NFC robot project shows the future of toys

NFC robot project shows the future of toys

We love the development community when it comes to innovative NFC based projects, and an NFC robot project by Erin the Robot Grrl could show the future of toys. The whole attraction of NFC is based on causality. If I put “this” close to “that” something happens. In that vein, the the robot hat project was born. The concept is that by placing different hats embedded with NFC tags on Erin’s BubbleBoy robot that it initiates different behaviors. We won’t spoil the cool video where you get to see the different interactions performed by BubbleBoy when he gets a new hat, but do give the video a look!

We loved this approach to interactions and it shows yet another use case for NFC that we haven’t seen yet. In fact, the nearest we can think of this concept is an NFC vending machine that involves payments and all that jazz. The developer said, “We could have NFC hats with RoboBrrd, where it does different things for the different hats! More super powers, new behaviours! Woot!”

Putting this into a real world use case where toddlers are using the principles of cause and effect to learn Erin’s concept could power simple robots for correct and wrong answers. We could even see puzzles being built into robots, where the pieces are tagged and then give a response based on whether the pieces are put in the right order. We have heard whispers for sometime that toy manufacturers are hard at work building toys that NFC can be built into. The possibilities are endless, but it appears that Erin has beaten them all to it with her NFC robot hat concept. Sorry, Android, but if you want to get ahead, get a hat. Is there nothing that home devs can’t do with Arduino?

NFC robot hat development

Erin shares the code it took to make the system work over on her Robot Grrl blog, which you can find here. “One of the fun parts of the code is how I handle being able to check the NFC to see if the hat was removed/replaced after each action,” she says. The NFC robot hat project appears to be growing too, and the developer is already growing the interactivity that is possible.

“Eventually with these NFC hats I want to add on some features, like being able to write how often it has been played with on the hat. Using the green hat as an example, perhaps every 5th time that RoboBrrd wears the hat, then it will like it!”

The thing is with project like this they get you imagining what’s possible. Imagine NFC apps on smartphones and other NFC devices that could evoke different responses also, and micro payments that could buy new actions. There’s a model there. We think that Erin is onto something with her NFC robot hat project and should look into commercializing it, because we showed some kids the project and they went gaga over it.