</rant>
People on HN are likely to have heard of the Anybot due to its connection to YC (one of AB's founders being a YC partner). Referencing it in the title is perfectly relevant, since many on HN can relate to the term "Anybot" but few can relate to "video chat robot" (which, incidentally, sounds like some sort of automated chatroulette client).
</reason>
[edit it's -> its]
Which admin are we abusing? And, why are you accusing me of rewriting an article title when I'm not an admin? More importantly, it is perfectly reasonable for an admin to edit a title to be less sensational.
(Some <reasonable> other stuff)
I specifically said that we shouldn't call anything "* Killer". Not sure what you're going on about.
No, I don't. The value of Hacker News is in the self-moderation that we all make to keep the signal high and the noise low. But, you've jumped the shark in this case because I am not an admin and didn't edit your title. So evidently there are at least TWO people who found your title to be in need of rewording.
Anybots isn't going to be killed by a netbook strapped to a Roomba. Trevor et al are doing fundamental engineering for creating large, capable, humanoid robots. The Roomba won't even work on shag carpeting, let alone cary a payload over terrain. The real Anybots killer, as with statistically all startups, is the current lack of demand for humanoid robots. Without a demand for its product, a product company can't last forever.
But I still wouldn't call that an Anybots "killer".
EDIT: Added TED talk link.
I could never figure out how he funded his experimentation. I had to beg for 50' ethernet cables (unsuccessfully, I might add). A set of wiimotes would have been completely out of the question. Maybe they got better stipends at CMU and he bought his gear on his own dime.
Mine is based on the Asterisk open source pbx and a Grandstream video phone for the real-time 2 way video. It is controlled via DTMF and doesn't require a computer to operate, just a phone. Full telepresence if your phone is a SIP phone that does video.
Also cost about $500 to build but probably took me much longer as I built my own drive system and motor controllers.
Here's a video of my homebuilt telepresence bot in action : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMZkd8YMgzw
For what its worth, I don't consider hacks like these "Anybots killers", more like homage to heroes of mine. I'm a big fan of TB and the Anybots team and can't wait to see what they come up with next.
Also, Yuri Milner used the Anybot for the Startup Fund announcement to all the founders in the YC office.
Robot Orders a Scone in Mountain View, Ca. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mz4FshiMu3U
(yes, anybots...)
