Posted 06.04.2012 at 12:54 pm
12 Comments
Joggobot
Exertion Games Lab
Same old jogging routine got you bored? Can’t move your leaden legs faster than a 15-minute mile? Turn into a juggernaut with Joggobot, a hovercraft that will fly above your head and motivate you to run faster.
The bot is a modified Parrot AR.Drone, programmed to follow a fashionable orange and blue running T-shirt. Cameras on the drone are programmed to watch the pattern and hover about three and a half feet off the ground. If it loses sight of the pattern, the drone lands automatically.
Eberhard Gräther and Floyd Mueller of the Exertion Games Lab at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia built the software to modify the drone. They plan to study human-robot interaction regarding exercise, and they believe runners might use systems like this in a variety of ways. It could be programmed to fly a certain distance ahead of a runner and at a certain speed, setting a pace for training runs. Or it could fly alongside or in front no matter the runner’s speed.
“Should the robot be a pacemaker for the jogger? If so, can this be motivating? Or should the Joggobot be more like a dog, reacting to the jogger like a companion?” they write on their website. The drone’s chosen actions will affect the jogger’s experience in different ways, and could “further the experience of jogging,” the team says.
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I am a lifelong jogger and would really enjoy something like this, if it was network back to my home computer. At my home computer, I could then program into it little growth influence to try and make me run farther or faster.
And they second thing I want would be a wireless video being sent back to my home computer and recorded, should I get mugged or harassed on my jogging route.
Perhaps I could even yell help, in case of mugging or health related problems and it would contact the police for me and keep track of my location, via GPS too.
I see a lot of potential with this device!
it would be more motivating if it has a taser on it so if you stop it tasers you
This would be the perfect bodyguard. Mount some cannons to it and you could battle an entire gang of thugs without breaking a sweat!!!!
"religion is like a prison for the seekers of wisdom"
-Killah Priest
As cool as this idea is I think it would be a hell of a lot more motivating if it were combined with that taxidermied cat copter. Give it some angry kitty sound effects and an electric cattle prod and people will be getting into shape in no time. Kitty says exercise right meow!
I ran for ten years,and quit in 1995.Now I am trying to get back into running,and this might be what I need.My problem right now is I cannot control my pace,and slowly increase my speed till I run out of breath.This could be set to keep me at the best training pace.
This would be pretty cool if every so often it sprays a mist at you to cool you down. Better yet, if it could carry a bottle of water that would be great. Hands are free to just jog that way!
Some good people as they journey through life, carry a halo over their heads.
This gentleman in his travels prefers a 'helo'copter!;)
in the beginning of the article when they say "Turn into a juggernaut with Joggobot" I think they mean "joggernaut" lol
It would be nice if this helicopter understood voice commands. At the end of the jogging, the jogger could command the helo to hover over his head for the cool down of jogging.
If this unit had a wireless network communication to a fast powerful computer, this robot helo would be capable of great more task and abilities!
Maybe even some lightweight speakers for in-jog entertainment? Or perhaps an on-board mp3 player w bluetooth transmitter for your BT headphones?
I would like mine to have bull horn mounted on it. The bull horn should be screaming at me like a drill sergeant: "Move your fat legs! Why can't you move faster?! Step on it! Hut 2 3 4! Hut 2 3 4! Are you with me, soldier! Keep moving!" Then when it sees other people when I'm moving too slow, it yells, "Look out! lazy fat bastard coming through! Run and hide! He might eat your sandwich!"
I would want one that can fire blasts of water at people on the route and at any stray cats :)