TECH

Meet Nybble, the robot cat made in open Source

Interested in learning programming and robotics? A group of Pittsburgh programmers in the United States has launched a funding campaign to sell robotic open source kits with user-installable parts. The result is Nybble, a friendly cat that can move and respond to external stimuli.The kitten is powered by a microcontroller compatible with the Arduino system installed on a board, the NyBoard, and stores instinctive "muscular memory" to move. Each kit contains the electronic parts for the system operation and the wooden parts to fit and mount the jack.At the moment, it is possible to purchase four different kits. The simplest is the NyBoard, which costs $ 45 and allows the user to create their own animal with access to the same Nybble features. The most complete is a kit with two cats, which costs $ 390 (about 1,450 reais in direct conversion) and includes all the parts needed to create a system that will make them interact with each other.Initially in the prototype phase, the campaign has already raised more than the $ 50,000 (about 185,000 reais, direct conversion) needed to enter production and expects to deliver the kits to customers in April 2019.

"Nybble is the lightest and fastest robotic cat that actually walks. Built on an open source platform, Nybble has endless possibilities in how you can "teach" tricks, behaviors and attitudes of cats as you program and help you grow. You can even put together a Raspberry Pi to help Nybble think! "Says the text of the funding campaign.With enhancements like the addition of an optional artificial intelligence chip (made in Raspberry Pi), cats can communicate and store information to evolve learning, perception and decision making. Cat programming can be done in various languages ​​and its actions require fairly simple commands such as "walking" or "turning left".


E. M./mundophone