Has anyone tried integrating a Rovio to Vera? Would be cool to have scenes that send the Rovio to different rooms to monitor. WowWee® - Astonishing Imagination
Yes, that would be cool … a motion sensor is tripped and you send Rovio to investigate.
-GT
Hi aschwalb,
Nice “TOY” 
I’ve looked on that page and seems that the main control is done via a web interface and also is has UPnP capabilities. I think that will work on Vera with some workaround done.
See http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/tdenning/files/papers/ubicomp_robots_authors_copy.pdf for some information about Rovio (and other household robots).
iRobot’s Roomba (http://www.irobot.com/) might be of interest, too.
I love the motion detector idea… I think I have a project over the Christmas holidays’!.. ;D
I bought this for my son last Christmas… (really 
) Time to make use of it…
It’s my Big Trak on steroids!
http://www.thebigtrak.com
another thing for the wish list…buy.com had a different make of something similar recently, it had a mic and speaker so you could drive around and chat with people in the house
Hate to revive an old thread,… But the Rovio source code has been released, so it is now theoretically possible to add it as an IP camera. The Rovio uses eCOS, a posix OS similar to Linux or BSD, but with a more liberal license than the GPL v2…
One would only have to add slide “side-to-side” browser buttons to the existing IP camera interface, or simply omit side-to-side movement as an option under the Vera… everything else could be duplicated with the Vera’s existing controls,… [+] & [-] for movement, [Left] & [Right] for turning, [Up] & [Down] for it’s camera stalk position.
Beyond my capabilities, but probably within those of some others here…
Plus, the Rovio has gotten a lot cheaper, about $175 USD now. It puts it within the range of some other IP cameras.
I wanted a Rovio for so long, that is until I saw the Parrot Drone:
http://ardrone.parrot.com/parrot-ar-drone/usa/how-does-it-work
Now I realize the money I spend for Rovio could get me half way to the AR Drone. Bummer is neither of these vacuum the floors, lol.
No Parrot AR Drone for me… and no Vera app (legally, at least).
I read the Parrot AR Drone developer license… the license on their API expressly prohibits surveillance or development as anything other than gaming… too worried about getting sued for privacy invasion & classification as an UAV, I guess…
The drone uses embedded Linux, but the control API is proprietary… So, their flight controls = no drone use to check on the house…
If the communication isn’t encrypted then I’m sure this could be reversed engineered by someone.
While I’m sure you could tell the Parrot AR Drone how to act by reverse engineering,… the bottom line is that it may violate the terms of service for the software which runs on the device,… provided that it doesn’t violate the GPL (that is, no kernel hooks),… dubious enforceability & all other ramifications aside…
Bottom line it the developers don’t want their gadget used as a spy-bot. Whether motivated by liability (lawsuit from cheating spouse or MILF neighbor) or altruism (flowers, not guns), I kinda respect that in libertarian (small “L”) sort of way…
For the Rovio, surveillance is a specified application of the device. Plus the cat won’t snatch it out of the air (the Mrs.'s cat, I’m a dog person). $300 down the drain or $300 down the drain + a dead cat & a divorce?!?!
No Parrot AR Drone… no problems…
The link below will bring your Rovio’s camera image up within any browser without the use of a username or passsword. Obviously you will need to replace the IP & port #'s with your own. Refreshing the browser will refresh the image.
It needs tweaking to work within Vera which I am still trying to figure out. Controlling it within Vera would be cool.
http://192.168.1.3:8168/Jpeg/CamImg0000.jpg
JOD.
It looks like it gets bad reviews on Amazon as far as battery-life and self-charging docking ability. Still considering it as an option though.
Well the Parrot AR Drone is now out, at less $$$ than I originally feared, but again their API forbids surveillance apps…
http://www.brookstone.com/ar-drone-quadricopter.html?bkeid=partner|vendor|parrot|wheretobuy
The Rovio API/SDK is out too, and it expressly permits surveillance…
With the Rovio API stuff, it should be trivial to create a control interface with the Vera for someone who knows how to code…
Hello,
We got a beta plugin for controling the Rovio from the Vera (see pics attached).
Anyone want to test it?
Please send an email to: info@domoticadavinci.com
Regards.
José.