Schlagwort: robot pet

  • Raspberry Pi puts the heart back in mid-noughties nostalgia tech

    Raspberry Pi puts the heart back in mid-noughties nostalgia tech

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    Is it still the Easter holidays? Can anyone tell? Does it matter, when we have nostalgic tech bunny pets to share with you?

    These little bunnies can now do much more than when they first appeared. But they’re still incredibly cute – just look at that little lopsided-ear thing they do.

    The original Nabaztag bunnies were to us in the mid-noughties what Tamagotchis were to eleven-year-olds everywhere in the 1990s. They communicated through colour, light, and sound. But now (and here’s the best bit), with a simple bit of surgery and the help of a new Raspberry Pi heart, your digital desk pet will be smarter than ever. It will be able to tell you what the weather is like, and offer local speech recognition as well as “ear-based Tai Chi”. No, we’re not sure either, but we are sure that it sounds cool. And very calming.

    Part of the custom kit that will breathe new life into your bunny

    The design team have created what they call the TagTagTag kit. Here are the main components of said kit:

    This new venture had its first outing at the Paris Maker Faire in 2018, and it looks like we’re already too late to buy one of the limited number of ready-made upgraded bunnies. However, those of you who kept hold of your original bunny might be able to source one of Nabaztag’s custom boards to upgrade it yourself if you’re prepared to be patient – head over to the project’s funding page. You’ll also need a Raspberry Pi Zero W and a microSD card. The video below is in French, but it’s captioned.

    Nabaztag’s funding page also shares all of the tech specs, schematics, and open source Python code you’re going to need.

    We know this might be a tricky project for which to source all the parts, but it’s just. So. Cute. Follow the rabbit on Twitter to find out when you might be able to get your hands on a custom board.

    Website: LINK

  • Archimedes, the Google AIY Projects Vision familiar

    Archimedes, the Google AIY Projects Vision familiar

    Reading Time: 3 minutes

    hackster.io‘s ‘resident hardware nerd’ Alex Glow has gifted the world of makers with Archimedes, a shoulder-mounted owl that judges your emotions using the Google AIY Project Vision Kit.

    Say Hi to Archimedes – the AI Robot Owl

    Say hi to Archimedes – the robot owl with a Google AIY brain. Built with Raspberry Pi + Arduino! Here are some insights into pitfalls of the build process. I made this li’l guy to demo the AIY Vision Kit for Maker Faire 2018… but he’s not going away anytime soon!

    Google AIY Project Kits

    Google released the Pi-powered AIY Projects Voice Kit last year, providing the entire set of build ingredients with issue 57 of The MagPi Magazine. You loved it, we loved it, and later that year they followed up the Voice Kit’s success with the Vision Kit, also based on the Raspberry Pi.

    google aiy vision kit

    As the name indicates, the Voice Kit completes tasks in response to voice commands, just like Amazon Alexa or Google Home. The Vision Kit allows makers to experiment with neural networking to implement image recognition in their projects.

    Planning for Maker Faire

    When the hackster.io team was asked to contribute a project to Google’s stand at Maker Faire Bay Area this year, their in-house self-confessed hardware and robotics nerd Alex Glow took on the challenge.

    I took a really, really long time to figure out what to build — what it would look like, how it would animate, how it would dispense the stickers…in the end, I went with this cute and fairly challenging design.

    And so, Alex brought Archimedes the robotic owl into the world — and the world is a cuter place for it.

    Archimedes the owl

    Having set up the Google AIY Vision Kit — you can find Alex’s live build video here — she raided a HackerBox for a pan/tilt gimble. The gimble was far more robust than simple servos, and since Alex wanted to bring Archimedes to more events after Maker Faire, she needed something that would take the wear and tear.

    it’ll be fun trying to explain this one // i tried: bit.ly/robotowl

    337 Likes, 18 Comments – Alex Glow (@glowascii) on Instagram: “it’ll be fun trying to explain this one // i tried: bit.ly/robotowl”

    For Maker Faire, she modified Archimedes to be a shoulder-mounted familiar, but Alex initially mounted him on a box that would open to reveal a prize if Archimedes detected a certain facial expression. For this, she introduced an Arduino into the mix, using the board to control three servos: two for the gimble and the third for the box lid.

    Archimedes’s main objective is to hunt out faces and read their expressions. Because of this, his head is always moving so he can take in his surroundings like a real owl.

    I combined the AIY Kit’s LED and Joy Detection demos (found in /gpiozero and /joy, respectively). I wanted to make the LED pin turn on when it finds a happy face, but weirdly, this code does the opposite. Someday, I will be enough of a software wizard to figure out why…

    Alex designed the owl’s body using OnShape, with the intention of keeping the Raspberry Pi and AIY tech inside. Then she 3D printed the body using the Lulzbot Taz 6 and very hackster-blue filament.

    Shawn Hymel on Twitter

    Testing out @glowascii ‘s familiar, Archimedes. It knows when I’m sad or happy, but I have to *really* force that happy 😅 #aiy #computervision #ai #3dprinting https://t.co/77pQk9pOHm

    Build your own robot familiar

    For full instructions on building and coding your own Archimedes, head to Alex’s hackster.io project page. You can keep up to date on the pair’s adventures via Alex’s Twitter account.

    Website: LINK

  • Petoi: a Pi-powered kitty cat

    Petoi: a Pi-powered kitty cat

    Reading Time: 3 minutes

    A robot pet is the dream of many a child, thanks to creatures such as K9, Doctor Who’s trusted companion, and the Tamagotchi, bleeping nightmare of parents worldwide. But both of these pale in comparison (sorry, K9) to Petoi, the walking, meowing, live-streaming cat from maker Rongzhong Li.

    Petoi: OpenCat Demo

    Mentioned on IEEE Spectrum: https://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/humanoids/video-friday-boston-dynamics-spotmini-opencat-robot-engineered-arts-mesmer-uncanny-valley More reads on Hackster: https://www.hackster.io/petoi/opencat-845129 优酷： http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMzQxMzA1NjM0OA==.html?spm=a2h3j.8428770.3416059.1 We are developing programmable and highly maneuverable quadruped robots for STEM education and AI-enhanced services. Its compact and bionic design makes it the only affordable consumer robot that mimics various mammal gaits and reacts to surroundings.

    Petoi

    Not only have cats conquered the internet, they also have a paw firmly in the door of many makerspaces and spare rooms — rooms such as the one belonging to Petoi’s owner/maker, Rongzhong Li, who has been working on this feline creation since he bought his first Raspberry Pi.

    Petoi Raspberry Pi Robot Cat

    Petoi in its current state – apple for scale in lieu of banana

    Petoi is just like any other housecat: it walks, it plays, its ribcage doubles as a digital xylophone — but what makes Petoi so special is Li’s use of the project as a platform for study.

    I bought my first Raspberry Pi in June 2016 to learn coding hardware. This robot Petoi served as a playground for learning all the components in a regular Raspberry Pi beginner kit. I started with craft sticks, then switched to 3D-printed frames for optimized performance and morphology.

    Various iterations of Petoi have housed various bits of tech, 3D-printed parts, and software, so while it’s impossible to list the exact ingredients you’d need to create your own version of Petoi, a few components remain at its core.

    Petoi Raspberry Pi Robot Cat — skeleton prototype

    An early version of Petoi, housed inside a plastic toy helicopter frame

    A Raspberry Pi lives within Petoi and acts as its brain, relaying commands to an Arduino that controls movement. Li explains:

    The Pi takes no responsibility for controlling detailed limb movements. It focuses on more serious questions, such as “Who am I? Where do I come from? Where am I going?” It generates mind and sends string commands to the Arduino slave.

    Li is currently working on two functional prototypes: a mini version for STEM education, and a larger version for use within the field of AI research.

    A cat and a robot cat walking upstairs Petoi Raspberry Pi Robot Cat

    You can read more about the project, including details on the various interactions of Petoi, on the hackster.io project page.

    Not quite ready to commit to a fully grown robot pet for your home? Why not code your own pixel pet with our free learning resource? And while you’re looking through our projects, check out our other pet-themed tutorials such as the Hamster party cam, the Infrared bird box, and the Cat meme generator.

    Website: LINK