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The Virtual Menagerie: A look back at our techno pets
Pets are great. But if you're too lazy, busy or overcome with allergies for the real thing, you have a host of digital alternatives. They've found homes on our computers, in addictive little eggs and even housed insemi-realistic representations of actual animals. Their souls may be entirely digital, but that hasn't stopped consumers from coddling and caring for these code-based creatures. Join us as we take a look at some of the digital, virtual and robotic pets that have captured our hearts over the years.
Romo: The cute robot with an iPhone for a brain
Romo is a toy with a purpose: to teach kids (and adults) some programming concepts while they're having fun. The US$149 robot uses the power of your iPhone or iPod touch as its brains and face, and the result is charming and educational. Not only can Romo be used as a fun toy, but also as a telepresence companion. Read on for details, and then enter our giveaway of a Romo. Romo started out as a Kickstarter project in November of 2011, and quickly received over 350 percent of its funding. A second project in November of 2012 was designed to bring the design up to a sellable format -- the incarnation that you can now purchase. Specifications (without device attached) Dimensions: 3" high x 5.6" long x 4.5" wide (7.62 x 14.22 x 11.43 cm) Battery: 2000 mAh NiMH, good for two hours of use Requirements: iPhone 5/5s/5c or fifth-generation iPod touch (Lightning version), iPhone 4/4s or fourth-generation iPod touch (30-pin version). iPhone 4s or newer required for telepresence capability. Design Highlights The Romo robotic base is incredibly well-designed. There are two tank tracks that are used to propel the base and turn on a dime, a light inside the back of the device to indicate that it's connected and to express "emotions", and a tilt mechanism that holds the iPhone or iPod touch to allow Romo to "nod" or look around. That base looks like it could put up with a lot of abuse, which is what it will most likely receive if used by kids. That's a good thing -- the last thing most parents will want to do is have a $150 toy break after a week. I drove the Romo around (both with the telepresence app and through its programmatic interface) a lot, smacked it into walls and other objects, and it still looks good as new. But it's the Romo app that is the star of the show here. The app is free, and as you'll see in the functionality section of this review, it's used to tell a story and help Romo's owner to progress through a series of challenges to learn how to program the device. Romo is about the cutest robot you'll ever see. In the storyline, he's a being who comes to Earth and takes up residence in your iOS device. He wants to participate in some races, but needs your help to learn how to do things. That's where the learning part of the app comes in, slowly but surely building up skills from a pre-programmed set of motions until you string those items together. During the entire time, you're getting feedback from Romo in the form of beautifully-animated facial expressions and fun noises. If you're buying this for a child, make sure that they can either read a little bit or that you're there to read some of the story and prompts to your child. The programming is done with icons, so once the child gets the hang of what each icon does, they can take it from there. Functionality Highlights Romotive really worked on making this product easy to learn, easy to use, and fun. Once the user has gone through a few lessons, additional features are added in one by one. Very quickly, you have the Romo reacting to your face, chasing colors (it has some built-in facial and color recognition capabilities), following pre-programmed courses, and more. It's an absolutely blast to play with, and I'm saying that as a 56 year-old! One of the more intriguing possibilities of Romo is using it as a telepresence companion for the elderly. Each Romo can be "called" via a special six-digit number, either from the free Romo Control app or from a page on the Romotive website. Think of giving an elderly relative a Romo, perhaps with an older iPhone permanently installed. You can call your relative's Romo, move the device around to find them, and then have a conversation with them. Of course, they would have to remember to plug in both the Romo (it uses a USB to micro-USB power connector) and iPhone every day... That big image seen above is the Romo-eye view of the chair I'm sitting in, while the image on the right is what shows up on the Romo screen for viewing by the remote person. I can send my video or have the Romo make faces. The pad allows me to control the Romo in four directions, while that "white ball" on the left side adjusts the tilt of the Romo so it can "look" up and down. Some of the more fascinating things include the chase game, in which you take something brightly colored, wave it in front of Romo until its "face" turns the same color, and then it follows that color around. This was really fun with a small basketball I had -- I let Romo recognize the orange color, and then it actually ended up pushing the ball around and following it wherever it rolled. As an educational toy, Romo is absolutely wonderful. By stringing together various actions, kids (or adults) can get Romo to do a lot of different and amazing things, and Romotive is constantly adding to the capabilities with free upgrades. There's even an SDK for developers who want to write iOS apps for the Romo platform; I