Since all smartphones are capable of running apps, and robots are essentially smart devices, why not give them a store to download apps from as well? Well that’s what some robot enthusiasts have thought about and come up with – the Robot App Store. Designed to be a universal marketplace for robot apps written by approved developers around the world, the store will sell robot apps for all sorts of robots that are available on the market.
Robots like the Roomba, or the Sony Aibo and even the Nao robot are all capable of running on different apps to modify their behavior. The Nao robot can run an app that teaches it to pick up a coke, while the Aibo can even be turned into a watchdog. There’s no telling how successful the robot app store will be (how many people do you know actually own a robot?) but it certainly is an interesting way to go about sharing robot code. Now let’s hope we won’t have to deal with viruses that cause robots to turn against their own masters.
At the moment the site is only available to developers, but you can still check it out to see what it’s all about.