Remotely Pat Your Pet With Kinect and a Wiimote 53
MrSeb writes "Taylor Valtrop, an enterprising roboticist with a penchant for kitties, has crafted the mother of all Kinect (and Wiimote!) hacks: The teleoperation of a robot to groom a cat. Using a Nao, a $15,000 robot; a treadmill (for moving the robot forward); a head-mounted display (to see what the robot sees); Kinect (for tracking his movements); and two Wiimotes (to move the robot's hands), Valtrop is able to pat a cat with surprising accuracy and gentleness (except for where he accidentally hits the cat in the face)."
predictable result (Score:5, Funny)
By the end of the video the cat is pretty annoyed and trying to attack the robot...
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To be fair, based on my experiences with cats, that would have happened regardless of whether it was a person or a robot trying to pet it.
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But will he let anyone else pet his kitty? (Score:4, Funny)
You are going to need an easy going cat. (Score:2)
Congratulations for $15k you have shorten your beloved pets life.
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Most people with bad grammar, get scared when corrected. Congratulations on shortening, that guy's lifespan.
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Nor do they require a capital letter in the proceeding word...
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However, if you can convince them that a sexy woman is running the robot, lonely mmo-addicts will pay huge amounts of money for this kind of interaction.
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Overlords? (Score:4, Insightful)
If cats have us going to this much trouble to brush them, I'd say it's pretty good evidence they're in control.
My cat doesn't even care if *I* pet him. (Score:5, Funny)
At least he can't regard the Kinect with any less aloofness than he already does me.
Uh, yeah... (Score:2)
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Exactly. Kinda reminds me of Disneyland. Us adults see a cute cartoon character. Kids see a giant rat. And parents wonder why they're crying.
Re:Uh, yeah... (Score:4, Interesting)
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[as Max piloting the Leonov's pod approaches the Monolith]
Dr. Heywood Floyd: Maybe Max should extend the pod's arms. Put the hands out.
Dr. Vasili Orlov: Are you serious?
Dr. Heywood Floyd: Yes.
Walter Curnow: I don't know about you, but that thing with its claws in the air would scare the piss out of me.
Dr. Heywood Floyd: Maybe you're right.
Why the Wiimotes? (Score:2)
I thought the point of the kinect was that it followed body motion and last time I checked hands were part of the body.
Now if the Kinect doesn't get pick up the brush and rotate the hand/wrist I guess I can understand.
However I think I'd like a Kinect and a Robosapien setup that let me have a mini-me running around the house virtually, though I think I'd use a footpedal on and off to move it forward instead of a treadmill.
When I first saw the image I thought it was a Robosapien, I'm not convinced its a $15,
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There is dedicated hardware and online communities for that already.
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"Cat got your tongue?", how apropos! (Score:2)
Y'know, the same critters that consider the vacuum cleaner their nemesis; that try to eviscerate the computer when a CD pops out unexpectedly (to them); that will barely allow a live human to pet them and only when in the right mood?
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Just the thought reminds me of the new The Outer Limits episode "Simon Says" [youtube.com], where a boy put in a robot body had somehow pet a cat to death.
Rule 34! (Score:3)
Combine with Wolowitz's robot hand...
Problem (Score:3)
...with a penchant for kitties...
That's his problem right there.
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Haven't had trouble with my current dog or her mother, they destroy cats if they get half a chance.
I do believe some cats can be good pets, those are the ones that stay in their owner's back yard.
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Women will not eat the neighbour's birds.
Women will (unless really drunk or clumsy) not damage the neighbour's property.
I can understand the need for a controlling wife, but a controlling cat is just a bad idea. Cats are not intelligent enough to be in control (unless you have a back yard that's large enough).
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Indoor cats have no problem staying out of your neighbor's yard, and often are much safer than outdoor pets (depending on the presence/lethality of local predators, or the volume of traffic near your home).
Minor correction to title: (Score:2)
Remotely Pat Your Pet With Kinect, Two Wiimotes, Treadmill, HUD, Computer, and $15,000 Robot
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Remotely pet your girls kitty with a hairbrush? (Score:3)
Sure, I can see that as becoming popular, just with another of your girlfriends personal hygiene tools...
this has been done before better - with chickens (Score:1)
Google for 'Adrian Cheok chicken', or the poultry internet. Without kinect, but with a plastic chicken...
And dangerous (Score:1)
It won’t be long until every household has a cheap, teleoperated robot that can be logged into remotely, mark my words.
and what happens when its hacked ?
Something more reasonably priced? (Score:1)
And the 2011 "Sheldon Cooper" award goes too... (Score:2)
Does the cat need to be held down? (Score:2)
...because that ruins his credibility.
Also, will someone always be around to give his little robot the cat brush?
My dog would destroy that thing if it tried to pet her when no one was home.
For you ADD kids out there... (Score:2)