Ken Miller remembers the moment when he realized he wanted to create a modular Robo-gaming robot, called ZoZbot. Sitting at his dinning room table he was contemplating the salt and pepper shakers. There was an urge to push them off the table.
“Thought it would be cool if I had a little robot that I could drive with my smartphone and drive them around and push them off the table,” Miller, founder and CEO of CutThroatRobotics, told iDigitalTimes. “Especially if everybody at the table at the smartphone and their own robot ... it would be kinda like a last man standing.”
Zozbot is a modular robot with customizable/interchangeable parts. The goal of the game is to push balls into the holes/pockets to score points. Miller said it is designed to fit on a pool table, though they’re building their own stadiums, and is similar to the popular pool game called cutthroat.
The robots are the first phase in the rollout of ZoZbot. Soon enough Miller wants to add cameras to the bots so drivers can play in first-person. Players will be able to customize the robot, the stadiums which they play in and the games themselves. Miller said there would be an app where people can program new games. Additional modules include weapons, cameras, avatars and lights.
“ZoZbot was designed to inspire creativity and promote interactive fun and learning for players of all ages with a customizable gaming experience that can transform into something new each time you show up to play,” Miller said. “If you can dream it, you can make it a part of your ZoZbot experience.”
With CES being the official launch of ZoZbot, it is still early in the process for Miller and ZoZbot. Release for the modular robo-gaming robot is set for May of this year and will have a $149 price point for the basic unit.
ZoZbot is currently seeking funding on Indiegogo. As of Friday it is being backed by 12 people for a total of $2,136 with a flexible goal of $100,000
