Fascinating Toys

With the locomotive or the slot-car racing car twisted rotten rounds and lego stones put primitive on each other – that was yesterday. The plug-and-play era began at Märklin in 2004. Since then, locomotives can automatically report their name and their on-board functions (such as light, bell, station announcement and conductor’s whistle) to a touch-screen digital center

Control by smartphone or tablet


In the same year, the Digital Age started on the Carrera-Rennbahn and freed the pilots from the fixed track. Instead, up to six cars split the two lanes and can change the lane by means of a fingertip on the travel controller via switchable points. And the Mindstorms NXT robot from Lego has already been using Bluetooth for remote control via mobile phone since 2006.


Picture gallery


The revolution in nursery and hobby cellar progresses inexorably. CONNECTED HOME shows some examples of what is already feasible or announced as a novelty at the Toy Fair in February.


With the right locomotive operator


Even today, there are nostalgics who continue to use their model railway in the hobby cellar over the good old blue transformer with red rotary control. But two years ago Märklin, the model railway market leader, launched the App age and remote control over WLAN.


Modellautos control and monitor


Only the iPhone (from 3GS) and the iPod touch (from generation 3) were suitable as a wireless control panel. With their Märklin Mobile Station app, the Märklin Mobile Station App can now accelerate and decelerate with only 5,49 euros on their touch screen displays, but instead can activate up to 16 light, noise and motion functions depending on the locomotive

In the gallery, we present a selection of high-tech toys that can be controlled via smartphone or tablet.


Of course, the functions are visualized as interactive buttons with self-explanatory icons. It is also easy to switch points, signals and decoupling tracks.


As a counterpart for the iPhone, the Märklinist needs the digital control unit Central Station at its model railway facility.


Although it is listed with a 5-amp switch, it has a proud UVP of just under 900 euros, but it includes a Linux board computer and a large color touchscreen. Two locomotives can be controlled at the same time, or, for example, the points can be switched via a virtual track diagram panel, as with the real track. The control panel is connected to the home router via an RJ45 network cable and is also used to occasionally receive firmware updates.


Several iPhones can be used in parallel to the touch screen digital center. And now the iPad can also be integrated into the Märklin world. With the associated Märklin Mainstation app at a price of 10.99 Euro, up to eight locomotives can be controlled on the screen at the same time.


Alternatively, locomotive consoles and turnout switch panels can also be mixed. Until now, the WLAN model railway fun at Märklin was restricted to the Apple world. This will change, as in the spring Märklin apps will also be offered in the Google Play Store.


The Austrian model railroad manufacturer Roco, together with the American tradition brand Fleischmann at the beginning of 2012, continued some revolutionary steps. They developed the compact Blackbox digital center Z21 with integrated WLAN router. In favor of the significantly less expensive UVP of just under 400 Euro (including the switching power supply with 3 amperes) all local controls were dispensed with. Instead, locomotives, switches and more are controlled exclusively by smartphone or tablet.


The Z21 app since then for both iPad & Co. as well as for Android devices - fortunately, free of charge. On an entry-level tablet from the retailer Pearl with a 7-inch display, two locomotives can be operated at the same time. Up to 24 functions can be triggered for each locomotive. The result is that you can trigger three different station announcements and a conductor's whistle at current Roco locomotives, for example, or the distinctive squeal squeaking that normally occurs during the curves of the model Br>

Robo sets open up games without limits


But that's not all: If you want, you can control your locomotives with the tablet like on a real driver's stand and activate the corresponding levers by fingertip. The Z21 app includes the photo-realistic replica of the modern Austrian Elektrolok Taurus. For example, if you want to experience the leadership of the legendary American steam locomotive Big Boy or a diesel locomotive on your tablet, you will have to download it from the Internet at an extra charge.


And in the course of the year, Roco goes one step further again, because then comes a locomotive with a radio camera integrated into the driver's cab. It makes sure that in the virtual driver's windows on the tablet is not only a fantasy landscape shown, but a real live stream from the driver's perspective.


Wireless fun for under 100 euros


The remote control of the model railroad by smartphone or tablet is not only reserved for the owners of a digital center of Märklin or Roco / Fleischmann, but also works with many other control centers. The developers of corresponding software have, however, in some cases walked very different ways.


