Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Cyrus the Tux Droid and his friend, Fux



According to a LinuxDevices
story, the latest robot to come out of Europe is the Belgian Tux Droid, named Cyrus. Despite the
name, the Tux droid doesn't run Linux. Inside is an Atmel AVR
microcontroller. The robot does include a Python based API called
tuxdaemon that allows it to be controlled from a Linux box using a fishy
USB dongle called "Fux". The Tux
droid communicates
with Fux using a 2.4GHz full-duplex RF link. So what's the robot
actually do? It can move its beak and LED eyes. It can flap its
wings, and spin. The wings
and head have pressure
sensors that can trigger behaviors. It also has a speaker and
microphone, allowing it to reproduce sounds or even act as VOIP phone.
Suggested uses include dancing when you receive an email or acting as an
alarm clock. Among the other features, it includes
an IrDA
transceiver and an I2C bus connector that
might allow some interesting new sensors or actuators. Find out more on
the Tux Droid community portal.



Source: http://www.netchain.com

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