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/07/meet-sparky-the-diy-mac-mini-telepresence-robot/Nov 8th 2008 8:11PM