When I first saw Anki, during the WWDC Keynote, I was super impressed with the robots’ performance on the track. The device was far more accurate than what I thought it could be, and during my tech pilgrimage, I got a chance to try one of these, and I agree, it’s impressive. But one question I kept asking people who were impressed with it, was about the future of these devices.
But today, looks like the opportunities are opening up for the developers. Anki has opened up a Developers Program, that would let third-party developers to build Apps for Anki Drive and its hardware. The company did not make huge noise about the launch, but the portal is up for you to go and sign-up, to get the SDK and other tools you would need to develop.
The company was given a slot during the beginning of the WWDC Keynote, since its first product, the Anki Drive, was making use of iOS 7’s new energy efficient Bluetooth technology to transfer data at rates that are mind blowing. The cars (Anki Drive) went on sale for $200 for the started kit, and it immediately turns your iOS Device into a steering wheel with its app and its complicated Bluetooth pairing with its cars.
In case you missed the Anki Drive’s demo during the WWDC Keynote, here we have it, for you:
After watching this demo during the Keynote, I was wondering if there are some special chips that are embedded in the track which was put. But soon after trying out these stuff, I learnt that the cars were taking advantage of the camera that has been embedded in the chassis, and the calculations about the speed, overtaking and such happen in real-time on the device. Its just a combination of both the algorithm that runs in the car, as well as the calculations that happen in the Anki Drive app.
Since we at Skcript and 4CAST, see this as the beginning of a new area, where the physical toys blend with the video games that are on your mobile devices, we smell some opportunities out there for the developers and for our awesome team at Skcript.