Great news DJ, what about for iOS ? Any future plans? :)

@MacauBot88 not until Apple accepts EZ-Robot into their manufacturer domain. They have a closed system.

I have a tablet ching a ling Kayros Lg P500 2.1 and 2.3. DJ is the question, works on all versions of Android? I liked the idea a great Christmas and congratulations to you:)!

What does that mean DJ? Accept into their manufacture domain?

You can' just port over software to IOS and post for approval on the apps store?

Whith Apple as heavy into education as they are, it should be a slam dunk.

Unless of course your code doesn't port over so easy, which would be understandable.

Hey, you have a wonderful Christmas!

I have had a asus transformer and now a tmobile lg gslate. Both are android 3.1 , nvidia tegra 2 dual core. 1 gig ram , 32 gig storage , 4 gig rom. Well android is really for the nerds and still in its early stages. Because of its wide adoption from tablets , netbooks, phones and even cars now like audi there will continue to have more power built into devices that are really meant to be mobile. Android advantage is versatility.

I see more and more bots and other projects being powered by last yrs android devices that were considered to knotch at the time. Like nexus one. I myself keep my tablet with me and use it in place of a laptoo , ten hours constant use without charge and being light and portable are super convenient

DJ, I have a Motorola Xoom, I am running Android version 3.2.1

If you need someone to test please let me know.

I hove you and yours have a Merry Christmas and a Safe New Years.

BC :)

@ctdannyd apple has a list of hardware/software manufacturers for iOS that are allowed access to specific features of the iOS. Bluetooth is the issue with EZ-Roobt. Until apple accepts EZ-Robot's MFI, there is nothing I can do. I could make it work for jail-broken devices - but that isn't follow my ethics or vision of EZ-Robot. We are one of many companies waiting for Apple to make a decisions. It would be great if it was EZ-Robot, because Arduino is just too messy and uncontrolled. There is no "product" with Arduino, as it is open and allows any contribution. Apple is Apple because they have incredibly strict development procedures that involves a lot of testing. With anyone being able to contribute to a product, it will fail and be an administrative nitemare. Hopefully Apple recognizes the choices taken by EZ-Robot to provide a rocksteady product. We have an advantage by having a closed source product.

People ask when I will release my code, constantly. We receive 1,000 - 1,500 emails per day (at times). Most popular question question is "Can I have the code?". Strangest question, because all anyone wants the code for is to look at it, copy it, make something of it, and put their name on it. If someone could actually code, they wouldn't ask for mine - much like how I don't ask for anyone elses.

You can literally create an ARC with the EZ-SDK, if you can program. If you look in the ARC application folder, you will see EZ-SDK sitting there. That is because EZ-SDK and ARC are essentially the same thing. All of the ARC functioonality is in the EZ-SDK. Should I release the code fo EZ-SDK? No, because we don't lock down any features. It is all open for everyone - meaning you can extend the camera detection, or create extensions to support more devices.

I agree with Apple's decision for a closed environment. Most of my reasoning isn't entirely about losing the company to stolen code. My reasons for a closed environment is usability and QA control. I have a vision for EZ-Robot, and the speed of its growth is 1 year faster than I originally planned. We could never have achieved this growth and reputation if our software and hardware wasn't solid.

Quality Control is important to me. I hold a responsibility to our paying customers to ensure reliability of our products. I dislike the word customer, and hope you all consider yourself a community. The money from your purchase goes into our R&D, which results in new features for you. It's a complete win-win business model for us all. With every purchase of an EZ-Robot product, I feel confident that your decision was made out of trust. Trust that I will fullfill your requirements to continue providing new features and make your robot dreams a reality :)

I'm able to accelerate new product R&D by 12 months, due to people recognizing the potential of our product. EZ-Bits comes next... But what comes after will blow your mind - is already in the works. It is the ultimate accessory for the EZ-B... I just hope the world is ready for it!

@jstarne1 I noticed a few things about tablets. I get 8 hours out of my W500 with Windows 8, it goes with me everywhere also. My iPad has yet to be actually used - it's an angry birds console. And the Samsung Galaxy 2 is for Android development. I know the W500 is a bit bigger and not as cosmetically refined - but it is a lot easier for me to manage data in one operating system. I have dozens of meetings a day and keeping data in Windows helps smooth out my day - not having to transfer and upload and convert and sync and all that jazz Of course, that's just how I work and has nothing to do with anyone else. Tablets sell, and they sell well - so there is obvoiusly a future there.

Hopefully Apple will realize the potential of EZ-Robot and jump on board .. I would love to see an iOS version of ARC.

Funny thing about the Android development. Amy assembled a list of 38 people (out of hundreds) that had contacted EZ-Robot and asked if they could develope an Android app for us. I emailed everyone, and even chose a few others who weren't on the list but figured they would like the opprotunity. I received replies, but none were helpful and did not meet the aggressive development rate of EZ-Robot.

So, I picked up the ball, spent 6 hours, and got a working framework for EZ-B in Android. I think Android will grow on me - as well as iOS :)

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