A project on crowdfunding site Indiegogo is bringing life to Windows Phone 8.1's new speech assistant by allowing Cortana to control an off-the-shelf robot. By connecting a Windows Phone handset, in this case a Nokia Lumia, to a WowWee robot called RoboMe, the developer is able to control the robot with an app. With Cortana behind the robot, RoboMe gains a new set of personality and hence the name Nanabot.
Pledging for the project starts at $10 for the basic version of the software. If the funding goal is met, the developer says that an open source toolkit will be released so that other developers can build on top of the work. The developer hopes that Windows Phone could be leveraged for building robotic apps.
According to the campaign, Nanabot:
- Gives you full control over RoboMe's movements including forward backward, spin left & right, spin left & right in fixed angle increments, head tilt up & down.
- Gives you full access to RoboMe's infrared obstacle sensors including the 100cm, 50cm, 20cm and Edge detection sensors. You'll also know when someone is shaking RoboMe's right hand and have access to the battery level reports.
- Allows you to easily control the main LED, the ability to turn the various sensors.
- Gives you the ability to redirect audio input so that you can get it from RoboMe's microphone and use it for speech recognition and audio message recording purposes.
Source: Indiegogo, Via: Nokia Conversations
