The Real Art Design Group is a design agency based out of Dayton, OH. Like a few other agencies, RADG (I'm not sure if they use that acronym for their name, but I'm going for it) is harnessing the power of embedded electronics and interactive media to make their campaigns more powerful and dynamic. The same people who brought us The Santa Claw (which was awesome) have a new project that is making the internet rounds - the Mobile Automated Research Vehicle, aka MARV.
MARV was designed as a promotional piece for a new website called Welcome to College. The RADG wanted to design something that was fun and interactive and could really hone in on Welcome to College's target audience. After much thought and brainstorm, they purchased a 1973 GMC RV and got to work.
MARV features an interactive screen on the back of the RV that asks questions, plays games, responds to visual cues (using an XBox Kinect), and rewards prizes based on users' answers. Much of the program is run through an Arduino UNO (which you can see in the above video). Not satisfied to stop there, RADG added some confetti cannons, fog machines, and started driving MARV to colleges around the country. The result is a pretty awesome project that is extremely well-polished. Great work!
The vanity plate is a nice touch.
We need more pictures of Marv's electronics.
Does it have a turret-mounted paintball gun? I've always wanted to have one of those in Houston traffic.
Most RVs have wiring rigs for remote cameras (nominally "back-up cameras"), and some include a 4-way mini-stick to pan and tilt the camera. Shouldn't be hard to arrange something suitable…
I have wanted on of those GMC motor homes for a while. Those things aren't without their problems, but they also rock!!!
I always thought that if they were rockin' not to go a' knockin'.
Simply awesome! I've owned several of these classic GMC motorhomes and love them. My hobbies are electronics, machining and fabricating. This project combines (almost) all of my favorite things! Great job!
Not satisfied to stop there, sudents can use a sledgehammer on the vehicle to get additional prizes :) No security?