can't wait to see what they come up with in the future. Each lesson is done through a "mission", which you then have to figure out how to program through the use of some simple actions. Once Romo runs the mission, you're given a score of zero to 3 stars, with three stars being a perfect score. The idea is to get three stars on every mission to prove your understanding of the basic commands. Missions are assigned to a "planet" -- there are planets for the chase game, for learning how to drive Romo, to get Romo to tell you its favorite color, to recognize a human face, and more. The more you achieve with Romo, the more planets are unlocked. The Lab is a planet where users get to try out all of the commands you've learned by just playing. You can string the various commands together to get Romo to do some pretty bizarre and fun things. While most of the missions are quite rigid in what they allow you to do with Romo, The Lab gives users a chance to really see what Romo can do. I like the fact that the battery life is so good on Romo. I was able to putz around with the little robot for slightly more than the two hour battery lifetime, and I think most kids would get bored before running the battery completely dry. Is there anything else I'd like to see? Well, my hope is that Romotive is working on a second-generation Romo that would include a grasping arm or some sort of way of picking up objects. Then it would be possible to program Romo to wander over to a bowl of candy, pick up a piece, and deliver it to my desk ... a truly worthwhile task! I'd also find it interesting to see if Romotive or a third-party developer can use the M7 motion controller chip in the iPhone 5s to provide some additional capabilities to the little robot. For example, have Romo be able to tell just how far it has gone (based on acceleration and velocity) and stop or perform another action once it's gone that distance. Conclusion Whether you view Romo as a toy, an education toy, a fun gizmo to play with, or a movable telepresence robot, it excels in every aspect. The application that controls the robotic base is whimsical, educational, and a heck of a lot of fun. If you're a parent who wants your child to get a head start on learning the basics of coding, or if you're just an adult who likes fun toys, Romo's well worth your $150. Rating: 4 stars out of 4 possible stars Giveaway Who would have ever thought that TUAW would be giving away a robot someday? Well, we are, and you have the opportunity to win a Romo worth $149. He needs a good home, which means that his owner will follow the giveaway rules: Open to legal US residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older. To enter, fill out the form below completely and click or tap the Submit button. The entry must be made before January 14, 2014 11:59PM Eastern Standard Time. You may enter only once. One winner will be selected and will receive a Romotive Romo (Lightning adapter) valued at US$149. Click Here for complete Official Rules. Loading...
Romotive partners with Brookstone to bring Romo iPhone robot to retail starting today
The Romo iPhone robot is one of the more unique smartphone accessories we've ever seen, and after a couple of rounds of Kickstarter fundraising, the device is now ready for retail. According to a press release from creator Romotive Inc., the company has entered into a deal with retailer Brookstone to bring the fancy robotic add-on to customers starting today. For international customers without access to a physical Brookstone location, you can pick one up via the Brookstone website. After installing the Romo app on your iPhone 4 or higher, and plugging it into the Romo base, you can control the bot from any other iDevice or from your Mac. You can control the little guy's movements and facial expressions, view a live video feed of what the robot can see and even snap photos and video using the iPhone's built-in camera. The device retails for US149.99.
Live from the Engadget CES Stage: an interview with Romotive's Keller Rinaudo (update: video embedded)
Romotive was on-hand this week showing off the latest version of its Romo iPhone robot. Clearly we haven't spent enough time with the adorable little guy. The company's CEO and co-founder Keller Rinaudo will be joining us on stage to discuss it -- and the company's plans for the future. January 11, 2013 2:30 PM EST Check out our full CES 2013 stage schedule here! Update: video embedded
Romo gen 3 gains Lightning connector, we go hands-on (video)
Remember Romo, the adorable iPhone-faced track-equipped robot? We met up with Romotive in Vegas at CES 2013 to play with the 3rd generation model that was recently launched on Kickstarter. The company also gave us an exclusive first look at a 3rd generation prototype with Lightning connector. We sat down with CEO Keller Rinaudo to discuss the new robot and catch up on what the team's achieved over the past year. As a refresher, we first encountered Romo when we covered it for our Insert Coin feature in October 2011. Back then, the robot used rudimentary analog electronics and plugged into the iPhone's headphone jack. After a successful initial Kickstarter campaign, Romotive moved from Seattle to Las Vegas where we caught up with the team on our stage during CES 2012. The 2nd generation model was available both pre-assembled and it kit form with support for iOS, Android and Windows Phone. It was upgraded to digital electronics but still used the audio interface to control its tracks and featured hacker-friendly auxiliary ports. Hit the break for more.
