Years ago at Maker Fair I saw a person followed by a rather impressive robot that seemed to have a mind of it’s own. Later I found out that the robot was being controlled by people through the internet using a site called LetsRobot. While that project is no more, that same person, Jillian Ogle, that I met is the creator of it’s successor RemoTV.
Essentially RemoTV is a platform for people to connect what could be called telepresence robots except there are only a few robots on there that just drive around and talk. For myself, this creativity with robotics is what makes the project so interesting. There is at least one project where you can just slap a hanging Covid-19 virus, an arcade claw machine for people to grab toys with, a cup toss game, and a few cat viewers. So I went digging around in my electronics bin and put together a small robot using a Raspberry Pi3 with the PiCam, two robot motors, an Adafruit Motor Hat and some hot glue. The guided install documentation was a bit out of date along with the install scripts, but with the help of some people on the Discord channel for #robot-setup-help I got it up and running. So now I have my little robot out on the deck of my apartment for people to drive around and have a look at my plants and even get a glimpse of the two crows that visit to muck up my bird bath making what we call ‘crow soup’. A few things came to me once I had this robot up and running on my deck and that is really what I wanted to talk about.
When I was driving my robot around it is like another world just because of the size of the robot. This decent sized space of my deck, that is so familiar to me, becomes a vast space with towering obstacles that I can navigate around and explore. It reminded me of world exploring video games but the fact that you are controlling an actual robot in the real world adds a new level to the experience. So I set out to clean up some of the mess on my deck and try to make a few more robot friendly spaces that could be explored along with an easter egg or two.
While working on my deck the robot kept driving around under the control of users on RemoTV who popped in to see what was going on. Even though I did not have text to speech or a microphone on the robot, it felt like fun to have a visitor out there with me. With the currant pandemic situation many , my self included, have turned to video chats, social media, and other watch party apps to keep connected, but there is something to be said for real world interactions. Each time someone took control and drove the little bot around, it felt a bit like having an actual visitor pop in to see what was going on. Later looking at the chat history I saw that someone was driving around and saw the crows, who were neither scared or impressed with the new object driving around the deck. Moments like that remind me about how tech can be used by people to reach out and have meaningful interactions in the real world from miles away.
This robot is not perfect and it dose bounce around and gets stuck some times, but don’t we all? The world is a messy place full of uncontrollable variables and that is part of what makes this kind of thing so interesting and perfect for inspiring critical thinking and STEM education. As is, this thing works, but there are many directions it could go to make it better. The rechargeable battery for example only lasts for two hours before I have to switch them. I could just add a much bigger battery, but that would make the robot bigger. So what if I add a small solar panel or make some sort of recharging dock it can drive onto from time to time. I could add a grabber claw to pick things up with, or add a servo so you can move the camera up and down. This type of project is a springboard for creativity and that makes me so happy.
So now sit here thinking about the adventures and interactive art I can create just for people to explore with this little robotic avatar. Everything from making little signs for people to find and read, putting out small art pieces that I want to share, to some kind of game like quest to send people on. I was bummed that an interactive light festival that I was participating in for the second year got canceled, but I also realized that my new little robot avatar gives me the opportunity to still do my exhibit in a completely new way. Rather than meeting limitations with frustration, this is simply an obstacle to innovate around and that space is where I thrive thanks to my new robot friends.
While I do not have any kind of tutorial or guide to build the robot that I made, I did put together a list of parts that anyone could use to make the same kind of robot here. Though I do hope to get something up soon to help more people get involved with social robotics.
If you want to have a look around on my deck here is the link to my robot: