I got a Smarttracker for Christmas. It never worked. The optical sensing technology has to be WAY improved before this concept will be ready for prime-time. But I would love for Mattel to put their formidable R&D chops into this and get it to fly. . .
John
· 4 years ago
It's been done before, and like previous attempts is doomed to failure because very few parents will be happy with a toy that encourages kids to draw on the floor.
kaöt-impetryk-stone
· 4 years ago
cool !
Jon
· 4 years ago
yea they're real, i've seen them at a demo at a mall. so i think they're publicly for sale too
Neighbour
· 4 years ago
It's not a new technology but the application is funny. I have seen a real 'walking' bug use this line sensing technology. Very interesting although it walk very slowly.
Starxxon
· 4 years ago
I remember reading an Epson (?) Scientific equipment catalog when I was like 10 in 1984 where they a few cool little robots in some fluo transparent plastic cases. One was doing just that, following lines drawn on the ground. It was probably very slow (too), but it got me interested in building a similar thing myself.
I never even tried to do it since I figured out that it would be more complicated than using a light and two photoelectric cells (or maybe my dad told me so).
Alan
· 4 years ago
The picture above is a mockup. The original article refers to pictures of cars projected into a whiteboard by a computer. The computer has a camera and makes the cards follow line, with annontaion to speed up, slow down and such. The computer also projects skid marks when the cards spin out. Pretty cool, but not a physical toy.
DOPBz9 I put together a show of about forty photographs at a frame shop. I invent a unique way of mounting the pictures, flush on aluminum with a spacing device to move the picture out from the wall. This way of framing has never been done before, at least in our area. (Now I see it all the time on styrafoam board.) The show is a wild success with about a hundred people at the opening including the former director of the Playhouse 90 series on TV (a teacher in my department) who loves my work and brings the Chairman of the Art Department with him.
Adriana Lima
· 2 years ago
I couldn't understand some parts of this article Lineriders, Hotwheels Revisited, but I guess I just need to check some more resources regarding this, because it sounds interesting.
All Comments
http://www.asseenontv.com/prod-pages/smrttracse...
But interesting to get it small enough to fit in a hotwheels.
That’s smaller then the smallest I’ve seen yet, http://elm-chan.org/works/ltc/report.html
http://www.wonderfullywacky.com/smarttrackerz.htm
and get 'em for $15. I gotta get me some of that! Or rather, "for my kids"... :)
I never even tried to do it since I figured out that it would be more complicated than using a light and two photoelectric cells (or maybe my dad told me so).