Developing for RS Media Robots

Background

In 2007 I bought 2 RS Media robots for my twin children at Christmas. They loved them but after Christmas didn't end up playing with them anymore. What a waste as they weren't cheap. The robots as they are out of the box aren't that user friendly, so it's not surprising my kids lost interest quickly, so I thought how can I get the most out of these robots and make them much easier to use.

This was the begin of my obsession with robots and between 2007 -2011 I got really heavily into developing software to control the robots and ending up with 6 of the robots which are all in my attic/lab/man cave

This is how I was nicknames "The Mad Robot".

A bit about the RS Media Robot

In November 2006 WowWee produced a brilliant multi media robot named "RS Media". The robot is 2ft tall and can be controlled using it infared remote. A round 2009 WowWee stopped producing the Robots. The only place you can really purchase them from now is Ebay for between £80 - £200 in the UK. (I am lucky enough to have 6 of these robots a long with a few other robots WowWee used to sell)

The RS Media robot has some very cool functions such as:

Walking
Talking
Autonomous roaming mode
Sound and colour detection
Take pictures and videos with its inbuilt camera
Play music files with its amazing in built sound system
Play java games on the 2 inches LCD display on it chest
Recording and playing back macros

What else can the RS Media do?

The RS Media is a very powerful robot running with many functions. With a little bit of hacking to the robot it is easy to get full control of more function that aren't available when using the robot as it is supplied. I've been a hobbyist software developer for a long time and the ability to hack the robot to get more out of it was like giving candy to a baby. I've created a few pieces of software that allow you to control the robots in a variety of ways using a Windows PC or via my prefer method using an Android device.

How to communicate to the RS Media from a Windows or an Android device?

Before you can control the robot from either a computer or Android device (e.g. Tablet/Phone) you'll need to set up a method of communication with the robot.

There are 2 main ways to do this:

Method 1 - Setting up a virtual serial communication to the robot. I don't tend to use this method as I find trying to communicate to the robot this way is a bit hit and miss. With this method you will only be able to control the robot from a computer not from an Android device
Method 2 - Serial Hack. The Serial Hack is the preferred method of communication giving you much more control of the robot and is a more stable. To do the Serial Hack you need to open up the robot and soldering 4 wires to one of the circuit board in the robot. This method of communication is the only way you can to control the robot from an Android device.

Download Instructions

Software & App I developed to control the RS Media

RSMCS V1beta (24th December 2011)

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Software description

NOTE: This app only took me 2 days to create and works really well even though it is a bit rough and ready.

This is an app for Adroid devices which allows you to control your RS Media. It was more of and experiment to see if I could use my phone to control the robot. This version of the app has the following features:

- Connect to the RS Media via Bluetooth
- Control all limbs from graphical interface
- Make the robot talk with Text to speech including voice effects

Screen Shots from the App

RS Media Control Station V4 (24th December 2011)

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Software description

This version of the RSMCS software allows you to control your RS Media from a computer. This software was completely rewritten from V3.1. There are a lot of enhancements and new features which include the following:

Connection to the robot via serial coms & IP address

Full 3d graphical representation of the RS Media
Access to most all the extra robot moment functions
Tracking, Puppet mode, video, sound and image recorder
RSM remote access (allow to control your robot over the internet and robot social networking via Skype)
Terminal console to allow you direct access to the robots operating system

Extra features only available when connecting Via IP address

FTP function
RSM Webserver interface to access webpages sorted on your robot

RS Media Control Station V3.1 (24th December 2010)

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Software description

Connect to the robot via serial com port
Move the robot limbs and make it walk with safety feature to prevent damage to limb motors
Send custom commands to the robot
Personality generator (Note: include RSMCS V4)
Basic Web browser intergrated in to the software

RSM Terminal Console V1b (24th April 2011 )

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Software description

The software is a bespoke RS Media terminal console program which has the following feature

- Connection to the robot via serial coms & IP address
- Terminal console to allow you direct access to the robots operating system

Extra features only available when connecting Via IP address

- FTP function
- RSM Webserver interface to access webpages sorted on your robot
- Added Terminal console to allow you direct access to the robots operating system
- Added Integrated online help

(Note: All these feature were added to the RSMCS V4)

Other projects I've worked on for the RS Media.

Multibot Control

This is a project I developed and completely got working. It allowed me to control many RS Medias from the same interface. I did intend to add it to the windows version of the RSMCS but never ended up releasing or adding it to the RSMCS software. I was intending to add something like this to the Android version of the RSMCS.

Theater Bot

In 2009 I developed a piece of theater script writing software that allowed you to create a film script and each characters part could be spoken via text to speech. The software worked really well and I was able to give each character different voices and emotion when speaking there parts. I was intending to evolve this and eventually extend the multibot control so the Robots will act and speak.

I would like to continue with the RS Media projects at some point but not sure when or if I ever will.

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