Robotize your Netbook with Oculus kit
The Oculus Telepresence Robot kit gives your Netbook wheels and lets you keep an eye on your house while you're out.
Why don't laptops come with wheels? That way you could drive them around with your phone and use them as telepresence robots.
Here's a Kickstarter project that helps your Netbook get mobile. The Oculus Telepresence Robot kit puts a periscope on top of your computer and four wheels underneath, and you can pilot the thing with an Android phone, an iPad, an iPhone, an iPod Touch, or anything with a Web browser.
The servo-controlled periscope adjusts to your Netbook's camera, and the adjustable motorized ABS plastic frame can auto-dock to recharge itself. The frame fits most laptops with screens of up to 10 inches.
The kit, from Vancouver-based Xaxxon Technologies, gives you two-way audio and video, an open-source Java platform, and remote surveillance capabilities that can have your robo-Netbook keeping watch over your home for weeks while you're away.
The project has a goal of $15,000, and backers who chip in $390 or more get a plywood version of the motorized frame and a dual Cree LED headlight for roboting around in the dark. That's cheaper than this cheap DIY telepresence robot from Johnny Chung Lee that we saw earlier this year.
Oculus is a cool way to turn your laptop into a new toy and a useful tool. Check out the promo vid below.