Appbot Link
Okay. It's lunchtime now, so I try to do a bit of mini review. No photos available yet. WIll try to take some shots when I am free.
FIrst, the Appbot set-up was literally very simple. Being used to the IP forwardwarding plus DDNS set-up, I must admit that I have to look at the one part documentation. The double-sided 1-page documentation is about being an A4 and an A3 sheet size with lots of photos. Unfortunately, there are like 30 odd panels, so each panel is fairly small. I have had cataract surgery before, so it was hard for me to read the instructions (I was also doing it at night when it is not that bright). But I did manage to read enough.
Set-up was literally a Breeze. The 2-side documentation is effectively 1 side only, since 1 side shows iOS set-up and the other Android set-up.
First you download the app. I did it on my Sony Xperia Z5 Premium, so that is from Google Play. After installing, you follow the instructions (switch on the robot, press reset, use your phone to scan for the robot name). Thereafter, you configure the robot to work with your Wifi router. No need to do any portforwarding (or DDNS). Not sure if this utilises those "cloud" type of set-up.
Once configured on the app, you just run the app, choose the name of the robot, key in the password and viola, you can view through the camera of the robot.
I didn't bother with the instructions then. The default password was 1234, and I managed to figure out how to change this from the app.
The app has two controls: one on the left that controls the up and down of the camera, and the other on the right that control move of the robot. There are a few settings control too, such as turning on a white LED, sending the robot back to the base, taking a photo, taking a video, and (this is so fun) uprighting the robot when it overturns. When the robot returns back to its base (for recharging), you can actually swivel the base from the app so that it gives you a panning of the robot/camera.
Here are my personal comments of the robot based on a weekend of playing (my kids love it... They even willing to give up iPad playing to control the robot).
1) Like geckoSG said, the camera is non-infrared. As such, you need to turn on a white LED to light up the view. I would like to see IR camera mounted with IR LED. That way, the robot can be non-intrusive.
2). Non-intrusive only from a visual perspective. The motor movement of the robot is noisy! Sounds like a small hand-drill. My kids was in bed (not sleeping yet) when they heard the sound, and they actually walked out of their bedroom to investigate. Tilting of the camera is however not noisy.
3) Uprighting of the robot doesn't always work. I think it depends on how your robot flips.
4) Return to base command doesn't always work. When you activate this, the base station emit a white light that the robot is suppose to pick up. 9 out of 10 times, it doesn't. Think robot needs a perfect line of sight with the base station from only a certain angle.
5) When docked to its based station, it functions like a pan-and-tilt IP camera. Full 360 degrees panning, and about 120 degrees at least of tilting!
6) Robot has a battery that can last maybe an hour of non-continuous usage. If the battery is Low, the app will indicate this. I tried giving a return to base command to have it charged, but seems it can't do so properly.
The Appbot cost just under $300, and if you are a Challenger member, you get members' discount. My 8 year old son saw it and asked if it s a Mars robot. Don't know how he know about Mars (my first thought was it looks like the Mars Rover)... Maybe it was from an episode of Backyardigans (they have one episode featuring visit to Mars, where Alicia Keys was the guest star).