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Terence T. Park
MicroBot Push โ€” The wireless robotic finger that makes dumb products smart
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'MicroBot Push' is a wireless robotic finger that'll take care of little tasks like controlling the lights or setting your coffee maker. Stick it on any device, and using an app, you can control the functions remotely using your smartphone or computer.

Replies
Kelly Kuhn-Wallace
Wow. This "formerly known as Microbot" Push will help fill the gap while dumb devices are replaced with smart ones -- and speed up that process, too. And there will be no need to choose between vintage & smart: you can have both.
Roman
IFTTT for your home. Do you need a second button to reverse the push?
Terence T. Park
@romanzadyrako Do you mean another Push device to reverse a toggle switch? Then, yes.
stevesun21
Finally someone got this done! I image this kind of robotic thing for a long time.
Scott Ruona
This is awesome. I've been looking for ways to make my dumb apartment smarter. Who needs a Nest or Philips Hue when I can just have this push the buttons for me?
Jacob Leander-Olsson
Like it and lots of potential. I have two real user cases in my home but problem is that it needs 4 or 5 switches to handle those two devices. Will follow it closely and hope it goes well! Two questions: a) How big is the actual hit area of the button? I.e how small of a button can it hit? b) Is it possible to program it for a sequence such as pressing switch A two times followed by B one time?
Terence T. Park
@jacoblo Glad you like it! a) It comes with an additional tip (https://goo.gl/p8ZGLS). The actual rubber tip is a bit narrower than the one in the image, so it should be able to hit quite small buttons as well. b) Yes, you can program it but not directly on the device. We'll be releasing the API. You can also make use of the automation feature in Prota Box (you can specify sequences, delays, intervals, etc.).
Jacob Leander-Olsson
@thtpark Thanks! Even as small as this one (http://jmp.sh/odTLeGG)? Looking forward to this and hope it turns out as well as it looks :-)
Terence T. Park
@jacoblo The buttons look big to me ๐Ÿ˜€ I'll make it happen and deliver high-qualityโ€‹ products. Thanks a lot!
Hector Mora

I really wanted it to work but I learnt I would need to buy a hub because it doesn't have wi-fi capabilities. You can use your phone as a hub but that's not optimal unless you have a spare phone you would use as a hub. Still not optimal. Later, you couldn't connect other users to the same push. So if you want to share it with another person she'll need you to configure it in the device using your account.

I bought it and returned it the same day. Support took one day to answer back. The device was defective. I didn't like the product because it came defective, but I realized all those downsides after buying it.

Pros:

It was an awesome idea for my garage door

Cons:

It needs a hub, just like Phillips lights. You'll need to buy separatedly

d a n n y
(FYI: the jazz music in your video is a bit too loud, it's hard to hear your voice). Exciting! Really like the concept of bringing the IoT to the vast, offline world of appliances.
Taurean Bryant
Are there any plans for this to be integrated into HomeKit?
Terence T. Park
@_taurean Working on it:)
Mikael Lowgren
This is awesome and also funny! Reminds me of Homer Simpsons typing bird ๐Ÿ˜„ There are so many ways this could be used with electrical stuff or just mecanical stuff. A question, is there a way for someone to press a button occupied by microbot or do you have to remove it? For instance on the mixer-example it could be hard to get to the button and someone might remove it, or for example I'd like to use it on the elevator button at work, but it's likely it will be removed.
Terence T. Park
@mikaellowgren There's a capacitive button on the top (http://goo.gl/i5bEZ6), so you don't have to remove it ๐Ÿ‘Œ
Terence T. Park
Thank you all for the kind words! I really appreciate it.
Terence T. Park
I'd like to introduce my project, Microbot Push, a wireless robotic finger that makes "dumb" devices smart. It's basically a button pusher, but it could be quite useful for many things. With Microbot Push, I wanted to create a universal building block that could smarten up dumb appliances without throwing them away. Devices are getting smarter with Internet connectivity, but they often cost a lot more and require you to put extra efforts to install, configure and use. Attaching a Microbot on a button enables you to push it from anywhere, anytime with your smartphone. You can even automate it with platforms like IFTTT. It's simple and straightforward. I'm very surprised and excited to find out that people have very unique needs and use cases with Microbots across different cultures and industries. For example, our Japanese supporters will use Microbot Push to heat up their bathtubs before they wake up, whereas our Swedish supporters want to use Microbots to remotely turn on their outdoor car heaters (apparently thatโ€™s what they do on cold winter mornings). People here are smart and creative, so I'm looking forward to hearing more ideas and potential use cases. To give a little heads up, I will build more types of Microbots, and all of them are going to share the same philosophy. One that I'm also building right now is for turning knobs (named it Microbot Twist๐Ÿ˜€). Being able to turn knobs remotely could be very useful, especially when you want to lock/unlock doors automatically. One unit would cost around $50, so it will be a good alternative to smart locks in the market. Let me know if you have some other crazy Microbot ideas!โ€‹
Rustin Rassoli
That's an amazing idea! I see so many applications for this! Thanks for creating ๐Ÿ˜„
Adam Kirk
I would rename it. My brain read "Microbot" as "Microsoft" the first 10 times I skimmed the word. Anyone else? Very cool idea though.
Terence T. Park
@atomkirk You're the 10th person telling me that, I think... Maybe I should come up with a new name. Thanks for the feedback!
Joshua Pinter
@atomkirk Literally thought to myself "Hmm.... didn't expect Microsoft to make something like this..."
Robert Bye
Top Product
@atomkirk Yeah same. I think it's because you're eyes see Micro and the the sh at the end of push. Paired together makes pretty much makes Microsoft!
Jack Smith
@thtpark @atomkirk or at least write it as MicroBot
Terence T. Park
@_jacksmith @atomkirk Awesome! But it looks like I can't edit the title now... I think I will take your advice from now on.