Neurala Roboscope, a fun, free, autonomous driving app for Parrot Jumping MiniDrones, was announced today by Neurala, a Boston-based robotics company known for its high-end robotic intelligence software designed for use by NASA and the US Air Force. While autonomous software to create self-driving cars is getting a significant amount of press coverage, Neurala Roboscope is the first fun way that most people can access this type of advanced technology.
With Roboscope, a user selects an object by moving a box on their iPhone or iPad. Once the object is selected, Neurala’s vision processing software locks onto the subject. Then, when ready, the user tells the Neurala software to launch a playful attack by autonomously driving the robot to the target, jumping or spinning.
“Typically, Neurala produces really hard core brains for robots. That work is really complicated. So, we decided to do something more fun and create a brain for a low cost toy robot. We wanted to make fun AI available to everybody to download and play with,” said Massimiliano Versace, Neurala CEO.
To commemorate the release of its first consumer app, Neurala commissioned a fun video showing Aliens trying to take over the world using Neurala Roboscope and a Parrot Jumping Sumo. However, superheroes, also played by Neurala employees, used Neurala’s software to win the day.
Neurala Roboscope is free from the Apple AppStore and will soon be available from Google Play. An iPad Air, iPad Air 2, iPad Mini 3, iPhone 5s or iPhone 6 is required as is one of the Parrot Jumping MiniDrones, the Jumping Sumo, Jumping Night or Jumping Race.