Romo the iPhone robot is back, Kickstarting version 2
Romo is a little iPhone-powered robot that showed up on Kickstarter around this time last year. It was successfully funded and distributed out into the world, making everyone happy by cycling itself around with the buzz and whirr of tiny mechanics. But as is usual with these things, the team behind Romo had even more ideas and other thoughts about how to make Romo work even better, and do even more things. So they did what worked before: They're back on Kickstarter, this time trying to put together $100,000 to remake a next-generation Romo. In addition to a redesigned circuit board and a friendlier base, this robot will have advanced functionality in terms of moving around and navigating the world. Plus, the team wants to work on some really advanced procedures, doing things like facial recognition, two-way telepresence (so you could see what the robot sees and show up on the screen yourself), and other features. The production line for this robot is already set up, says the team -- it's the software that they are Kickstarting for, as well as the actual product costs, obviously. There is one big drawback, and it's that this new Romo won't work with an iPhone 5 -- the production line that's set up currently works with the old dock connector, not the new Lightning connector. That could be an issue, since lots of early adopters will probably already have moved on to the new dock format. But the Romo team says the next robot is set to work with the iPhone 5 (and be female, by the way), so the hookup is coming, at least. At any rate, if you like the project and want to support this once-successful team yet again, the Kickstarter page is open right now. [via Engadget]
Romo's return: the cute little smartphone robot wants to steal your heart again
The first time we saw Romo, it was a fledgling Kickstarter that received our Insert Coin treatment. It went on to achieve its funding and even landed on our stage at CES. Now, the team behind it are back with a new updated version. The latest iteration boasts an all new circuit board, plus updated software and hardware -- along with the promise of an API for developers. If that sounds cool, that's because it is, but there are even loftier plans afoot if they secure a second round of funding. Remote 2-way telepresence, Roomba-esque navigation learning skills, facial recognition and Computer vision to name a few. So if you're an iOS-owning (no Android at this time) robot fan, you'd better scoot on over to the source and be lured in by its cutsie little grin (again).
Live from the Engadget CES Stage: an interview with Romotive (update: video embedded)
Last year Romotive managed to add more mobile to the mobile experience with their Romo tank bot and RomoRemote app. This year, I'm sure, promises even more in the innovative bot business. We talk robotic with Peter Seid, Romotive co-founder at 1:00PM ET.Update: Interview video now embedded.
Insert Coin: A look back at ten top projects from 2011
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Insert Coin: Romo, the smartphone robot (video)
In Insert Coin, we look at an exciting new tech project that requires funding before it can hit production. If you'd like to pitch a project, please send us a tip with "Insert Coin" as the subject line. Romotive co-founder Peter Seid's tweet read "I build robots powered by smartphone" -- that was just the incentive we needed to go check out his and business partner Phu Nguyen's creation while on a recent trip to Seattle. Romo is a simple and affordable tank-like robot platform that uses basic analog electronics to trigger two motors via any device's headphone jack. The circuit is tuned to specific frequencies for each motor -- playback the right tones, and you control the hardware. With a smartphone as its brain, all of Romo's logic and behavior live in the software. Three apps will be available at launch for both iOS and Android. RomoRemote lets you control the robot from another phone over WiFi, complete with remote live view and public address. Romo Kart is a mixed-reality version of Mario Kart, including digital attacks designed to slow down your adversaries. The Drag and Drop Programming Module makes it easy to program Romo directly from your handset with instant results. %Gallery-135530% During our visit with the folks at Romotive, we got a chance to try the RomoRemote app in person using a couple iPhones -- not only is Romo adorable, but it works like a charm. The best part? Peter and Phu plan to make a complete SDK and libraries available to iOS and Android developers. While there are several amounts you can pledge, $78 lets you have Romo and the three aforementioned apps sometime in February 2012. The project is already halfway to its $32,000 goal with 42 days to go. Take a look at our gallery above, then hit the break for our hands-on video and the all important Kickstarter link.