Functions
Spykee is a robot construction kit developed by Meccano (Meccano is known as 'Erector' in the USA). The Meccano company is well known from its bolts and nuts assembling system, which was already patented in 1901. During the Consumer Electronics Show 2007 (CES2007) in Las Vegas Meccano announced their latest addition to their product portfolio: Spykee.
From the 210 parts that you receive three different models can be constructed: a robot, a scorpion and a space vehicle. By the way, all parts are compatible with other Meccano parts.
With Spykee you can do many things:
- Spy robot. Spykee can be controlled within your home network using a WiFi connection. Just install some software on your PC or Mac and you can remotely send commands to Spykee. The video and sound from Spykee's webcam are transmitted to your computer.
- Telepresence. Because Spykee has a WiFi connection it can easily connect to the Internet. This opens up many new possibilities for the robot, such as remotely controlling your robot from any place in the world via Internet.
- Digital music player. Spykee has a 2W loudspeaker. So just send MP3 music to Spykee and you can enjoy your music.
- VOIP phone. Use the Spykee robot together with Skype, MSN or GoogleTalk to talk with your friends! Because Spykee is mobile, you can now talk with your friend from any place in your house.
- Video surveillance. Spykee can be programmed to send you an email whenever it sees things that are suspicious. Your robot will now guard your room!
- Infrared auto-park recharging. Mobile robots have a limited time to operate due to their batteries. Spykee is a smart robot that will automatically recharge itself when its batteries are low.
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Hardware
Spykee is a state-of-the-art robot with the following sensors, actuators and components:
- Processor. Details about the specific processor that Spykee uses and possibilities for further hardware extensions is currently not know. If anyone has some info then please post it on the forum.
- WiFi. Spykee is WiFi enabled. According to its specifications the robot should work within a distance of 100m under optimal conditions.
- 2DC motors. Spykee has two motors that can be independently controlled so that it can drive forward, backwards, turn left and turn right.
- Camera The camera has a resolution of 320x200 pixels and under optimal conditions it has a framerate of 15fps.
- IR auto-parking recharge system. Spykee comes with a docking station to automatically recharge its batteries.
- Lights and optical fibres Not only can Spykee make sound, it also has lights to cheer up your room!
Software
When talking about Spykee's software three different aspects can be described:
- Computer applications. Computer applications can be installed on your PC and Mac. Spykee comes with an application to remotely send commands to it. This software makes it easy to see the video from the robot's webcam, to play music and sound effects on the robot and to drive it around.
- Firmware. Firmware is software that runs on the embedded processor of the robot itself. Normally you don't change this software, but real techno geeks always want to modify and personalize their gadget. Currently not much is know about the firmware. If anyone has some info then please post it on the forum.
- Internet services. Internet services are applications that are provided over the Internet. It has been announced that a special website with secure web login will be opened for Spykee. We are still waiting for more details on this.
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