Have you ever thought about having a robot at home? Not many people do, and that’s something a company called Remotev is trying to change. They want to create a robot that anyone can use, whether you’re young or old. But making a robot that’s small, affordable, and friendly is a big challenge!
Romo is a special kind of robot that uses your iPhone as its brain. This means it can do cool things like connect to Wi-Fi and use computer vision, all for just $150. That’s way cheaper than similar robots used to be!
When you turn Romo on, he enters “creature mode.” This means he can use the camera on your phone to follow your face. If you move around, Romo will turn to keep looking at you. If you get too close, he might even act a little scared, just like a pet!
You can connect Romo to another iOS device, like an iPad, and see what he sees. This is done through a free app you can download. With this app, you can control Romo, drive him around, and even take pictures. It’s like having a robot’s eye view of the world!
Romo can also express emotions. You can make him look excited or happy. The best part is that controlling Romo is super easy. You don’t need any special skills to drive him around.
One of the coolest things about Romo is that you don’t have to be in the same place to control him. He can stream video and audio between two smart devices, so it’s like a video call on wheels. Imagine a girl with an iPhone sending her robot to her grandma who lives far away. Grandma can log in and play games with her granddaughter, even if they’re miles apart!
Remotev is working on something exciting for the future. They’re using a tool called Blockly, which lets you create new behaviors for Romo by dragging and dropping blocks of code. You don’t need to know how to code to make Romo do new things. You can even share your creations with other Romo owners around the world!
The idea is that everyone can train their own robot to do what they want. This makes each robot unique and personal. The future of personal robots is all about creativity and imagination, and it’s happening right now!
While we can’t predict exactly what the future of personal robots will look like, we know it’s not far away. It’s all about small, smart robots like Romo and the creative ideas of people like you. We can’t wait to see what amazing things you’ll do with your own robot!
Imagine you have your own Romo robot. Design a unique face for Romo using art supplies or digital tools. Think about what expressions you want Romo to have and how they might look. Share your design with the class and explain why you chose those expressions.
Write a short story about an adventure Romo might have. Include how Romo uses his abilities, like following faces or expressing emotions, to overcome challenges. Share your story with a partner and discuss how Romo’s features help him in your story.
Use a Blockly-based coding platform to create a simple program. Imagine you’re programming Romo to perform a task, like greeting someone or exploring a room. Share your program with classmates and discuss how Blockly makes coding accessible.
Pair up with a classmate and use a remote control app to simulate driving Romo around an obstacle course. Time each other and see who can complete the course the fastest. Discuss how remote control technology can be used in real-world applications.
In groups, role-play a scenario where Romo is used for a video call between family members. One student can be Romo, another the controller, and others the family members. Discuss how Romo’s video call feature can help people stay connected.
**Sanitized Transcript:**
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So just by a show of hands, how many of you all have a robot at home? Not very many of you. Okay, and actually, of those hands, if you don’t include Roomba, how many of you have a robot at home? Okay, so a couple. That’s okay! That’s the problem that we’re trying to solve at Remotev, and the other 20 team members at Remotev are obsessed with solving.
We really want to build a robot that anyone can use, whether you’re eight or eighty. As it turns out, that’s a really hard problem because you have to build a small, portable robot that’s not only really affordable, but it has to be something that people actually want to take home and have around their kids. This robot can’t be creepy or uncanny; it should be friendly and cute.
Romo is a robot that uses a device you already know and love—your iPhone—as its brain. By leveraging the power of the iPhone’s processor, we can create a robot that is Wi-Fi enabled and computer vision capable for $150, which is about one percent of what these kinds of robots have cost in the past.
When Romo wakes up, he’s in creature mode, using the video camera on the device to follow my face. If I duck down, he’ll follow me. He’s aware, so he’ll keep his eyes on me. If I come over here, he’ll turn to follow me. If I get too close to him, he gets scared, just like any other creature. So in a lot of ways, Romo is like a pet that has a mind of its own.