For example, with the TrainController, Freiwald Software offers a comprehensive model railway control desk software for PCs, which can be remotely controlled on the basis of a PC-WLAN connection via a smartphone. According to a similar principle, the control program Win-Digipet by Dr. Peter Peterlin, which has been continuously developed for 25 years, also works, for which there is a real smartphone app.


Similar to the apps from Märklin and Roco / Fleischmann, the Wolfgang Marschmann model railway consultancy has proceeded. She recently introduced a pure smartphone app with RailManager, which does not require separate PC model railway software. For the time being, however, it is intended only for the digital centers of the manufacturers Massoth and ZIMO. Lenz and ESU will soon be followed by versions for central units.


Helicopter with camera


Also interesting is


Not only on the hobby space rail network, the home automation system makes huge advances, but also on the roads next to the tracks - assuming you use the well-known Faller car system with battery-powered self-propelled cars at 1:87 scale. As before, the cars can travel as if by ghost hand on the basis of a magnetic steering grinder sitting on the front axle, which reacts to the course of an iron wire hidden in the road.


In the latest generation of Car System Digital 3.0, the vehicles now include a bidirectional radio decoder that is compatible with the two most popular model railway digital standards. In the so-called "DCC Railcom standard", the cars themselves can log on to the master central unit of the car system and transmit their vehicle-specific parameters (speed table, light, indicator, horn, Martinshorn and more) Br>

In addition, the vehicles can report various operating information, such as the battery charge status and the current driving stage, to the control center. If you wish, the car models can also be equipped with an ultrasound transmitter that can be integrated in the autodach and three ultrasound locating receivers can be installed in the room under the ceiling. This allows the entire installed road network to be trained fully automatically with branches and breakpoints and visualized on a road map.


In addition, the positioning system can also constantly recognize the current positions of the vehicles. As a result, distances between vehicles can then be monitored and regulated. In the future, not only the vehicle positions can be visualized on a tablet connected by WLAN, but also vehicles can be controlled via touchscreen. The fantasy sets only the purse limits here.


The first Carrera app for the iPhone 4S and 5 as well as for the iPad from the third generation was still in the prototype stage at the toy trade fair in early February. The app already revealed a delightful outlook on the possibilities of networking between the racetrack hardware and software.


The app will enable Carrera fans to create their own vehicle profile with parameters such as braking force and acceleration characteristics, and then connect directly to the Control Unit Control Center on the Carrera track. The specially designed Bluetooth receiver forms the interface between Control Unit and App. If the user is "ready to race", he can choose between training and racing and then run on his or her course with friends.


The app turns the iPhone or iPad into a racing monitor and displays all the relevant information on tank contents, braking behavior and speed, which can already be set in advance in the "race profile". At the same time, cool sounds and the announcement of the current racing position are meant to convey real motorsports atmosphere.


By looking at the iPhone or iPad, the direct comparison with the counterparts is immediately visible. The expansion of the sound function is planned, on the other hand, all tracks of the new Carrera sets should be deposited in the app. This should allow direct and worldwide comparability between challengers in their respective hobby cellars. Saving your own route and lap times also helps you document your personal progress.


The creativity of the Lego-Set is a long-lasting and easy-to-use Lego-Set. This includes the Lego technology series, which cost around 200 euros, as well as the flexibly programmable robot kit Mindstorms NXT, which is suitable for the most impossible things thanks to precisely positioned motors and many other functional elements

The new Lego Mindstorms EV 3, which will be available in autumn 2013 for 350 euros, comes in cooler design and is massively upgraded. The processor is an ARM9 with 300 MHz, while the predecessor was still 48 MHz slow. The flash memory is more than a hundredfold from 128 kilobytes to 16 MB, and the memory now contains 64 MB.


In addition, the memory capacity can be extended with an SD card. The operating system is based on Linux much more transparent than before and the programming should be possible with an Android tablet or iPad. The display of the robot basic building, intended for interactive operating instructions, has a resolution of three and a half times 178 x 128 pixels.


The integrated USB interface is intended to enable WiFi communication - probably on the basis of a WLAN dongle. Via Bluetooth 2.1 as well as on the basis of an infrared interface there are further communication and control possibilities. In addition, various new smartphone apps are planned for a quick introduction into the remote control of functional models.


