Cool stuff DJ. I have a couple spare Android phones running Gingerbread, and a Xoom tablet running Honeycomb. Expecting the Xoom and at least one of the phones to get Ice Cream Sandwich updates.

I think the really appealing thing about being able to use Android with EZ-B (or Robots in general) is that the devices have so much of the sensor capability built in. They all have accelerometer/tilt sensors (the Xoom has a gyroscope as well as an accelerometer), Compass, GPS, 1 or 2 cameras, Proximity (although only for very close proximity), light meter, microphone, speaker, and of course communication.

I was very intrigued by what they were doing over at http://www.cellbots.com/ but they seem to have abandoned the project before ever getting it to the point you could use any phone but a Nexus 1 or a Xoom Tablet (so far the only ones with USB Host capability). I was never sure why they didn't start out with Bluetooth. Makes so much more sense to me.

Looking forward to see what you will be doing.

I didn't get an EZ-B for Hanukkah, so I am putting in my pre-order today.

Alan

One thing I forgot to mention that I wanted to elaborate on with the bui8lt in communication on Android. Google Chat is open for developers to use to make the device "do things". The cellbots project I mentioned above uses it as the control channel between the robot's android device and the user, so you can give voice or physical commands, and remote video through google chat accounts from virtually anywhere as long as both devices have internet access.

cellbots code is open source, so that is something you could include without needing to figure it out from scratch.

Alan

(ps pre-order is in. Can't wait to get the package and start actually implementing all the ideas I have been talking about and planning for the past several months).

Alan

DJ,

TOTALLY cool with all you said .

Although Apple sometimes shoots them-self in the foot, they do have a fairly secure system.

Not looking to steal code either. It just happens to be the platform that I'd like to use to implement an EZ on seeing I have an iPad and some other IOS devices.

Hopefully they'll come around. I think kids would get a real kick out of this in school and, Apple has always been a front runner in education.

Imagine, some kid building an EZ, and having an astronaut remote in and run it.

That would be cool!

@ DJ just to clarify we get the whole toolkit which is what the "code " is in which gives us newbies a building blocks to get our bots running without having to take a college class in c+ right? Not saying i want root access or anythingbut thats the point of buying ez_b to get a easy to use developers kit right. Agiant i am no programmer , so i wouldnt even understand bionary if i was looking at it.

@jstarne1 EZ-SDK is available and is the entire toolkit. Seeing the code is entirely irrelevant to anyone using it. The toolkit has every function possible for every EZ-B feature.

@thetechguru I saw the cellbots thing a while ago and wasn't impressed. These tablets are neat and have some great graphical capability, but when it comes to UI and data processing, there are huge restrictions. The biggest issue I am having is creating the UI for a dynamic configuration.

Literally, I'm at the point where I feel the best solution is to configure your UI in Windows, and copy it to the tablet. Silly? Maybe - but that's the issue with the tablet development environment.

I doubt I'll spend very much time with the Android version. I see it as a simple control interface for the EZ-B - not an ARC replacement. It will be an application that you can use to remote control your robot.

With the tens of thousands of lines of code in ARC and EZ-SDK, I'd be a year away from re-creating it in another OS.

We'll see what I come up with for the android version over time. It can't take away from the Windows development - that's where our majority users are. That is also where the most power is.

I can't argue with your position. Despite my comments about Android having all the sensors and how nice it would be to utilize them, my main goal for android would be to be able to remote view the robot's camera, remote drive it, (which I can already do with ARC) and ideally give remote vvoice commands through it.

Alan

WOW!! I am totally impressed with the tech capabilities of the people using the EZ! Much of whats being posted is way over my head! I'm trying to learn programming but progress is coming very slowly. At 64 y.o., learning comes much more difficult. However, I have learned much more then I expected since being involved with the EZ system! DJ. You are just amazing. The progress withthe EZ just since I've bought one has been unbelievable!!!!!! I have an Android Galaxy and thus far I have enjoyed it. I think it has great potential. The wife has an Ipad which I have used. I find the Android much easier to use. The speech recog function works great for me. Looking forward to seeing your android app DJ. Any suggestions from all you techie people out there for learning resources would be greatly appreciated. I'm thinking that at this point a tutor would benefit me greatly!!!!! I live in a fairly small town so there are no local classes offered that would be available to me. I now look forward to each day and what I might learn with the new day. I'm looking forward to the days I can build an actual useful bot that will be available to me in the coming years. Thank you once again DJ, and everyone else that has contributed. My you all have a very happy New Year. Lloyd

Nice work DJ. You are definitely expanding. It is amazing to see how much this small company has grown