EXTROVRT - EXplo Telepresence RObot Via the inteRneT

thingiverse

EXTROVRT (EXplo Telepresence RObot Via the inteRneT) You can find more information about how to print, assemble, and set up your EXTROVRT at the GitHub Repository for the project. That link will also likely have more up-to-date files than what's here on Thingiverse. What Is It? EXTROVRT is a telepresence robot controlled via Adafruit IO's MQTT service, which uses Adafruit Feather stuff: the Feather Huzzah ESP8266 and Servo Featherwing as the main control boards. We also have a custom control interface written in Sinatra which lets us use the keyboard to drive instead of the mouse. EXTROVRT came about because we have a Double Robot which was given to us, which we love and is a real hoot. However, it was going to require a brand-new iPad to upgrade. We figured that we could achieve 90% of the functionality of a Double for about 5% of the cost. We set the goal of a robot that could drive around using commodity servo hardware, and hold a phone, iPod touch, iPad, or the like. This would allow us to "turn our head" in virtual meetings, and even drive around a bit, probably mostly on tables. We've achieved our goal! You should be able to make this robot for about $100, give or take. This approach also has the benefit of allowing us to use whichever phone/tablet, and whichever video chat client (Skype, Google Hangouts, HipChat Video, etc) works best at the moment. We can also more easily test accessories like camera lenses or microphones.