Tag Archives: Petoi

The Boston Dynamics Robot Dog has a $225 sibling that follows voice commands

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On the one hand, you’ve got incredibly capable AI that has some scary implications for the human race… but on the other hand, you have the Bittle X, an adorable toy robot dog that allows you to befriend, train, and tame technology instead of being afraid of it. A sibling to Petoi’s Bittle robot dog that debuted in 2020, Bittle X comes with a few upgrades, proving that an old dog CAN learn new tricks! Designed to resemble the Boston Dynamics robot dog, the Bittle X is a palm-sized STEM toy that’s perfect for kids, tinkerers, engineers, and people looking to experiment with coding, robotics, IoT(Internet of Things), and AI. It’s entirely open-source, runs on a block-based programming environment, has support for C++/Python programming, and comes with a few extra upgrades that the Bittle lacks, like now being able to follow voice commands, as well as record and program your own voice commands!

Designer: Rongzhong Li

Click Here to Buy Now: $225 $279 (Use Coupon Code “yanko10” to get an additional $10 off). Hurry, deal ends in 48-hours!

Easy to Develop AI, IoT and Robotics Applications for Quadruped Robot Dog

Less of a toy and more of a learning opportunity, the Bittle X was designed to make robotics more accessible to anyone looking to dive into the world of robotics. It comes with a tiny form, small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, but is designed to be incredibly articulate with multiple joints with high-performance servos that allow it to walk, sit, jump, backflip, kick, and even scratch itself like a real dog would! Moreover, its bionic leg construction gives it natural movement, allowing it to sit down, get up, recover from a flipover, and even walk across uneven terrain.

The pint-sized pooch comes in two styles – a pre-assembled kit that works right out of the box, and a construction kit that gives you the joy of being able to put together your own voice-command robot dog from scratch. Assembling the robot doesn’t require much technical knowledge, given that the plastic parts are already molded and easy to assemble with interlocking mechanisms. Once assembled, the Bittle X is ready to play/engage with you and follow your commands. A remote control lets you wirelessly operate your Bittle X, although notably, it also now has support for voice commands, allowing you to tell it to wave hello, give you a handshake, sit, crawl, dig, play dead, and even do a handstand! Right out of the box, the dog has support for 35+ voice commands, along with the ability to store 10 additional voice commands that you can program yourself.

The robot operates on the OpenCat platform, offering endless programming and customization possibilities. It supports block-based programming with Petoi’s Coding Blocks, C++, and Python, making it a versatile tool for users at different learning stages. You can also use the free Petoi Desktop App – Skill Composer to visually create new robot dog skills with ease. The creators, Petoi, even further their commitment towards STEM education by providing free curriculums for anyone looking to learn how to tinker with their Bittle X (and other robot pets). You can find all the necessary resources on Petoi’s OpenCat forum, along with ideas and prompts for experimenting with your robot dogs (like orchestrating robot wars, hosting your own doggy Olympics, and performing more complex challenges like solving mazes), and even a section where Petoi showcases works from other tinkerers playing around with their Bittles.

Underneath that playful exterior, Bittle X is powered by the BiBoard, Petoi’s latest quadruped robot microcontroller, ensuring smooth, coordinated movements. The option to integrate various smart sensors, like the Petoi intelligent camera module, the motion sensor, or the distance sensor, allows you to add depth to its perception and artificial intelligence capabilities via coding, allowing for more advanced interactions, games​​, and robotics competitions. The ESP32-based BiBoard comes with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, serial connections, and voice command support, along with its servos and Li-ion battery providing about an hour of continuous playtime​​​.

The friendly robot dog is designed for all ages above 8 (what you really need is childlike curiosity), and is sure to get along with everyone it meets! Alongside being a robot dog that learns tricks and commands, it’s also rewarding because you get to learn with it, creating a bonding experience that’s not too different from actually playing with and training real pets. The Bittle X starts at $236.99 during Petoi’s holiday sale, but YD readers can grab a nifty $10 discount, bringing the price down to $225. Grab yours now and build your army of loyal minions before the AI takes over!

Click Here to Buy Now: $225 $279 (Use Coupon Code “yanko10” to get an additional $10 off). Hurry, deal ends in 48-hours!

