ADK robots at Google I/O 2011 (photos)

Google's new Android Device Kit, or ADK, will let you create custom hardware peripherals that you can control from an Android device.

The ADK shown here has been customized with a second Arduino board to control a hydroponic grow system (not pictured.)

This robotic shell designed by Hasbro uses the ADK to create an interface that turns the smartphone into a robotic toy that can be altered by doing nothing more than downloading a new app.

This enormous version of Labyrinth is controlled with a Motorola Xoom tablet hooked up to an ADK by USB.

The Labyrinth gameplay used the Xoom's built-in gyroscope to control the game board, and it took most people a while to get used to making small corrections in the Xoom's orientation to make it past the first hole.

The scale of the game made it difficult to advance, but some people did. Here, the ball has almost reached the end of the maze.

This may look like an immobile stand with a Xoom on top, but in fact it's a moving robot that uses the tablet's camera and an ADK to avoid bumping into people on the busy convention floor.

Willow Garage's TurtleBot is aimed at the hobby market, and can be trained to perform different tasks. Originally, it used a Kinect sensor, but the model here that's following around a Google I/O attendee runs on Android with the ADK. Although the current ADK is limited to USB connections, it will soon support Bluetooth, says Google.

The ADK is used here by Yoshinari Yoshikawa, founder and CEO of Miselu, a Silicon Valley-based company that is working with keyboard maker Yamaha to develop automated piano controls with Android and the ADK.