The Mindstorms NXT 2.0, which has been available since 2009, offers a taste for this. The new Mindstorms EV 3 has four inputs for sensors and now also has a fourth port on the output side for the realization of even more complex motorisations. In addition, it will be possible to connect up to four Mindstorms EV3 building blocks to a complex system using these I / O ports.


The well-known fischertechnik modular system has for years already offered sophisticated possibilities for the automation of various functional models. The current intelligent controller ROBO TX Controller is based on an ARM9 processor with 200 MHz clock frequency. It has a flash memory of 2 MB and a memory of 8 MB.


Although this controller is very compact with 90 mm x 90 mm x 15 mm, it has eight universal inputs for sensors, four fast counter inputs for recording up to 1000 pulses per second and four short-circuit-proof motor outputs. Each motor output can alternatively also switch, for example, two lamps or two electromagnets. The controller also has a display with 128 x 64 pixels and also has Bluetooth on board for communication in addition to USB 2.0.


At the toy trade fair in Nuremberg, fischertechnik for the first time demonstrated a control application for Android smartphones developed in cooperation with the Fachhochschule Würzburg. It allows, for example, the driving control of a forklift model or a crawler vehicle by means of a street sensor of the smartphone. It is also possible to raise or lower the forklift arm by means of a fingertip on the touch screen.


The app RoboTXdroid is already available for free in the Google Play Store and other apps are planned. To program the ROBO TX controller, fischertechnik offers a graphical, intuitive programming interface and professional users can use the programming language C ++.


Finally, it is very interesting that the ROBO TX controller can also be expanded very flexibly with its I2C interface - for example by external sensors or displays. These include the C-Control automation components from Conrad Electronic.


Very different from the robot kits, but also very attractive are two vehicle models with WLAN remote control from the current catalog of the electronic transmitter Pearl. Although the WLC-240.WiFi camera car from Simulus can be ordered there for just under 80 Euros, it offers a lot of fun - simply by iPhone, iPad or Android smartphone


Thanks to the integrated camera with live video stream to the smartphone, you can explore the landscape even from the driver's perspective with the clever Mars Rover. The 24.5 cm long and 19 cm wide vehicle is out-of-the-line thanks to two rubber toothed belts, and weighs a mere kilogram with six separate AA batteries to be procured separately.


When the car is switched on, it provides its own WLAN router for direct connection to a smartphone. For the remote, only the free downloadable App i-spy toys is required, and as a smartphone, even the SP-100 dual-SIM entry-level device from Pearl with a 3.5-inch touch-screen available for just under 130 euros

When the app is started, you can see an astonishingly sharp color image of the camera integrated into the vehicle roof. At the bottom left of the display is a virtual joystick for forward and backward movement. Another joystick right triggers left or right rotation at the place.


There are also two buttons between the two billets that allow the motorized retraction and retraction of the camera. At the same time, the camera is swung upwards by up to 45 degrees. The movements are triggered immediately, but the picture sometimes lags behind - especially when you reach the range limit slowly at about ten meters.


The smartphone app can do even more - it even allows you to finger-tap a photo snapshot or a video recording in smartphone memory enabled. Images are stored as a JPG file with 640 x 480 pixels and videos as MJPG file. And when the Android smartphone (such as the iPhone and iPod touch) also has a motion sensor, the crawler car moves even by hand.


Even more fascinating is the WLAN remote control of the camera helicopter GH-303.Wifi, which one for nearly 100 euro also with Pearl gets. The 255 gram light helicopter model is 45 cm long and its two rotors have 34 cm diameter. Here the camera is located under the cockpit and can be fixed manually at the desired angle.


The very sensitive control of the model can also be done by touchscreen or movement sensor, but the free 4 in 1 controller app is not available for Android, but currently only for iPad, iPhone or iPod touch. Again, the image quality is amazing in the face of the price of this high-tech toy.


However, if the flying eye of the helicopter is always fun, everyone has to decide for themselves and of course depends on the flight experiences of the pilot. And most importantly, the airspace with the helicopter's hidden battery per charge is limited to about one to seven minutes, while the car can be an easy one hour and more to explore.