Rovio – mobile webcam platform
WowWee’s Rovio
If your looking for a webcam that has mobility then you may want to check out Rovio. This webcam is manufactured by a company whose background is in the robotic toy market, WowWee has gone for the Halo look. With a bank of six blue lights on the upper chassis it really looks like the ROV from Halo. The three wheeled unit enables the Rovio to spin 360°, changes in direction are accomplished by the drive varying between the three fixed wheels.
Set-up is easy and straight forward. Assemble the base station, plug it into the mains, insert the Rovio’s batteries then place unit on base station to charge for around two or three hours. Then, plug it into a PC via USB cable and run the software to link it in to your 802.11b/g Wi-Fi network. Be sure to bookmark the web page that acts as your command and control interface and that’s it. The supplied software is Windows only however the user’s manual includes detailed instructions on how Mac users can set-up manually.
Ten programmed paths can be set up for Rovio to follow. To access your Rovio from an external network, you’ll need to make the relevant port forwarding changes to your wireless router. This is a easy straight forward operation to perform, and the Rovio user manual provides step-by-step instructions.
