Nabaztag as status indicator
Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2007 12:37 pm
Hi all,
I'm busy on another small project, just for fun (please don't ask me for the use of it all .
You might be aware of Nabaztag, also known as the "ambient connected wifi internet rabbit". It's basically a toy rabbit that has motorized ears and a number of leds. It can receive and play text-to-speech messages, sounds, led choreographies, ear positions, etc. through the internet using it's built-in wifi connection.
Most interesting thing is the availability of an API. By sending specific parameterized http GET requests, it's possible to have the bunny move its ears, light its leds, play sounds, say things (RSS feeds, a.o.) and even read out the current position of its ears.
This, of course, makes it quite easy to integrate it into your home automation system and use it as a status indicator for all kind of things.
For instance, I'm planning to have it remind me the night before garbage collection what kliko (garbage can) to put out on the street. I constantly foget it altogether and the rabbit could annoy me once an hour with its reminder until I kill it (the reminder, not the rabbit .
There are also some ambient services built-in, such as the weather forecast, stock market trend, e-mail alert, etc.
There's one drawback: all of this goes through the server of the company that manufactures this device. That means 1) delays in receiving messages and 2) dependence on a server owned by a company for things to work. In fact, not all services are available for free (though many are). And what would happen if the company discontinues the server?
Fortunately, there's a newer version of Nabaztag (one that also does speech recognition) that is compatible to the OpenNab software: an open PHP-based proxy framework for the Nabaztag. With this proxy, you can control the Nabaztag (V2) directly from your server, without being dependent on any external service.
More info on Nabaztag: http://www.nabaztag.com
More info on OpenNab: http://sourceforge.net/projects/opennab
And a picture of my Nabaztag (still V1 though):
BTW the idea is not new: if you search on Google for Nabaztag and Homeseer, you'll find other people who have succesfully integrated these before. But I thought it was fun to let you know anyway.
Best wishes,
Lennart
I'm busy on another small project, just for fun (please don't ask me for the use of it all .
You might be aware of Nabaztag, also known as the "ambient connected wifi internet rabbit". It's basically a toy rabbit that has motorized ears and a number of leds. It can receive and play text-to-speech messages, sounds, led choreographies, ear positions, etc. through the internet using it's built-in wifi connection.
Most interesting thing is the availability of an API. By sending specific parameterized http GET requests, it's possible to have the bunny move its ears, light its leds, play sounds, say things (RSS feeds, a.o.) and even read out the current position of its ears.
This, of course, makes it quite easy to integrate it into your home automation system and use it as a status indicator for all kind of things.
For instance, I'm planning to have it remind me the night before garbage collection what kliko (garbage can) to put out on the street. I constantly foget it altogether and the rabbit could annoy me once an hour with its reminder until I kill it (the reminder, not the rabbit .
There are also some ambient services built-in, such as the weather forecast, stock market trend, e-mail alert, etc.
There's one drawback: all of this goes through the server of the company that manufactures this device. That means 1) delays in receiving messages and 2) dependence on a server owned by a company for things to work. In fact, not all services are available for free (though many are). And what would happen if the company discontinues the server?
Fortunately, there's a newer version of Nabaztag (one that also does speech recognition) that is compatible to the OpenNab software: an open PHP-based proxy framework for the Nabaztag. With this proxy, you can control the Nabaztag (V2) directly from your server, without being dependent on any external service.
More info on Nabaztag: http://www.nabaztag.com
More info on OpenNab: http://sourceforge.net/projects/opennab
And a picture of my Nabaztag (still V1 though):
BTW the idea is not new: if you search on Google for Nabaztag and Homeseer, you'll find other people who have succesfully integrated these before. But I thought it was fun to let you know anyway.
Best wishes,
Lennart