The free iPad app, Robots, introduces you to more than 150 of the world's most fascinating automata, providing descriptions, specifications, fun facts, photos, videos, and interactive virtual reality (VR) representations. It also provides information and videos about robotics in general, the latest robotics news, and a chance to rate all the robots covered in the app. It's a must-have for budding roboticists, students, or anyone curious about the field, and worthy of an Editors' Choice as an educational app.
Robots is the creation of the Institute of Electrical & Electronic Engineers Inc. (IEEE), better known as the i-triple-e, a leading advocate of science, technology, education, and mathematics (STEM) education, as well as the publisher of the IEEE Spectrum magazine and website. The Robots app is iPad only; I tested it using an Apple iPad Air 2 ($445.00 at eBay) running iOS 8.3.
An Immersive Look
This app covers 158 different robots, including drones, bomb-defusing robots, toys, self-driving vehicles, and 3D printers. Some will be familiar to you, like the Mars Spirit and Opportunity rovers, the Segway, and Google's self-driving car. If you're a regular PCMag reader, you may recall the Pleo, as well as personal robots such as Romo ($49.99 at Amazon) , a PCMag Editors' Choice, and the MakerBot Replicator 3D printer, a version of which ($3,856.95 at Amazon) we have in PC Labs.
The home screen is a thumbnail grid of 29 featured robots. Tapping a thumbnail brings up a page with three tabs at the upper-left side of the screen: Details, Specs, and Related. The default Details view gives a brief overview of the robot on the left-hand side of the iPad's screen. Below the overview, you are asked to rate the robot on a scale of 1 to 5 stars, answer Yes or No to whether you would like to have this robot, and to rate the robot using a slider on a "creepiness scale," which lets you choose from seven increments ranging from "really creepy" to "really nice." Below the Ratings is a section called Did You Know, which lists a few tidbits about the robot. For instance, there's this: "Darwin-OP was used as a TV character in a Korean drama series." On the screen's right-hand side is a large image (either photo or VR), and below it are thumbnails of five photos, usually with at least one video and/or VR image thrown in.
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The Specs view gives you access to information about the model you are looking at, such as features, height, length, width, weight, speed, sensors, actuators (motors), power, computing, software, degrees of freedom, materials, status, and cost. The specs are followed by a written history of the robot (generally 100 to 200 words), and a link to the manufacturer's website. The Related tab brings up news items related to the robot, and provides thumbnails of several similar robots, often including ones that are not among the models featured in the app.
At the bottom of each screen is a row of six buttons. The first, labeled Robots, is the default view that I've described above. Additional buttons include Ratings, News, Play, Learn, and About. Pressing the Ratings button takes you to a view that displays the robots in order of users' rankings, including top-rated, most wanted, and creepiest to nicest. (Spoiler: The robot that takes the honors in all three categories: most wanted, top rated, and nicest, is the Orbotix Sphero , a $130 robotic ball that you can drive around, play tabletop games with, or hold in your hand to use as a game controller.)
Faulty Server, Exceptional Service
When I first used the app, I encountered a connectivity issue. When I tried accessing content in the Ratings, News, or Play sections, I received an error message stating that an Internet connection is required to view that content—even though I could open and watch the YouTube videos embedded in the app, and had no trouble accessing email or the Web with my iPad.
At 5 p.m. on a Saturday, I emailed the app's support to tell them of the problem. To my surprise, within a few hours I had received a response from an IEEE Spectrum senior editor stating that it was a server problem, and that the tech team would reset the server no later than Monday. When I launched the app on Sunday, I had no trouble accessing the previously missing content.
The News section includes links to recent IEEE Spectrum news stories, with the most recent story appearing in its entirety in the right-hand column. Each week, Video Friday compiles the week's most interesting robot-related videos (mostly YouTube), gleaned from other sources. The articles are informative and very readable. Among recent feature stories is the sad saga of a rad-hardened, shape-changing robot that got stuck while investigating the remains of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear reactor.
From the Play tab, users can take part in Face Off, which pits pairs of robots against each other while asking participants to answer a question about them, like "Which dog robot (Aibo or AlphaDog) would you rather walk?" When you select either robot, you see what percentage of users chose the same one. There are maybe 25 pairings and questions altogether. Other questions include "Which (creepy humanoid) robot would you rather hug?" and "Which robot would you rather kiss?" Unfortunately, "None of the above" is not among the answers.
Speaking of creepiness, under the Learn tab is an item called The Uncanny Valley, which explores how people react to human-like robots. It shows a graph by roboticist Masahiro Mori, who hypothesized that robots become creepy when a lifelike appearance is approached, but not attained. In his graph, which plots pleasantness versus human likeness, the "uncanny valley" is that point of maximum creepiness. Ratings of robots by users of the Robots app tend to bear his hypothesis out, although realistic robots, which weren't around when Mori proposed this in 1970, didn't fare too well, either.
In addition to this essay, the Learn section includes a robotics timeline, a glossary, an exploration of different types of robots, and an item on getting started in robotics, which includes an overview of robot kits, videos with advice from roboticists, a list of college robotics programs, and a discussion of robot competitions.
As Robots is inspirational, as well as informative, the app itself is a great start for anyone considering getting involved in robotics. Although it doesn't offer any plans to build robots, it provides a good overview of the field with commentary by experts, and introduces the user to numerous robots, with descriptions, specs, photos, videos, and interactive VR models. This cool, free app introduces students and anyone curious about robotics to some of the most amazing machines that human imagination and engineering has created. It's an easy pick as an Editors' Choice educational iPad app.
Robots (for iPad) is a wonderfully detailed overview of robotics, and an introduction to more than 150 models, including toys, Mars rovers, and self-driving cars.
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