WowWee Rovio Robot Has GPS & Wi-Fi
Writing by Conner Flynn on Thursday, 10 of January , 2008 at 6:11 pm
WowWee has introduced Rovio, a new “telepresence” robot with the latest in micro-GPS technology from Evolution Robotics. Rovio has a Wi-Fi-enabled Web-cam that allows you to patrol your home while you’re away, from an Internet-enabled PC, console or mobile phone.
With the new GPS system you can drive the robot with shortcut “go-to” commands, like “go to the kitchen”, to make it easy to control the robot remotely over the Web or from your mobile phone. It also has a “patrol mode” where it will automatically send you pictures of specific locations you want to check.
Another cool feature is it’s ability to autonomously guide itself back on course if, say your kids pick it up and move it. When it gets thirsty for energy, it can navigate to its charging station from anywhere in the house, and dock with pinpoint accuracy.
It’s expected to launch in the second half of the year.
Category: General
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Comment by Joe Dunfee
Made Friday, 11 of January , 2008 at 3:09 am
This robot doesn’t have GPS, rather it has something “like a min-GPS” system according to the manufacturer.
The system has an infrared projection system on the charging station that projects a pattern onto the ceiling. The robot uses a camera to see this projection to allow it to calculate its orientation and position. If I recall correctly from their literature, the Northstar system can use up to 10 projectors. This will allow it to navigate through various rooms.
The Northstar navigation system was developed by Evolution Robotics.