Category: Robots/Drones

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Health and Wellness Robots/Drones

Pillo lets you rest easy about taking your pills

Forgetting to take one’s pills can lead to major health problems, especially when those medications are for life-threatening health issues including heart disease.

patent-claimedPillo is a connected pill-dispensing robot that recognizes individuals in the family and helps people of all ages to better manage their health. In addition to dispensing medication, it can answer users’ health and wellness questions and connect a person directly with healthcare professionals. Because Pillo has been designed to be intelligent, its functionalities grow as it learns about the user and his or her family.

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Imaging Robots/Drones

Up & Go aerial camera leaves your hand, comes back to land

Using an aerial camera to take photos can be a lot of fun. But having to chase one around to make sure that it goes where the user wants is not.

Up & Go is a lightweight flying camera that takes off from and lands in the user’s hands. At the click of a button on its companion, wearable (and waterproof) tracking device, Up & Go starts shooting and following the user. It shoots 1080p HD video and takes 12-megapixel still images. Up & Go ships in October at $499. But Indiegogo backers can order one for $299. Its maker is hoping to raise $50,000 by July 24.

There have been several other aerial cameras and drones designed to record action sports activities, including Onago, so this is hardly a new idea. Unlike at least some other aerial cameras, Up & Go features interchangeable batteries that are compact and easy to insert. It’s also apparently tougher than at least a few  rival products because it features a carbon fiber frame. The wearable tracker is another nice touch.

 

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Imaging Robots/Drones

Forget boring 2-in-1s: the DRONOID 3-in-1 drone is where it’s at

Playing with technology is a fantastic way to encourage kids to learn. Most of the time, though, these educational opportunities keep children indoors, marring otherwise positive development within the confines of a small classroom.

No one said the wonders of technology and the great outdoors are mutually exclusive. In fact, the team behind the DRONOID modular drone is trying to make the case with its newest creation. The modular drone can be converted into three separate vehicles: a rover with large wheels to quickly cover distance, a tread-equipped tank that can cover all kinds of difficult terrain and, of course, a flying drone to take awesome photos with using an optional HD camera attachment.

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Imaging Robots/Drones

ViewBot focuses on keeping homes safe, doesn’t smile much

The crowdfunding world is one where copycats thrive. Should one decent idea see success, a deluge of imitators quickly try to ride the wave. This is currently the case with remote controlled home surveillance bots: every other week, a brand new one pops up — just without much of the new part.

Add VewNet to the list. It’s an unremarkable looking treaded robot that serves as a set of eyes back at home for users who want to keep track of children while running an errand or want to make sure everything is safe during longer absences. To do so, it has all of the standard fare built-in: a 1080p HD camera for video, night vision capabilities, a microphone, motion detection and the requisite alert and notification system that comes along with it, a self-docking charging station, and the ability to manual control VewNet using a connected smart device. If backers act quickly enough, VewNet can be purchased for $99 and expect it to patrol their homes by November 2016. The VewNet flexible Indiegogo campaign is looking for $10,000 by mid-July 2016.

While VewNet isn’t technically a bad product, as it does contain everything needed to effectively surveil a home. Something like this sorely needs a personality, something Appbot Riley as in spades, making it a far better alternative to VewNet despite being pretty much the same product.

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Robots/Drones

AMY shows the way to the future of helpful home robots

A few years back, robots weren’t very much a part of the crowdfunding world. Those that were being pushed simply weren’t ready for what people expect of them. Fast forward to now, and there are still a set of companies trying to push that vision of an autonomous robot that can help around the house — a robot like AMY.

In many respects, AMY is set up as a standard home robot, capable of getting around by itself to offer news, calendar reminders, and alerts to the entire family. Its Wi-Fi connectivity lets it use a built-in HD video camera to facilitate video calls, lets users control connected devices in the home using voice control, and lets users ask it questions about the weather, for instance. (There’s no mention of the types of questions users can ask.)

