Robosapien V2 Review

Robosapien V2
WELL NOW I HAVE HAD A CHANCE TO PLAY WITH THE LITTLE GUY FOR A FEW DAYS AND AS OTHERS HAVE ALREADY MENTIONED, HES A CONTINUING SURPRISE...
WOWWEE has released it`s first online support pdf with most of the topics being discussed on the forums over walking and the camera amougst other things being addressed.
The V2 is a fairly well designed robot all things considered, including but not covering all things like money strength, power ,weight, size, looks.
While he is turning to one side slightly im not worried about it as most of what i do is standing still at the moment. He has a few idiosyncracies not to say the least and you really shouldnt leave him on a table turned on just in case..
I hooked up one of my multimeters to his leg to do a current draw test and as he talked while throwing a ball he drew around 1.6 amps. not bad and far outside most wall plug packs at 500 milliamps to 1 amp.
You need a high output pack to run him as an instalation or it will overheat and switch off.
Far better to recharge him between uses and add some weight to his feet to keep him from tipping.
His program modes are a treat with the ability to pose and move him into postions and store them in his puppet modes, which total three, left and right sensors and one more main one on the controller itsself. (x) c lets you store it.
Its all in the book..
Ive opened the back of the head and noted that some of the cables are soldered directly to the boards and that the plugs are gluded in to reduce the number of factory returns from head trauma`s.
All up hes a big surprise and worth more indepth write up`s.
Ill add more to the site and let you know later on.
Happy hacking.and go get your own robot, this ones mine!

http://www.robosapienv2online.com/pdf/TROUBLESHOOTING%20Manual.pdf
Heres the link to the new manual, thanks knitsu for pointing it out.

Nocturnal from the Robosapien.tk forum has created an excellent Robosapien V2 hackers guide on his web site. This guide has detailed specfications, images, and diagrams of the most important circuits and parts in the Robosapien V2. If you intend to modify your Robosapien V2, or are researching any of the printed circuit boards and need to know more about the V2's wiring, you should definitely consult his Robosapien V2 Hackers Guide. [Editor's note as of 12-31-2005: Nocturnal has now joined the ranks of the growing Evosapien Expert's Team.]

Robosapien v2 Review - by Sprocket2Cog

I've just spent the first afternoon with my new little (big?) buddy, the Robosapien V2. He's a lot heavier then I expected him to be, and I could see why he may suffer some motor failures or gear self desructions, but I'm guessing Mark Tilden has addressed this and other issues as well, and I really want to see the gear boxes. Even my 12 yr old son laughed loudly and mumbled something about hacking and wanting to see inside it.

But Mrs. Sprocket2cog says if we do that she`ll skin us alive and add some new functions! So we wait and talk about painting it some more.

Mine has suffered some heavy falls and still seems to be going ok, with the only real damage evident from the packing cables, not the falls. (These cables are many in number and you're mad if you try to get your v2 out of the box without some sort of knife, wire cutters or a small thermonuclear detonator, but be careful with the latter or your v2 may attempt to pinch it off you in an attempt to take over the world. Or perhaps control the Roboraptor (pass that restraining bolt!).

The biggest issue I`ve found is not the battery life, which albeit is a little short, understandably so. But rather the calibration of the camera and the audio levels needed to reach the sound sensors threshold . (In other words its slightly deaf and color blind)

The camera doesn't seem to operate well in ordinary incandesent lighting, with it failing to see skin tones at all, the red wasnt much better, the green worked sometimes and the blue we didnt try today, we didn't have a nice color blue he liked. We will do some outside testing in sunlight, and in neon lighing soon to see if that helps, but we want fresh batteries again to keep the test somewhat level.

But over all is he worth the money?
two answers here... yes and yes..

Show me another robot that exhibits the same or similar ranges of movement, sensors, speech synthesis or programmability without assistance from a PC for under $400 AUD. If you can, then I'll write a review about it and retract my statements about the Robosapen V2's status. But until, or until verison number 3 arrives, the circle of toy robots better look out because the V2 is set to take over the world, and he's got a whole heap of friends to help him......

If this family of robots, and its formidable cousin the Roboraptor or the Robopet come out in other guises then we can only imagine where we will be in 5-10 years time. We can only hope that the next ones are bigger and faster and can recharge themselves so there's less downtime.

It's obvious from my afternoons adventures that robots aren't dreaming anymore, they're giving us nightmares...

A recent question on my Robosapien V2 forum came from a user who no longer had the default Steve Irwin "Danger, Danger" animation when an alert happened during Guard mode. Whenever an alert occurred his Robosapien V2 danced instead.

