Chuck Durham had written the first mini-application for his Speecys SPC-101C. (Thread Link) Chuck is the first US tester for the new wireless humanoid robot aimed at programmers. He has been having fun learning the capabilities of the robot while working on the translations. Below you can see the first video of a quick C# test application that Chuck has written.
The full impact of what you are seeing might not be immediatly apparent. The difference with the SPC-101C is that Chuck was able to start controlling it right away without knowing all the things that your average robotics developer usually needs to know like understanding motors, controllers, kinematic algorithms, or microprocessor communications. Chuck was able to start writing applications for the robot right out of the box as a developer with the plumbing taken care of for him behind the scenes.
This. Is. Groundbreaking.
The SPC-101C is the first robot to truly deliver robotics development capability to computer programmers. In the same way a computer programmer can start writing applications for any computer without having to know what hardware is inside the SPC-101C also lets a programmer start right from a high level and not have to worry about managing the stuff under the hood.
Robotics development has been held back for decades due to the entry level bar being so high. We have been beating the ‘give computer programmers the tools to develop robotics‘ drum for years here at TR. Being able to program robotics from the common high level object oriented development languages of today will be a major leap forward in this space. Computer programming is one of the most widespread technical skills on the planet with tens of millions world wide. Companies who are building products that allow this massive talent pool to jump in on the robotics game are doing a huge service to the field and we applaud it loudly.
Take a peak at some of the things programmers can do with the SPC-101C
Video Capture
Video/Audio Processing (face recognition and interactive behavior)
After seeing these videos I guarantee that the computer programmers in the crowd are instantly giddy with all kinds of ideas of things they could do with this robot. I say, let them play! 
To be able to buy a robot and then write software for it in C# on a PC is a good development, but I’d like to see a larger robot with more potential to do actual useful work (i.e. be potentially of commercial use or be able to deliver some kind of service). I think it’s only when this happens that we’ll see teenagers starting robot businesses in a similar way to what happened with home computers in the 1980s.
there has to be a starting point in everything though:)
I don’t think it’s necessary to have a large robot to develop something useful. I can think of the perfect application for SPC-101C: Imagine that a kid has a MySpace or a Facebook page configured with a Web2.0 controller interface. Imagine that the friends who visit his page can take control of SPC-101C. The owner of the website (at home on his computer) could proceed to have a conversation with the visitor. Emoting emotions would be much more effective than a smiley face
. He could communicate news, sports, email notifications when he’s not occupied by a human. A central library could provide spontaneous behaviors pushed to him that would make him seem “alive”–like one day he might be in a good mood and it would impact the colors of his LEDs or some other time he might have a cold that lasts a few days. Imagine an aftermarket that makes little cars he can drive. Man, sky’s the limit.
I think that SPC-101C has a big problem for mass-consumption, though. His price point is going to limit his customers to hobbyists and high-end robotics programmers. I don’t think you’d find an application developer willing to invest in making an application that’s only going to be used by the few people who would rather write the app themselves anyway.
It might be the case that high-end users would buy an application 101C applications but that’s a big gamble.
SPC-101C is a cool robot. Speecys is RIGHT-ON with their client-server architecture because you can do a lot of work on a desktop computer that you can’t do in a super-small form factor. What’s more, with the Internet as a repository of behaviors potentially managed by a community of designers, he can display an infinite number of behaviors.
–Ray