Hi guys,

Just wanted to let you all know that we've now selected the 3 teams of finalists that will get the chance to bring their creations to life and exhibit them to the panel of industry experts at CTIA in just under 4 weeks!

The three teams of finalists are:

Niko the Robot – Niko the Robot pairs the Nokia N900 with Lego NXT building kit to create a robot that utilizes the Nokia N900 as its ‘brain.’ It will understand commands sent via Twitter to a specific handle, send feedback about the area around it as well as post pictures from the Nokia N900’s camera.

Pit Crew – This mod sets up the Nokia N900 to be the brains behind a slot car in order to compete against human competitors. Using Python code and algorithms, the Pit Crew thinks they can have a Nokia N900-controlled car beat a man-controlled car. Do you?

Bike Dashboard– This set up utilizes several different features of the Nokia N900. From the GPS to the camera, the team behind Bike Dashboard, BrettSarahTops, think they can turn the Nokia N900 into a car-like dashboard. Showing a speedometer, odometer, mapping your route with GPS and even providing a car horn – this app might have it all!



What do you think of the three teams of finalists?

sounds cool!!

@f2thak

Which of the teams's ideas are you most looking forward to seeing come to life?

I wish Nokia would give us a real Twitter app and widget, a true facebook program and widget, plus Skype video calling before I can get into all the robots and brains been waiting so long. Make a competiton of applications instead of mods nearly none of us will use.

All three are good examples of how to take the N900 into a broader world, but the Bike Dashboard would certainly win if I was on the panel! :-)

I did robotics research as part of my masters degree (teach the robot to pick up the yellow ball), but biking is closer to my heart -- and much more of a mass market appeal.

@xxMurdakillxx

I know it's not an 'official' app but something like dabr works well on the N900 - it's what I use on mine!

Thanks for the response!

I think the bike dashboard is definitely a great idea as it's something that many of us could use regularly, but I cant' wait to see Niko in full working order and see if an N900 can actually beat me at slot car racing, I was like Nigel Mansell on that thing when I was a kid!

i like pitcrew

.exactly.


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Agree.

Those apps mentioned are good to show off what the n900, as a device, is capable of; however, bearing in mind that the n900 lacks a lot of basic stuff (look at the brainstorm) it would be definitely better to focus and prize those apps that "complete" the n900.

Of course, my comment does not want to bash the developers of any of those great apps, in fact, I do admire them a lot, I'd like to know how to code apps myself.