If I want to explore the world with Romo, I can actually connect him from any other iOS device. Here’s the iPad, and Romo will stream video to this device, so I can see everything that Romo sees and get a robot’s eye view of the world. This is a free app on the App Store, so if any of you have this app on your phones, we could literally right now share control of the robot and play games together.
Romo is streaming video, so you can see me and the entire audience. If I want to control him, I can drive him around and take pictures. I’ve always wanted a picture of a large audience, so I’ll snap a picture. In the same way that you scroll through content on an iPad, I can adjust the angle of the camera on the device.
Finally, because Romo is an extension of me, I can express myself through his emotions. I can go in and say, “Let’s make Romo excited.” The most important thing about Romo is that we wanted to create something that was completely intuitive; you do not have to teach someone how to drive Romo.
Who would like to drive a robot? Awesome! Here you go. Thank you! Even cooler, you actually don’t have to be in the same geographic location as the robot to control him. He streams two-way audio and video between any two smart devices, so you can log in through the browser. It’s kind of like a video call on wheels.
Imagine an eight-year-old girl who has an iPhone, and her mom buys her a robot. That girl can take her iPhone, put it on the robot, send an email to grandma who lives on the other side of the country. Grandma can log into that robot and play games with her granddaughter for 15 minutes every single night when otherwise she might only be able to see her granddaughter once or twice a year.
Those are a couple of the really cool things that Romo can do today. I just want to finish by talking about something that we’re working on for the future. This is something that one of our engineers built in a weekend. It’s built on top of a Google open framework called Blockly. This allows you to drag and drop blocks of semantic code and create any behavior for this robot you want. You do not have to know how to code to create a behavior for Romo, and you can actually simulate that behavior in the browser.
If you have something you like, you can download it onto your robot and execute it in real life. If you have something you’re proud of, you can share it with every other person who owns a robot in the world. All of these Wi-Fi enabled robots actually learn from each other.
The reason we’re so focused on building robots that everyone can train is that we think the most compelling use cases in personal robotics are personal; they change from person to person. We believe that if you’re going to have a robot in your home, that robot ought to be a manifestation of your own imagination.
I wish I could tell you what the future of personal robotics looks like. To be honest, I have no idea. But what we do know is that it isn’t 10 years or 10 billion dollars or a large humanoid robot away. The future of personal robotics is happening today, and it’s going to depend on small, agile robots like Romo and the creativity of people like yourselves.
We can’t wait to get you all robots, and we can’t wait to see what you build. Thank you!
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Robot – A machine capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically, especially one programmable by a computer. – The robot was programmed to sort and pack items in the factory.
Phone – A device that allows people to communicate with each other over long distances using voice or text messages. – She used her phone to control the robot’s movements remotely.
Romo – A type of robot that can be controlled using a smartphone and is designed to interact with people in a fun and educational way. – The students enjoyed programming Romo to navigate through the obstacle course.
Connect – To join or link together, often referring to devices or systems that communicate with each other. – You need to connect the robot to the computer to upload the new software.
Camera – A device for capturing images or videos, often used in robots to help them see and understand their environment. – The robot’s camera helped it avoid obstacles by detecting them in its path.
Control – To direct or manage the operation of a machine or system. – Using a tablet, she could control the robot’s speed and direction.
Video – A recording of moving visual images, often used in robotics to analyze actions or environments. – The robot recorded a video of the science experiment for the class presentation.
Emotions – Feelings or reactions that can be expressed by humans or simulated by robots to interact more naturally with people. – The robot was programmed to show emotions like happiness and surprise to engage with the students.
Behaviors – The actions or reactions of a robot in response to external stimuli or programming. – The robot’s behaviors changed when it detected a person nearby, greeting them with a wave.
Creativity – The use of imagination or original ideas to create something, often encouraged in robotics to develop innovative solutions. – Building a robot from scratch allowed the students to express their creativity and problem-solving skills.