Many users don't know that any programs they create for for the Sound or Vision triggered modes, are used during Guard mode. If a sound triggers the Robosapien V2 during guard mode then the sequence of moves programmed into the V2 for the Sound program will play. If motion triggers the Robosapien V2 during guard mode then the sequence of moves programmed into the V2 for the Vision program will play. The "Danger, Danger" animation only plays if no programs exist either in the Sound or Vision program memory locations. To get back the "Danger, Danger" animation you must clear both the Sound and Vision programs.

For more information read the forum thread that covers clearing Robosapien V2's Sound and Vision programs.

Just wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and hope all of you get a brand new Robosapien V2 under the tree this year!

Robosapien V2 Secrets Revealed

Season's greeting's

I feel like Santa Clause right now, as I am doing something really big for all V2 owner's. Mark Tilden has asked me to post the first 10 "secrets" of Robosapien V2. These are official secret's from WowWee and the creator himself.

I figure, they want all those children/adults to have hours of more fun with V2 this Holiday Season, while they have the off time. Thanks alot you guy's!!! I'm more then sure on Christmas Day, peopole all over the world will be using these new secret's on V2

Want to know one of the secrets before going to the link, which has the other 9 secrets.... Want to know a good spot where to put the V2 controller when not using him??? Then just look at the picture I have attached in this post.

Click Here, to read the remaining 9 Official Robosapien V2 Secret's by WowWee and Mark W Tilden


-Knitsu

More reports have been coming in about the white LED vision hack. This is the hack where you attach an inexpensive white LED lamp to the head of the Robosapien V2, drawing off the power supply from the printed circuit board in his head (warranty killer). Apparently it's almost a perfect cure for the Robosapien V2's insatiable appetite for tons of light; in order for his vision recognition systems to work properly. I'm really surprised WowWee and Mark Tilden missed this one. They obviously care a great deal about their products and I don't think this is a case of trying to shave a few cents off the price of the Robosapien V2. A mystery.

Some people have tried using non-invasive safe hacks, like attaching a keychain LED to his head. I tried this and received improved results but not enough to warrant a full write-up. However, I and others have experienced one problem I will tell you about in case you try either the keychain LED or warranty killer head surgery hack. Be careful that you get an LED that is truly white. Many have a bluish tinge which causes the Robosapien V2 to recognize objects as blue when they are not, rendering your hack useless.

Until next time...

Robosapien V2 - Gadget Show Video

an Exclusive Interview Video of Dr. Mark W Tilden has appeared on bit-torrent websites, which has being re-edited by myself, and postedo n various forums for "fans" to watch. This video features the new Robosapien V2, aswell as RoboPet and RoboRaptor. Mark also get's into details about the upcomming V3, and V4 which would be out sometime around 2010, and big enough, that the robot itself might be able to take out Toyko!!!!

"World Domination Plan in Effect"

Download Video 10Mb WMV



-knitsu
-knitsu@gmail.com

In the ongoing quest to make the Robosapien V2 more stable when it comes to walking, there is a new clever hack online that adds lead to the Robosapien V2's feet. Bas, webmaster for the Robosapien.tk forum and Robosapien hacks and mod's web site, has published detailed photos and instructions for adding lead weights to the Robosapien V2's shoes. Unlike many of the other mods and hacks which involve performing risky surgery on your Robosapien V2, this is an easy mod that involves a little hot glue, some lead weights, and a screwdriver. The lead weights are applied to the inside portion of the battery plates that are screwed into the Robosapien V2's feet.

Give it a look. If you are having falling over problems with your Robosapien V2, it just might be the fix you're looking for.

I and others I have spoken with have noticed two distinct groups of people when it comes to how people respond to the Robosapien V2. Obviously there are all kinds of shades of grey between the two groups, but the dividing line seems to be between those that love the Robosapien V2 and those that hate it and others of it's kind ; like the Roboraptor and the Robopet. Fortunately the fans of the robot(s) far outweigh it's detractors, but the detractors are usually quite fierce in their disappointment.

I have thought about this a lot and I have come to a conclusion, a conclusion that is purely my opinion. I think many people are suffering from the notorious Star Trek Expectations Syndrome. This syndrome is frequently seen in the artificial intelligence field when a new invention is exposed to the public. The Star Trek Expectations Syndrome is when a person's expectations of what a new technology should be able to do, reaches the level of what they've seen in a science fiction movie. When speech recognition first came out, and could only handle a small vocabulary of carefully spoken words by a single speaker, some people booed and hissed because it wasn't like talking to a person. I think the same thing is happening now with the toy and small consumer robots that have finally come to market, popularized by pioneers like Mark Tilden and iRobot.

