Machines running out of control are one of the staples of comedy. For the classic expression, see Chaplin’s “Modern Times”. So while it starts out merely impressive that [Denver Finn]’s robotic fingers can play an iPad piano video game, it ends up actually hilarious. Check out the linked video to see what we mean.
Details on the bot are scarce, but it’s not all that hard to see how it works. Four large servo motors have conductive-foam pads on the end of sticks that trigger hits on the iPad. Motor drivers and some kind of microprocessor (is that a Teensy?) drive them. An overhead iPhone serves as a camera and must be doing some kind of image processing. [Denver Finn], if you’re out there, we could use some more details on that part.
We suspect, based on the fact that the narrator mentions the phone-camera’s speed, one of their chief marketing gimmicks, that we’re being virally marketed to. (Or maybe we’ve just become too jaded.) That said, it’s still cool.
We’ve seen robots playing video games before, of course, more than a few times. But this one is the first that we can recall that makes use of a machine’s extraordinary dexterity, and that’s pretty cool.
Thanks [MakerBro] for the tip!
Filed under: robots hacks
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