GroBotz Interactive Robot Project is Made of Easy to Assemble Smart Blocks (Crowdfunding)

GroBotz makes me think of Lego applied to robotics. The project consists of modules such as motors, sensors, buttons, switches, or cameras that snap together in order to create a robot on wheels, games, toys, a musical instrument, or whatever idea you may have, and the hardware is then programmed using a graphical user interface.

A Raspberry Pi board is used for the brain of the robot, and Microchip PIC MCUs for the smart blocks. The software is programmed in C# using Xamarin, the user interface is based on Unity, OpenCV is used for image processing, and during development a plastic part where printed with Makerbot, and schematics and PCB layout designed with CadSoft EAGLE.

The company has now come up with a number of modules as shown in the picture below.

Your robot can then be controlled over Wi-Fi with GroBotz app which works on Windows, Mac OS, iOs, Android and Linux devices. The software provide a “wire editor” to link up to 127 modules together, and define the robot’s behavior. For example, you can wire a motor module to a joystick module, and easily control the motor with the joystick.

GroBotz has just been launched on KickStarter, where the developers look to raise at least $300,000 to go ahead with production. The simplest kit is composed of Light Game Cube and battery with a GroBotz T-Shirt and builders cube (which must be the plastic enclosure for the module), and requires a $50 pledge, but if you want something a bit more fun like the GroBie shown on the first picture, you’ll need to pledge $100 in order to receive 2 DC Motors, a brain  (Raspberry Pi), a battery and charger, a caster, and 2 wheels, and there are other rewards with for example $500 for 30 building blocks. Delivery is scheduled for August to October 2015 depending on the chosen perk. You may also want to visit grobotz.com for a few more details.

Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)

Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.

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