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Engadget's back to school guide 2012: fun stuff!
Welcome to Engadget's back to school guide! The end of summer vacation isn't nearly as much fun as the weeks that come before, but a chance to update your tech tools likely helps to ease the pain. The good news? We're on to the fun stuff, the gear that isn't always practical but will definitely help you let off some steam after a tough mid-term. Be sure to keep checking back -- at the end of the month we'll be giving away a ton of the gear featured in our guides -- and hit up the hub page right here! Laptops, phones and e-readers might be slick pieces of tech, but they'll all be used for business while you're buried in term papers during the semester. We're rounding up a set of gadgets meant purely to lift your spirits -- whether it's zapping fellow froshmates in a game of Lazer Tag or an electric motorbike to blast through the countryside on a long weekend. We've even got a few borderline sensible gadgets, such as a robot that will clean up after a wild party at the dorm. Jump past the break for our full collection of antidotes to the end-of-summer blues.
Visualized: a look inside iRobot's gadget-filled 'cool stuff room' (video)
We've all seen a Roomba at one point or another, be it picking up debris around our feet in a friend's living room or chauffeuring a courageous kitty for an entertaining clip on YouTube. Likely far less familiar, however, is iRobot's gadget-filled Massachusetts headquarters, including the museum-like "cool stuff room" in the lobby. There you'll find a large variety of autonomous devices, ranging from an early Roomba prototype that subs in a removable cloth for the vacuum to the relatively creepy My Real Baby -- an $89 doll that cries for food and offers realistic reactions to tickling. There's also plenty of industrial and military gear on hand, including a long cylindrical bot used for repairing oil rigs as they continue to operate, a full-size self-driving vehicle and a wall-climbing robot that uses suction cup wheels to ascend vertically. Some of the exhibits are downright creepy, such as a crab-like prototype which an iRobot employee referenced as being "inspired by nature," though the company's familiar household gadgets help to balance out the eerie. Sadly, the collection doesn't appear to be open to the public, though IEEE was granted a tour, which it graciously filmed for your enjoyment -- you'll find that video walkthrough just past the break.
iRobot Roomba 790 with Wireless Command Center hands-on (video)
What to get the homeowner who has everything? Perhaps a robotic vacuum styled in the fashion of an RC toy will fit the bill. Here at a gdgt event in New York City we happened upon iRobot's Roomba 790, which comes with a touchscreen remote for manually controlling where the bot goes. The controller -- make that the "Wireless Command Center" -- has an interface matching the one on the 790 itself, so there's no second set of menus to master here. In addition to deciding where it moves, you can also schedule daily cleanings or tap a "Clean" button to push the robot into action.Though this isn't the first time iRobot's dabbled in remote-controlled vacuum cleaners, previous models tended to rely on infrared sensors, meaning you could only control the Roomba if it was in your line of sight. This guy, though, uses a proprietary technology that allows you to program that 4pm scrubbing from up to 25 meters away. As for battery life, it runs on four AA cells, and is rated for three to six months of runtime, depending on how compulsively you plan on cleaning. Interestingly, despite the change in wireless standards, the 790 is compatible with older 700-series Roombas, though it's not as is the controller would be sold separately. If you happen to be the kind of fabulously wealthy family who can afford (and has a need) for multiple Roomba cleaners, you can only pair the remote with one robot at a time anyway. Don't have the budget for a $700 robotic vacuum kit? We've got hands-on photos below and a demo video after the break. %Gallery-159094%
Roomba 790's Wireless Command Center lets you obliterate dirt from afar
iRobot is calling the latest Roomba its "most advanced robot yet," thanks to a number of new features to the 700 series that extend beyond the 790's redesigned faceplate. Chief amongst them is the Wireless Command Center, an oblong remote control useable from anywhere in the home that lets users steer the Roomba, send it back to its base, schedule a cleaning and adjust its clock. There's also a big "Clean" button, whose functionality seems fairly straight forward. Also on board with the 790 is room-to-room navigation, which utilizes "Virtual Wall Lighthouses." Roomba describes the feature thusly, [A]djust to Lighthouse, set the distance of the door opening and place the Virtual Wall Lighthouse outside of the doorway to the room you want Roomba to clean. The Lighthouse will communicate with Roomba via an infrared sensor to contain it in one room until it vacuums the area completely (aka: completes its mission) and then it will move on to the next room and so forth. The latest version of the cleaning machine is available today, for a suggested $700. Check out a peak of the aforementioned Command Center after the break.
The Engadget Show - 016: Mitsubishi's Frank DeMartin, iRobot, Aldebaran's NAO robot, Ubisoft Battle Tag, CES '11 preview, and more!
