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Adopt a robot assistant into the household!

TheRobotics Research Institute at the University of Tokyo (Tokyo University’s IRT) has developed a robot that can assist you in your daily domestic tasks.

The IRT is financed by big companies like Toyota, Olympus, SEGA, Toppan, Fujitsu, Panasonic and Mitsubishi.

The prototype measures 5 ft in height, weighs 287 lbs and has 32 degrees of freedom.

Currently, the robot can clean the floor, clear the table, collect things to put them in the garbage or even put them back where they go, collect your dirty laundry and put it in the washing machine.

It is equipped with 6 wheels, a battery that lasts up to 1 hour, 5 cameras on its head, a laser and ultrasonic sensors to detect obstacles.

The prototype is equipped with SLAM (simultaneous localization and mapping) like the long-awaited Neato.

This is still just a project for IRT because isn’t looking to market this robot for mass production for another 10 to 15 years. This everyday companion will cost around $10,000 U.S., but by then considerable progress and lower costs will surely have been reached.

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For a long time the iRobot Roomba has been viewed as being the leader at all levels (more than 5 million units sold during the last 7 years), but now the company can expect strong competition with: Neato.

The generation of Roombas works through a simple enough technology, as explained here: “How do vacuum robots work?“.

A Silicon Valley startup, Neato Robotics introduces a new generation of vacuum robots that use 360 degree vision laser guidance, a very intelligent room-mapping tool (SLAM : simultaneous localization and mapping) and an ultra-powerful suction system (1 pass only).

This is certainly the next vacuum robot empire — the company has the means with this revolutionary product and their 15 million dollars of financing.

View the video of the XV-11, the future Roomba-killer.

At a price starting from $399 dollars, the Neato is affordable and better than the Roomba.

Demonstration Video:

On this video you can see the ultra-sophisticated system that allows Neato to map a room while taking into account changes in its environment such as the presence of a person (footprints in purple below) or moved, extra or removed objects. The intelligence of this vacuum is mind-blowing:

The Neato also has a floor sensor which prevents it from falling down stairs when it sees a space.

It can intelligently clean corners and recharge itself. It will alert you when it is full and possesses an LCD screen through which to communicate with you.

In short it is the Rolls Royce of vacuums.

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