For some reason my link bait-ish "Introducing Johnny Chung Lee's $500 Anybot killer" title was changed (censored?) to the current one and I can no longer edit it.
Low-cost video chat robot
11–20 of 26 posts
Re: Low-cost video chat robot
#12Stop using the term "killer." Please. I see that this is ztan's second submission, so it seems in appropriate to blame him, but for the good of the community I refuse to upvote sensationalist linkbait titles. The article had a title, it was "Low-cost video chat robot," and that is appropriately descriptive.
I'm not trying to be disrespectful. But do you not think forcefully changing the entire title without any warning and removing my editing privilege is a bit of overkill for a single word that YOU found to be offensive? You could have simply asked me to edit it, and I would have changed the title in a fashion that did not use the word "killer" and still reflected the relevant Anybot connection. Currently if you do a search for "anybot" in Google, the first link is a story about this DIY bot with a picture of Johnny Lee.
Re: Low-cost video chat robot
#13I've posted mine before but in stories that didn't get many views. Putting up a build log has been on my todo list forever...
Mine is based on the Asterisk open source pbx and a Grandstream video phone for the real-time 2 way video. It is controlled via DTMF and doesn't require a computer to operate, just a phone. Full telepresence if your phone is a SIP phone that does video.
Also cost about $500 to build but probably took me much longer as I built my own drive system and motor controllers.
Here's a video of my homebuilt telepresence bot in action : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMZkd8YMgzw
For what its worth, I don't consider hacks like these "Anybots killers", more like homage to heroes of mine. I'm a big fan of TB and the Anybots team and can't wait to see what they come up with next.
Re: Low-cost video chat robot
#14Stop using the term "killer." Please. I see that this is ztan's second submission, so it seems in appropriate to blame him, but for the good of the community I refuse to upvote sensationalist linkbait titles. The article had a title, it was "Low-cost video chat robot," and that is appropriately descriptive.
Whoa... what's with the title edit? That's a far cry from "[refusing] to upvote". This is borderline admin abuse.
People on HN are likely to have heard of the Anybot due to its connection to YC (one of AB's founders being a YC partner). Referencing it in the title is perfectly relevant, since many on HN can relate to the term "Anybot" but few can relate to "video chat robot" (which, incidentally, sounds like some sort of automated chatroulette client).
[edit it's -> its]
Re: Low-cost video chat robot
#15This is the same guy that made the awesome wiimote 3d goggles (TED talk here: http://www.ted.com/talks/johnny_lee_demos_wii_remote_hacks.h... ) EDIT: Added TED talk link.
Johnny Lee has put together and shared some amazing work. I remember really enjoying his Procrastineering articles.
He was my hero back when I was in grad school.
I could never figure out how he funded his experimentation. I had to beg for 50' ethernet cables (unsuccessfully, I might add). A set of wiimotes would have been completely out of the question. Maybe they got better stipends at CMU and he bought his gear on his own dime.
Re: Low-cost video chat robot
#16Somebody call Anybots. There's a new resume for them to review.
Re: Low-cost video chat robot
#17I've posted mine before but in stories that didn't get many views. Putting up a build log has been on my todo list forever... Mine is based on the Asterisk open source pbx and a Grandstream video phone for the real-time 2 way video. It is controlled via DTMF and doesn't require a computer to operate, just a phone. Full telepresence if your phone is a SIP phone that does video. Also cost about $500 to build but probab…
I admit guilty of using the phrase "Anybot killer" in the title as link bait. I did it to catch attention. I did not mean any disrespect to Trevor or the Anybot team. As some one who is also interested in robotics, I'm actually a great big fan as well. I would love to know what their thoughts are of this and the seemingly emerging trend that it is getting easier and easier to DIY robots out of commodity components that can almost rival their commercial counterpart's functionalities at 1/30th the cost.
Re: Low-cost video chat robot
#18This is much better than the $15k Anybot. I can't figure why they put such a tiny screen on the Anybot. The face on the screen needs to be visible from a distance after all. Ideally the screen should be big enough to fit a face at 1:1 scale. Or was the design goal "one-way" telepresence?
Re: Low-cost video chat robot
#19this was posted before, but didn't get much attention:
Robot Orders a Scone in Mountain View, Ca. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mz4FshiMu3U
(yes, anybots...)
Re: Low-cost video chat robot
#20This is much better than the $15k Anybot. I can't figure why they put such a tiny screen on the Anybot. The face on the screen needs to be visible from a distance after all. Ideally the screen should be big enough to fit a face at 1:1 scale. Or was the design goal "one-way" telepresence?
QB is a telepresence robot, the goal is to transport your presence to somewhere else. The best way to do this is by creating an "avatar", which is a symbol for someone being remotely present. When you get closer to it, you can see exactly who is being represented by this avatar. If you think of it from the social robotics and symbolic interactionism (sociology) point of view, it is one of the most beautiful TPR solutions out there to date. Hope that helps illuminate your question! :)