Arduino playground – RoboSapienIR.

Many of the WowWee robots are ideal for hacking. The RoboSapien Version 1.0 is very complex inside and simple at the same time. Doing a simple motor and switch count though yeilds 9 Motors and 8 Switches. Assuming you want both forward and reverse on each motor you would need on the order or 26 digital/analog IO pins.

So a “Wedge” implementation seemed the best choice. The concept of the software “Wedge” has been around for a while. Basically it is a program that does nothing most of the time but then can be activated on a special sequence. Wedges have other names like hooks (as in Kernel Hooks), Terminate and Stay Resident, or call back. This approach allows me to still use the RoboSapien as normal but also take complete control…

And here’s a couple video of other hacks…

These bots are super cheap now and fun to hack.

2 Comments

1. 

   bertoa

   November 8, 2011 at 6:29 pm

   Is there any place on the web where I can find the ‘how to’ of those hacks?
   I have a robosapien and like to play around with it’s internal circuit/software.

2. 

   @hugobiwan

   November 9, 2011 at 11:26 am

   Yes !

   There is an excellent HowTo here :
   http://www.arduino.cc/playground/Main/RoboSapienIR

   we can share, as i am proud that the last video is from my home here in France. I also had fun making voice controlled sapien http://youtu.be/SbJMyI-Rlv4

   The best thing is that using IR remote library of Ken Shiriff http://www.arcfn.com/2009/08/multi-protocol-infrared-remote-library.html
   you can hack many toys and robots using an arduino backpack (for eg with a cigaret box) and a simple IR led to make them autonomous 😉

   For example on this vidéo i soldered the wire to the robot board, but with another bots i just use the IR led to send the codes.

   @hugobiwan

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