Get ready humans, because we have an all new Engadget Show that you do not want to miss! First up, Josh sits down with Mitsubishi product chief Frank DeMartin for a talk about the future of television technology. Next, Paul gets a behind the scenes look at iRobot's headquarters and test-drives military robots in an exclusive new Engadget Show segment. Then, Josh and Paul welcome Aldebaran Robotics to the stage for a never-before-seen demo of their humanoid robot NAO. Shots fly as Nilay joins the roundtable for a look at Ubisoft's new laser tag game, Battle Tag; and the guys recap the year in tech then preview what's on tap for next year at CES 2011. To round it all out, BIT SHIFTER rocks the house with some killer holiday chiptunes music with visuals by noteNdo. What are you waiting for? Watch it now! Hit up the video stream after the break or download the show in HD below! Hosts: Joshua Topolsky, Nilay Patel, Paul Miller Special guests: Frank DeMartin, Colin Angle, Jean-Michel Perbet, Jérome Monceaux Produced and Directed by: Chad Mumm Executive Producer: Joshua Fruhlinger Edited by: Danny Madden Music by: Bit Shifter Visuals by: notenDo iRobot segment music by: Bit Shifter Opening titles by: Julien Nantiec Engadget iPad Cases by: CafePress Taped live at The Times Center Download the Show: The Engadget Show - 016 (HD) / The Engadget Show - 016 (iPod / iPhone / Zune formatted) / The Engadget Show - 016 (Small) Subscribe to the Show: [iTunes] Subscribe to the Show directly in iTunes (MP4). [Zune] Subscribe to the Show directly in the Zune Marketplace (MP4). [RSS MP4] Add the Engadget Show feed (MP4) to your RSS aggregator and have it delivered automatically. [HD RSS] Get the Engadget Show delivered automatically in HD. [iPad RSS] Get the Engadget Show in iPad-friendly adaptive format.
The Engadget Show - 015: Sprint's Fared Adib, Google TV creator Salahuddin Choudhary, Galaxy Tab, Nook Color, and more!
Get ready humans, because we have an all new, amazing Engadget Show fresh out of the box. First up, Josh and Paul sit down with Sprint product chief Fared Adib to talk about the birth of the EVO 4G, what exactly defines "4G," where Sprint sees itself in relation to Verizon and AT&T, and why skinning Android devices might be a necessary evil. Next, Nilay goes hands on with the fully-automated house of the future at the Savant Experience Center in an exclusive new Engadget Show segment, then joins Josh on stage for a in-depth chat with Salahuddin Choudhary, a Google TV product manager who helped create Google TV in his 20-percent time. Then, Paul, Nilay, and Josh discuss all things tablets in a raucous roundtable featuring the iPad, Galaxy Tab, and Nook Color. To round it all out, exileFaker rocks the house with some killer chiptunes music with visuals by HN_i_C. What are you waiting for? Watch it now! Hit up the video stream after the break or download the show in HD below! Hosts: Joshua Topolsky, Nilay Patel, Paul Miller Special guests: Fared Adib, Salahuddin Choudhary Produced and Directed by: Chad Mumm Executive Producer: Joshua Fruhlinger Edited by: Danny Madden Music by: exileFaker Visuals by: HN_i_C Savant segment music by: Kris Keyser and exileFaker Opening titles by: Julien Nantiec Taped live at The Times Center Download the Show: The Engadget Show - 015 (HD) / The Engadget Show - 015 (iPod / iPhone / Zune formatted) / The Engadget Show - 015 (Small) Subscribe to the Show: [iTunes] Subscribe to the Show directly in iTunes (MP4). [Zune] Subscribe to the Show directly in the Zune Marketplace (MP4). [RSS MP4] Add the Engadget Show feed (MP4) to your RSS aggregator and have it delivered automatically. [HD RSS] Get the Engadget Show delivered automatically in HD. [iPad RSS] Get the Engadget Show in iPad-friendly adaptive format. %Gallery-108045%
Patent app shows Roombas pooping on potties, being big boys
Roomba vacuums tend to be pretty self-sufficient, cleaning floors, committing burglaries, and even making futile attempts at communication. Cleaning themselves, however, is something they cannot do, but that may change if a recently unearthed 2007 patent application filed by iRobot ever results in an actual product. The app shows a variety of designs for docks that would either suck the detritus right out of your little guy or replace its dirt cartridge altogether, strip any wound-up hair from its brushes, and then send it back on its way to give your cat a lift to is litter box. No word on whether iRobot has something based on these designs anywhere near production-ready, but we wouldn't recommend giving away that robot changing table.
Video: Roomba hacked to trail sand on your floor
Of all of the Roomba mods we've seen, this is definitely one of them. Just in time to celebrate its entry into the Robot Hall Of Fame, the heads at iRobot have mashed up the happy-go-lucky autonomous vacuum with an old inkjet printer, creating a device that can not only indulge in something called Rangoli, but look great doing it. Just make sure you have another one of these guys on hand to sweep up after you're done playing. As you are no doubt aware, Rangoli is a traditional form of Indian sandpainting -- but we're guessing that the "iRobot" and "i (heart) Robots" messages are not among the motifs one usually finds in front of people's homes and places of worship on the Subcontinent. Check it out on video after the break.
Roomba mod allows it to pick things up, hand them to you
Sure, we've seen some wild Roomba mods, but overall it's pretty much a low-to-the-ground affair -- unless you get the cats involved, of course. That's apparently changing, though -- check out this robotic grasping system, which can pick up foreign objects and deliver them to you at about waist height. The system was 95 percent effective in picking up objects of all sizes and shapes during trials, and it was apparently quite simple to build and code. Nice for a Roomba, sure, but we'd rather be partying with SOBEaR. Video after the break.[Thanks, Travis]
