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"They open up this API so people can turn this vacuum into a robotics platform," Torrone said, adding that iRobot has released a new product, called Create, which doesn't have the vacuuming functionality but offers an educational robotics platform.
"They opened up the locomotion part, so you can move it around. So someone mounted a hamster ball on top of it," he said. "And I've heard something about traffic," he added, alluding to last year's Roomba Frogger antics. Torrone and Fried had dressed up a robot in a frog costume and gathered a crowd to watch as it attempted to cross a road without getting crushed by a car.
Torrone expressed surprise that iRobot had opened up its robotics platform for public use.
"It would be a nightmare (for them)," he said, "if one pushed a grandmother down the stairs, because robots want to do that."
In the spirit of the open-source hardware concept, the two said they also plan to give away the details of their new laser-etching business, in which they plan to create etched art on many kinds of consumer electronics. This way, anyone else can also create such a business.
At one point, Fried answered a question she said was often asked about why she attends SXSWi. She is, after all, a hardware hacker at a conference about Web technologies. The two areas, she explained, are not entirely disconnected.
"The great thing about Web technologies is that you can use them to document and advertise and distribute information," Fried said. "That's one of the killer apps about open-source hardware. Without Web technologies, it's difficult to distribute this information."
Later, the duo got into the specifics about cell phone-jamming technology. Fried said the federal government allows people to show others how to make and use such devices but that it is illegal to actually use the technology.
In general, cell phone jamming is illegal, according to the Federal Communications Commission. The FCC says it violates the 1934 Communications Act and has issued citations to companies that sell jammers. Still, pocket jammers starting at about $250 can be readily found on the Internet from overseas companies, and some U.S. firms, such as CellAntenna, sell jammers to federal agencies.
When they illustrated their small DIY jammer, Fried had pulled it out of what looked like a red pack of cigarettes.
"People say, 'Cigarettes are offensive; I can't believe you smoke,'" Fried said. "I say, 'Yeah.'"
"Meanwhile," added Torrone, "the cell phones aren't working."
He joked that using such technology was one way to get a table at a crowded Internet cafe.
"I've heard you can do this in a cafe," he said. "People will get up and leave."
See more CNET content tagged:
DIY,
hacking,
API,
open source,
cell phone
Cellphone jamming is not "Technology". It is old news, and ILLIGAL. It is theft! The Cell phone user has paid leased the radio frequency, and by jamming it, you are stealing.
Cellphone jamming is not "Technology". It is old news, and ILLIGAL. It is theft! The Cell phone user has paid leased the radio frequency, and by jamming it, you are stealing.