By Right now the Android Robot is merely a mascot used to depict anything related to Google Android OS. But what if Android was the operating system used to power an ACTUAL robot? That is exactly what ASUS is doing and they’re calling it the Eeebot!
We dug through several sources to get you the important details:
- “The goal is to build an affordable robot able to interact with children”
- Will include “human robot interaction (HRI), voice and visual technologies, positioning and navigation, and more
- ASUS will build software store and additional hardware components to further monetize the project and subsidize cost of original EeeBot purchase
- AT LEAST 2+ years before we’ll see anything
So a family buys the EeeBot and can purchase different games, capabilities, personalities and various things for the EeeBot to be able to interact with the family and the kids. This is an absolutely AMAZING idea and it will take Android Applications in yet another direction. This is one case where a 3rd party Market will have no trouble gaining traction since this is 100% different than your phone.
Can you imagine the possibilities? Initially I’m guessing it will be small and simple… but if you had to pick some robots from our collective and imaginative past, what would you hope that ASUS creates with the EeeBot?
Or maybe something a little more realistic…
[PCworld via Interwebz]
I am assuming they will harvest the text search to interact with people.
Can’t wait to see what this will look like!
Hey. Maybe a person can have a little sim card in the bot, the parents can call the bot and look through it’s “eyes” to see what the kids are doing, or control the bot to move it around, or give it orders of what it needs to do next. This is a cool idea. :)
See: Sony Qrio, which rocked till Sony killed it.
http://tinyurl.com/yeeqq8p
I was actually thinking about this but they can actually pull this off. look at what we already have in a phone: all those sensors, gps, google googles, speech to text, etc. That sounds like the base for a very good robot.
But I bet someone will come and pooh pooh it because it’s not ‘pretty’ enough.
The Eeebot = waste…
–
How about a RoombaDroid (Roomba + Droid)
–
When u’r home u can interact with it… Sup RoombaDroid… How as u’r day..
–
When the family is at work & school… RoombaDroid can be plotting how it will take over the world.. I mean how the hell 3-4 humans shed so much dead skin… And why is the dog &/or cat following around… Ohh, yeah… U’r master program dog & cat calls into u’r whistle while you work routine… BASTARD!!!
–
HEY RoombaDroid… Go feed the cat…
–
I just wanted an Omnibot as a kid but they were too expensive :(
http://www.jeffbots.com/omnibot.html
Taiwan’s govt is promoting Android?
http://www.pcworld.com/article/184910/google_android_push_gains_march_in_taiwan_with_new_project.html
“Taiwanese companies, industry groups and government agencies have worked to promote Android over the past year in a range of devices, including mini-laptops, navigation devices, mobile Internet devices (MIDs) and more. The publicly funded Institute for Information Industry maintains an office for Android development.”
I just hope that we either get something totally non-biologically based like the Roomba, or something with movement as good as what Boston Dynamics puts out like Big Dog or Petman, with his actual heel-to-toe walking. All those robots like the Qrio and Honda’s robot dude with “pick up one foot, place it down, repeat” walking are last gen.