I like it, but I wish it wasn't so flimsy.... I realize for cost reasons they probably made it out of plastic... Wouldn't mind an all aluminum structure (what Vex uses), though...

Still, I think it is alright...

Its the motion capture that I find really interesting . It can replay motions that you teach it by moving the robots arms or what I think is really cool it can copy your body's movement and the replay it.

@mtiberia Correct me if I am wrong here, but.... Dynamixels can report servo position, right? So motion capture is a good possibility with ARC and the ezb? Possibly even using the ezb camera to capture body movements as well?... I know the xbox Kinect can do it... I think Gael has a video of him doing this with his inmoov...

I think DJ has one more item on his to do list, lol . It would be great.

What are your thoughts on the motion capture part of the system ? The system is used to program IRobots Baxter robot.

The motion capture with a smart phone I honestly don't understand. If my iPhone has the ability to do that like a Kinect and no one has told me, I'm going to be pretty honked off, lol!

The idea of moving the robot by hand is sort of nifty. I've read you can that by hacking into standard servos and taping into the variable resister inside. Then the scripting to read to the position and store values.

I think its a neat toy and I hope they get the bugs worked out.

We looked into posing ability with dynamixels - however for moving a robot do anything precise (ie. walking, etc) it doesn't work and requires additional fine tuning. For what the meccano robot is doing with teaching it by moving the parts is okay because there is no precision required. All it is doing is waving it's arms around like a crazy person. It's not picking anything up, walking, balancing, etc...

The meccano robot is neat for kids and I like that it leverages some of the features on your phone. It's not really "programmable" and you can only teach it one motion and play it back. At any extent, it is a good validation for the market

Dynamixels (AX-12 and others) can, indeed, report back their servo position. Motion or pose capture should be possible with the EZ B4. However, Robotis software drive the Dynamixels through 300 degrees using 1024 steps. Much more movement and positional accuracy than that now provided by EZ B4.

As far as I can see Auto Position made this redundant a long time ago.

Real time updates in auto position, work it the other way around, trust me it works and is simple once you get the hang of it. No fine tuning needed, no fiddling with anything other than a mouse (or touching the screen).

A nice idea but we got something better already

I agree with @Rich... With the auto positioner you are basically posing your bot with a mouse instead of manually...

I am beginning to see the benefits of advanced servo feedback, however. The more I learn about the dynamixels the more I like them... I can see using them down the road at some point...

The one thing I can see that would be cool to do with this kind of technology is augmented strength/remote manipulation. IE, have a set of sensors (Dynamixel servos or some other position sensors) on an apparatus attached to arms or legs, and have a robot or exoskeleton with strong motors that is driven by it in real time.

Lot's of practical uses. Simple example. My wife works in retail, but has arthritis and can't meet the "must be able to lift 50lbs" requirement of most jobs. If I could make her a device she could strap on her arms and handle the heavy lifting, her job opportunites would expand exponentially.

Alan