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Robots/Drones Sports

Trainerbot could take your ping pong to Forrrest Gump levels

Ping pong is one of those sports that absolutely requires another person to play with. There are a lot of caveats to that, though: If both players are terrible, not much will happen in the way of actual ping pong. If skills levels are vastly different, not much will happen in the way of actual ping pong AND someone’s feelings will be hurt. As a result, it’s difficult to effectively practice playing ping pong.

The Trainerbot turns any table into a suitable location for some hardcore ping pong practice. Its lightweight design can hold 30 ping pong balls but still be tossed into a backpack. This robot has a lot of functionality, able to serve any type of shot (topspin, backspin, sidespin) anywhere on a table and adjust difficulty depending on a player’s skill level.

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Imaging Robots/Drones

The UFO Drone abducts a clever design and 360° video

Most drones on the market now feature designs that use large, unprotected propellers in order to generate the kind of force necessary for flight. This is supplemented by a camera or two along with what usually is a hefty price tag. The UFO Drone flips this standard on its head.

The UFO Drone is a lightweight, three-pound drone that reverses the usual design of a drone by housing its six propellers directly within its strong, carbon fiber-reinforced plastic body. This provides the appearance of an old film reel and the potential to resist more damage in the long run. The addition of a parachute that can be deployed in the case of a particularly rough landing extends its longevity further. But this is not simply a more rugged drone. The UFO Drone is equipped with a pair of 15MP dual cameras that together can record 360° 4K video, perfect for sporting events, outdoor parties, or just a good time at the park. With a 23 minute hover time, pilots will have to make every minute count.

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Robots/Drones

WowWee’s simple Lumi drone aims to wow wee and large alike

The advent of drones over the past few years and their steady decline price has led to more and more people enjoying the fun of piloting one. So many, in fact, that even the FCC is more strictly regulating their use. Nevertheless, for all the attention paid to them and the progress they’ve made on ease of use, they can still be complicated to set up, pilot, and maintain over time — hardly a consumer-friendly device.

Developed by the company that produced one of the earliest robot toys, WowWee’s Lumi is an easy-to-use drone designed as a more palatable approach to the sometimes dizzying world of drones. It’s ready to go out of the box, with a simple setup consisting of the loading in of its battery, placement of its beacon, and activation of its app. Once done, its BeaconSense technology allows Lumi to interface with its companion beacon to always know where it is in space.

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Robots/Drones

Growver intelligently waters lawns, even beyond Sesame Street

Homeowners rely on lawn sprinkler systems to maintain their lawns. But those systems tend to waste a lot of water, can be costly to maintain, and sometimes do a mediocre — or worse — job of actually keeping grass alive.

patent-claimedGrowver is a lawn-watering robot that saves water by irrigating the lawn as it goes. Water sensors in the robot detect which areas of the yard are dry so that Growver can revive them. It works in conjunction with an Android, iOS and Windows app that enables users to track how their lawns are doing over time, adjust water levels, and also control Growver remotely.

The robot drives back and forth over the lawn and waters a 20-inch wide path. First, Growver’s sensors guide it along the boundary wire. After watering the perimeter, the product fills in the entire area using patent-pending sensor technology to follow the wet-dry transition. Measurements via grass moisture sensors and water-flow data also let Growver intelligently adjust watering depth. It stops automatically when the entire area is watered.

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Imaging Robots/Drones

Appbot Riley patrols, keeps its eye on your abode

The promise of the future is one built on the idea that robots will help humans progress against the challenges of tomorrow. Making this idea a reality will require huge leaps in technology, the types of which are around the proverbial corner but still a while off. Until then, there are products like the Appbot Riley that afford a glimpse at these possibilities.

Riley is a charming little robot designed to be a set of eyes and ears in the home when work or play calls. This roving robot is equipped with a microphone, speaker and 5MP camera with night vision capabilities, all of which can be controlled from its companion smartphone app over Wi-Fi to take snapshots, record video, check around the house, or communicate with those who may be at home.

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