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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEW SPY-CYE PERSONAL ROBOT WITH WEB CONNECTIVITY MONITORS HOME OR OFFICE
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PITTSBURGH, Nov.14, 2000 -- Probotics today announced a new affordable personal
robot that enables users with a web-connected PC to remotely monitor their home
or workplace. Called Spy-Cye, this mobile robot learns its environment and then
its on-board video system enables the user to see what's going on there, from
another location, all via the web.
The Spy-Cye personal robot can be used for a range of uses, including:
- Check on kids from the office, and actually see them walk in the door from
school and start their homework. Help parents connect with their kids, even
when they aren't home.
- Monitor a vacation home, from anywhere. Or, install Spy-Cye in your primary
residence, and keep an eye on your house while on vacation. It enables you to
make sure everything is safe and secure before you return. And, you can even
check on plants and pets at home, from another location.
- Keep an eye on elderly relatives living in another location, and actually see
how they are feeling.
- For businesses, managers can check on after-hour alarms without traveling to
the office.
"Spy-Cye is well suited for security by meeting the basic curiosity instinct of
people about the places they live and work, when they can't be there
themselves," said Henry Thorne, CEO of Probotics. "It is the only robot of its
kind that is easy to use and costs less than $1,000."
He added, "The Spy-Cye robot combines wireless technology, Internet connectivity
and superior robot navigation technology to deliver a new level of functionality. At the same time, it can be out of the box and working without any programming, just point and click with its software."
From anywhere in the world, Spy-Cye owners can control their robot by visiting
the web site (www.web-bots.com), and log onto it by entering in their user
name and password. They can then see the map that the robot has made of its
location in the browser window. Then, they can click on destinations within the
map to send the robot to them and click the "take picture" button to see images
from those destinations.
The Spy-Cye robot must be hosted by a PC with a connection to the web. The
connection can either be an "always on" type (DSL or cable modem) or "dial-up"
line in which case the robot can be easily scheduled to dial into the web for
preset intervals, providing access during those periods, without tying up the
phone line.
Spy-Cye is affordably priced at $995, for the package that includes robot,
video camera, software and T-shirt. It is available via the web at
(www.personalrobots.com) or by calling 1-888-550-7658 for shipment in the U.S.
and abroad. The Spy-Cye robot learns its indoor environment, navigating a new room in minutes. At a speed of three feet per second, Spy-Cye quickly moves around any room. Spy-Cye includes patented navigation technology that provides tracking accuracy three times greater than any previous robot.
A compact personal robot, Spy-Cye measures 16" x 10" x 5" and weighs 10 pounds.
The video camera loaded on Spy-Cye is radio linked back to the user's personal computer to send images wirelessly. The receiver end of the video camera plugs into the USB port on a PC. Spy-Cye communicates with a PC, 10 times per second via a FCC approved 900 MHz radio link. Using wireless communications technology, Spy-Cye is controlled by Map-N-Zap, a highly intuitive graphical user interface (GUI) software application.
Probotics, Inc., based in Pittsburgh, PA, is a leading-edge robotics company
that specializes in developing personal robots for home and office. Probotics
launched its first Cye personal robot in May, 1999, along with a line of
accessories that includes a cordless vacuum cleaner and wagon for carrying items
from room to room. The other personal robots in its product line include:
Cye-SR, the personal robot that responds to sound; and the new Spy-Cye, the
personal robot with an on-board video system that can provide mobile, remote security via the web for home and office.
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For more media information, contact Lisa Hendrickson, 516-767-8390 or
LisaPR@optonline.net.
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