Robofie: Next Generation Hobby Robot?

Posted 6 Sep 2005 at 22:14 UTC by The Swirling Brain

The Volks Inc. company website hailed Robofie-VS-1 as the Next Generation Hobby Robot. Some websites are hailing this robot as the AIBO, QRIO and Robosapien killer. Robofie is a humanoid bipedal robot kit that is 1 foot tall and weighs about 2 pounds. Robofie comes with pre-programmed moves, such as walking, dancing and stair climbing and can also be extended. It also comes with a remote control and battery pack and charger. The kit, which you assemble, also lets you paint it to your liking. The kit will be sold as a pre-order for $1800 sometime in summer 2005 (soon?).

magnetic feet?, posted 7 Sep 2005 at 12:03 UTC by JamesBruton » (Master)

from the videos in this thread:

http://forum.akihabaranews.com/viewtopic.php?t=4651

and the picture here:

http://www.ubergizmo.com/15/archives/2005/09/robofie_the_ult.html

it doesn't appear to be able to (or have a mechanism) for leaning side to side to put it's weight over each foot as it walks. In the second video it looks very much like it's feet are sticking to the surface as the other leg is lifted from the ground.

So does it only walk on metal surfaces? - I can't really see it walking upside down or up vertical things (the fridge?) I think that's the only explanation for it's 'electro magnetic' feet...?

compare..., posted 7 Sep 2005 at 12:27 UTC by JamesBruton » (Master)

compare with this other compleatley different robot with leans from side to side and just has big feet to balance properly:

http://robot-fan.net/spot/wmv/spot035.wmv

Cool walking & stair climbing bots, posted 7 Sep 2005 at 13:29 UTC by The Swirling Brain » (Master)

It's obvious that all the robots are being controlled by a remote, but I wonder how well they really walk up stairs. Do the stairs have to be of a perfect size for it to work?

vision, posted 7 Sep 2005 at 13:47 UTC by JamesBruton » (Master)

I think as long as the steps are smaller than it's largest step then it would work, if you controlled it from a computer instead of with a handheld remote, and did some vision processing using a wireless link from one of those mini-wirelss-spycams, then you could make it adjust it's gait depending on what it sees and navigate around:

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=46171&doy=7m9

Also I think it should have a car to drive with an accelerator and a steering wheel.

Is this really cost effective ?, posted 9 Sep 2005 at 23:35 UTC by Ragooman » (Apprentice)

Well, I think the price is far from being a Hobbiest Robot. Yet, from looking at the several demo videos it appears there's no significant improvement. The motor technology seems to be more advances that standard servos as they appear to be more compact in size. Sure the robot looks cool, but that's not a good enough reason. I suggest they find a way to mass-produce this before they actually think this will still on the shelf next to a Robosapien. The indication that this relies on magnetic feet is apparent from the demo video. But what happens if this walks on wood ? Not very robust for $1800. I'll settle on finishing my scratchbuilt biped.

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