The post The Boston Dynamics Robot Dog has a $225 sibling that follows voice commands first appeared on Yanko Design.

You can buy yourself an open-source, trainable cat-version of the Boston Dynamics robot

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A rather adorable cross between a pet and a STEM toy, the Nybble is a small DIY robot feline that you can build and train to follow commands.

Named Nybble, the toy comes from the folks at Petoi (who even built a scaled-down consumer version of the Boston Dynamics dog). Nybble, however, has a body made from laser-cut MDF sheets and runs on its proprietary NyBoard processor, developed specifically for the robotic cat.

Nybble’s architecture makes it a rather nimble, flexible little cat, as it borrows directly from a cat’s skeleton and even builds on its canine predecessor, the Bittle’s design. The cat’s movement and behavior are pretty lifelike, brought about by the 11 servo motors that operate all its joints and the software that lets you make your Nybble sit, stretch, sleep, balance, say hi, and play dead. Try getting your regular cat to follow commands… I dare you.

Click Here to Buy Now: $209

The robot cat comes outfitted with two ultrasonic sensors on its front that act as the robot’s ‘eyes’. It sports a USB input that lets you connect it to a device to tinker around with its open-source code and teach it new tricks (in Scratch, Python, or C++), and even comes with Bluetooth and WiFi dongles as well as an infrared remote controller. Other parts include a holder for two 14500 Li-ion rechargeable 3.7V batteries that give Nybble up to 45 hours of play-time, and even silicone covers for the cat’s feet, to give it friction as well as prevent it from accidentally scratching your furniture.

Built as an exploratory toy, Nybble takes about 4 hours to build from scratch, although its body kit could easily be modified to give it a different character. The cat’s highly extensible with support for Raspberry Pi and Arduino ecosystems, and a whole slew of additional sensors (all available on Petoi’s website) to make your robot cat even more advanced. Just promise us you won’t make it sentient…

Designer: Petoi

Click Here to Buy Now: $209

The post You can buy yourself an open-source, trainable cat-version of the Boston Dynamics robot first appeared on Yanko Design.

This Boston Dynamics robot dog’s smaller sibling is more affordable, and can be taught new tricks!

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Meet the Bittle, if it looks vaguely familiar, it’s because it most certainly is. Modeled on the design of the popular Boston Dynamics robot dog, Spot, the Bittle features a similar design + color scheme, and crushes the notion that an old dog can’t learn new tricks because Bittle runs entirely on Arduino, and can be quite literally programmed to do all sorts of things!

You can either look at Bittle as a STEM project for your child, or a really interesting toy for adults to play and tinker with. The robot comes with a plastic body that doesn’t take long to assemble, and features a modular body, which means you can either build the Bittle without a head or tail (sort of like Boston Dynamics’ Spot), or add them on for good measure and make your toy look more playful and less creepy. Once assembled, the Bittle’s Arduino hear powers its movements, allowing it to walk, jog, jump, and climb up obstacles with ease. An infrared sensor helps with obstacle detection, and the incredibly nimble and flexible limbs help Bittle even get up if it collapses over.

The Bittle runs on an open-source network that you can use to program it and teach it new tricks. There’s even a fan-made app that allows you to remotely control your pet dog, but it isn’t quite as freeing as Bittle’s ability to run Arduino IDE, Python, Codecraft, or other languages. All of Bittle’s code sits in a GitHub repository for you to immediately begin tinkering with, and the ever-expanding community is always providing new tips and tricks that you can use to make the Bittle do your bidding… just don’t turn it sentient.

Bittle’s head module does a little more than anthropomorphizing the robot quadruped. It additionally allows you to plug more components into the bot, including a tiny camera module that quite literally allows Bittle to see where it’s going. The bot is built to be relatively lightweight and toyish, but it can carry loads of up to 1lb or 453 grams too, so you could jolly well program it to carry a remote or a biscuit to you. Moreover, it provides the perfect framework to really understand how robots are built, how they behave, and how you can build them to be better at what they do, for an incredibly affordable price tag of $250. Just please, don’t turn them sentient…

Designer: Petoi