By Cate Lecuyer
The days of the Jetsons seem to be drawing nearer.
In this case, however, the catalyst for a robot-filled future is not the desire for a sarcastic housemaid to do the dishes, but teenagers intent on mastering the next video game console — a basketball-sized tank called Roboni-i.
Robonica, based at the The Cummings Center in Beverly, launched the $250 toy in October, and President Tom Dusenberry thinks it will transform the way the world views both remote-control devices and the growing online gaming industry.
Dusenberry and his crew have been working with kids from Marblehead High School to fine-tune the device.
"It's something that could potentially be very big," said senior Joe Aronhime. "It's like an X-Box equivalent of a robot."
The toy is a both a programmable robot and an online video game. The device hooks into a computer, and people can play against other people from around the world.
"The gaming industry is exploding with growth, and it's primarily driven by social networking games," said Dusenberry, a Marblehead resident who got his start at Parker Brothers when it was in Salem.
Players can gain points, upgrade with new techniques, and buy weapons in the game — which they can use online and in real life.
Virtually every aspect of the robot is controllable. For instance, you can program your Roboni-i to turn around and speed toward an attacker if someone shoots you online. That same command translates to your living room, so if you're playing, say, "robot soccer" with some friends and someone shoots you, you can drive toward them and steal the ball.
"That's the revolutionary part of it," Dusenberry said.
As people get more involved and creative with the programming, he sees an opportunity for people to build up their robots online, and hold real-life tournaments to show off their skills in competitions.
"We're hoping we're pioneering a new game system," Dusenberry said.
He demonstrated to kids in Alex Pittman's robotics class how they can program the tank to do flips and barrel rolls, drive around by itself and learn to interact with obstacles, like a chair, and communicate and with other robots.
It comes with a USB cable to plug into the computer. The first game is an online moon mission that requires collecting pods to help build a laser designed to blast oncoming asteroids before they smash into Earth.
"It's like you're Luke Skywalker and your robot is R2D2," Dusenberry said. The gadget sits next to you by the computer. If it senses other robot friends are close in the online world, you can program it to get excited both virtually and on your desk, and head toward them. By the same token, if there are enemies nearby, you can make it get upset and shake to get your attention. It's essentially your helper.
"It puts you and your robot as one," Dusenberry said.
Of course, it can be customized to do a whole lot more.
"I like to say it's really easy to learn, but really hard to master," said Zac Stebenne, an employee who's been exploring the creative possibilities.
It comes with 16 sensors and seven pre-programmed "personalities" that involve games like racing against time and playing "robot soccer" with other robots. For the 11- to 15-year-old market, programming is as easy as dragging and dropping commands into a database. But for more serious engineers interested in robotics, the opportunities are extensive.
"When you start to get into it, it gets deeper and deeper," Stebenne said.
For the kids in his class, Pittman saw Roboni-i as a hands-on way to incorporate education into the game-playing process — and good preparation for the future.
"Robots are here to stay," he said. "They're just going to be a huge part of our lives. I have a robot that cleans my pool."
Dusenberry said there have been 800 million new gamers in the last two years — which includes those using social networking games like Farmsville or Mafia Wars on sites like Facebook. Robotics, Pittman said, adds another element to the gaming world.
"So many online games are just shoot 'em up kind of games, and this adds another dimension," he said. "The technology is branching out into all types of fields. I think it's still an emerging industry, in its infancy at this point."
Staff writer Cate Lecuyer can be reached at clecuyer@gloucestertimesnews.com