Those who view the Robosapien V2 as a toy are thrilled by it, because they compare its advanced capabilities to other toys. Those that compare it to the android Data on Star Trek : The Next Generation, or the robot from Lost In Space, are bitterly disappointed.

I can almost hear their sad refrain, like that commercial on TV, "Where are the flying cars? I was promised flying cars!!".

Hey everybody! Try to the view the world with the perspective of a child again, when playing with these new toy robots. They'll grow up soon enough, frighteningly or thrillingly fast depending on your perspective.

The Robosapien V2 has a loop of material that extends out from his wrist on top of each hand. These have been nicknamed gauntlets by the modder community. There have been some of the expert hackers that don't like the gauntlets and want to remove them. There is a thread on the Robosapien.tk forum detailing the removal of the Robosapien V2's gauntlets.

The gauntlets are used by Robosapien V2 to detect when his hands have bumped into something. I therefore like them and would never remove them. But everyone has their own style and taste. Of course this hack falls squarely in the category of hacks that would definitely void your warranty!

The Robosapien V2's vision systems likes lots of light, lots and lots of light. If you don't have sufficient light he will not recognize his ball or his pins or skin tones, and will frequently complain of "low light levels". This behavior is mistakenly leading some people to think the vision system doesn't work well. It does, you just need a lot of light. If you are having problems with your Robosapien V2's vision system, then try this simple test. During the day but in a shaded area, like in the garage of a house when the garage door is open, see how well your Robosapien V2 recognizes his toys. Make sure you don't have shadows covering the ball, either from your hand or the from objects in the area.

The interesting news is that Carloz, a Robosapien V2 modder, posted a thread on the Robosapien.tk forum reporting his hack where he adds a white LED to the Robosapien V2's head, so that the V2 has his own light source. (An LED is a Light Emitting Diode so in essence, he has a flashlight in his head now). He claims that since he added the hack he no longer has any problems with the vision system and his Robosapien V2 recognizing objects. In his own words, this is a complicated hack that involves disassembling the head, drilling a hole, and attaching the camera to the USB camera PCB board and power lines. The message thread has detailed instructions on how to complete the hack.

Way to go Carloz!

WARNING: This hack falls squarely under the "voiding the warranty" category, we do not recommend this hack to you and if you try it, you do so at your own risk!

It took the better part of a day, but I have successfully learned and tested the approximately 100 remote control commands, using the USB UIRT infrared transceiver I own. Having gone through every command the Robosapien V2 can execute, I can comfortably make a few observations.

Observation: Given that some of the V2 owners will be members of the amazingly dextrous Sony PSP (and similar consoles) gamer community, I do believe there are people out there that will master the huge number of movements the V2 can do, using only the remote control. Most people will master only a few and then be content to let him roam or interact with him using his sonic and vision sensor autonomous behaviors. Most of the advanced commands require complex combinations of the three shift buttons, which makes memorization of the command sequences something that requires a fair amount of persistent practice. For example, powering down the Robosapien V2 is accomplished by pressing SHIFT 1 + SHIFT 2 + SHIFT 3 + [STOP].

Observation: The Robosapien V2's impressive repertoire of movements, combined with his advanced sonic and vision recognition capabilities (when compared to other toy robots on the market), make him a highly sophisticated and fun modern toy robot. However, you must take the time to get to know him. Like the Robopet, the Robosapien V2's personality and capabilities take time to grasp and become fully acquainted with. The more you play with him, the more he grows on you.

This makes my excitement over adding support to Robosapien Dance Machine for the Robosapien V2 exponentially greater. With Robosapien Dance Machine I will be able to replace all that memorization with the voice control interface. More importantly, I'll be able to create scripts to chain the commands together in the manner I find entertaining, and then summon those scripts as needed with easy to remember phrases I create. In addition, users of Robosapien Dance Machine will be able to swap and share scripts so every time a new script is created, it expands the capabilities of all the Robosapien V2 owners that use the program.

With the infrared codes all memorized, I will spend tomorrow timing the moves to the nearest 1/4 of a second. This is necessary so that when scripts are built, which are an assemblage of individual commands, the script engine knows how long to wait before continuing on to the next command in the script. Another tedious job, but once it's done it's done for good and it's done for anyone else that uses Robosapien Dance Machine that owns a V2. Once the timing's are done, I can then make any necessary adjustments to the code to fully support the V2.

Stay tuned. It doesn't get fun until the video is made using Robosapien Dance Machine and the V2, but then it gets really fun.