Interesting. What would you like from us to help make the video?

@JD

I like your opinion but is very biased as expected.

I think we are comparing two different audiences, btw Arduino is a microcontroller, EZ-B without a PC is no more than 2 microcontrollers.

I learned robotics playing with PICs, later i changed to Arduinos, but as expected you can't go far with a microcontroller, i've added a xbee/wifi shield, and the processing was done in PC. I learned OpenCV for image processing, and i've used SAPI for speech, it was not easy and took me time to learn all the technologies.

Similar to the EZ-B is doing, but the huge difference is you don't need to master all that stuff, i need only to do point & click and do some basic scripts.

if you want learn programming (low level languages), robotics, mechanics, you follow the microcontroller path and eventually ROS or other robotic frameworks.

But when you want to crash into robotics, discover the fun part of it without the pain of understanding a lot of details EZ-B is the solution, this is what i use with my kids and non tech friends.

i clear understand why the comparison, although i think if someone start asking too many questions about Arduinos is not aligned with the EZ-B way

@ptp I came up programming the microcontroller route as well... I spent time on the Basic Stamp, Basic Atom and then arduino.... You mentioned "point and click" and basic scripts to describe ez robot programming.... You didn't say it but it sounded like you were saying "ez robot is too easy so you don't learn much" .... I am going to disagree (even though you really didn't say that) as I have become a way better programmer since using ARC.... I am a pretty decent "logic" programmer now.... I can transfer that to any programming language I should happen to want to learn in the future... I believe you may actually learn more because with ARC you are less likely to get discouraged and quit... Maybe I have kind of been doing it backwards but now I want to know more complicated programming (like C#) for the sake of knowledge, not for more productivity....

So I started to learn ROS and got fairly deep into it. It took a crap load of work but I managed to get a ROS robot up and running but then I thought... now what? I don't want to do that again just to build another robot.... Making a new ROS robot is like having to code half of ARC each time you want to build a new one.... Sure many of the nodes are pre-written but it's up to you to customize them... and there isn't much flexibility unless you are prepared code for it first.. So I finished my "crow sandwich" and came back here to where I can just build great robots...

I want to learn to develop plugins for ARC... This way I get the best of both worlds... Learning how it's all done but at the same time having the fruits of my labour to make building robots easy...

@ptp is correct to a point, the EZ-B is easy to use by anyone, that's the point. However, it can be as complex as you want it to be too. You don't have to use ARC. It's not very limited when you use more than just ARC (which isn't too limited itself!)

But Arduino has it's place too. I use Arduino for a few applications where an EZ-B would not have been the right solution. My automatic window blinds use Arduino, they could use an EZ-B but why add to the cost by adding a PC or smart phone to the mix? Arduino mini, one servo, a ldr and some wire, boom, automatic blinds for barely any money or effort.

My room sensors use Arduino, temperature sensors, motion sensors and RF transmitters, again much cheaper option than EZ-Bs and much smaller/neater install.

But Melvin etc. use EZ-Bs and Arduinos. The Arduino takes the grunt work and the EZ-B is the dictator. I always think of EZ-B and Arduino as Queen Bee and Worker Bees. The two are very different. Both can work alone. But both are greatly enhanced if they are used together.

Different horses for different courses and all that.

I'm really only biased due to technical abilities offered by ezrobot. If a platform had more capability than ezrobot, I'd continue to apply effort to surpass it, or merge with it - we wont accept anything less. Ezrobot is playing a role pushing technology forward, not supporting depreciated methodologies... We're not making a faster horse.

Arduino robot without ezb:

As Richard said - an arduino is a component tool, like an LED, or a switch. An arduino can do stuff, repeating as isolated loops. It's cost effective. But it's still only a microcontroller, not a solution - and for that, it's only that, never anything more. Using an arduino to control a robot in 2015 will only get you technology that impresses someone from 2005.

An ezrobot pushed to the limits to do amazing things would require a few arduinos, to run as isolated loops performing a repetitive task. I don't outcast arduino - it's necessary and plays a role in robotics as a component. It's simply just not a controlling "brain" and theres tons of reasons why it's not a complete solution.

A robot with capabilities expected in 2015 need to tether and leverage a faster cpu, otherwise you end up with the picture above.

Tethering to an arduino still has servo jitter because the cpu is too slow. The only arduino capable of steady servo control is the smart gpu, and even then it's overboard for simply moving servos without ramping pwm capabilities. And there is no steaming audio or video... Or software to tether with. It's incomplete.

I still don't see the comparison between arduino and ezrobot - again, it's an automobile vs engine comparison. Generally, anyone coming into ezrobot in 2015 and compares it with arduino must still have a horse buggy carriage in their driveway

@DJ You're right, you should not have to waste anymore time defending the ez robot way... It's a little off topic, but just look at it this way.... How many people have migrated from the microcontroller/arduino world to ez robot compared to people going from ez robot back to arduino?.... "Once you go EZ you don't go chessy"...

Ha - that's true.

It's interesting because ezrobot first started with the mentality that we were the next step for arduino users. That was a tough sale, holy. It was like the new kid showing up on the school ground turf and everyone gave us a hard time. Even Make Magazine had an arduino user review and attempt to sabatage our product while he burned out servos because he treated the programming like an arduino and kept looping stuff. The community here tried to help him and he knowingly ignored the assistance. When we tried to get them to revisit the review, they just ignored our request. The arduino world is a place for horse and carriages, not a place of technological advancement.

Once we pulled out of that market, and took a step back... Suddenly the picture was clear to us. Arduino diy community makes up a fraction of a percent of the population. It's such a small minuscule insignificant market, that already has a dominate player. Meanwhile, the 99.99999% of the world hasn't been affected by arduino's purple koolaid. And that's when we shifted the marketing approach.

Ezrobot bounced around a few marketing expirements last year. Which is why we had such a high staffing turn over. Our attempts in different markets, specifically toys, were expirements. Cute videos with kids etc. we were even close to putting robots in toys r us. Now that would have been ugly! In hindsight, it was a terrible idea but we gained great knowledge.

So sure, we are guilty of pulling away from the arduino maker community and running to the extreme other side with toys - but we eventually settled in the middle with education.

Ezrobot does one thing really well. We teach everyone how to build a robot with real-world capabilities using clip'n'play parts.

Now that our marketing and demographic has settled and become clear - we have blinders on to arduino makers and toys. Those industries are meaningless to the direction ezrobot is being pulled. Other than having experiences in both markets, I have no reason to revisit the horse and buggy arduino diy land - or the corrupt toy industry.

The large percentile of users outside of those two demographics gobbling up ezrobot occupy our time

If someone chooses to use to connect arduinos to ezrobot to assist with repetitive tasks, I support them because that's what arduino is to me - it's a component, not a solution.

Actually what's really interesting (as you alluded to) is that there is virtually nothing in the "world of robots middle ground"... At one extreme you have the simple micro (arduino) and the other extreme you have ROS.... Now there is ez robot to fill that vast middle ground.... It's a no brainer for ez robot... It's so weird that no one had seen this huge untapped market until now... well, that is until you did...