Get the Second Nao at Half Price
This is an incredible promotion from RobotShop and Aldebaran. If you purchase a Nao H25 by June 15th 2011, you can get a second one at half price. This represents savings of almost 8000$.
As you may already know, Nao is an awesome humanoid robot that can be used as a very versatile development platform for serious research such as machine learning and robot-human interaction, and for more surprising development as shown below.
As announced previously, Ruairi Robinson’s short Blinky™ is now out and free for everybody to watch. Nevertheless, since this is sort of a horror film, viewer discretion is advised.
We really like this short since the robots are depicted with a great sense of detail and realism. It also shows how robots in the near future could help us with everyday tasks. Of course, we also like the cliché horror flick side.
Probably not. This movie raises the very interesting topic or robot ethics. This means that robots need to have a sense of what is right and wrong in order to be able to interact with human beings in everyday life. Blindly obeying every command given by a human, for instance, may not be a very good idea (as it is clearly shown in the short) ; a sense of ethics would allow a robot to discrimitate between good and bad commands.
The video below clearly illustrates how ethics are being incorporated into robots, more specifically, into the Nao from Aldebaran.
There have been two noteworthy developments in the last week for Aldebaran and Nao, their humanoid platform. Let’s have a look at this exciting news.
As announced in Tokyo last weekend, Nao get’s a charging station that allows the robot to autonomously recharge itself when needed. The station is still a prototype and is not available to outsiders at this time. As shown in the video, Nao can connect itself to the magnetic plug and move freely in the vicinity of the station. The robot knows the station’s position by visually recognizing Naomarks (special markers)
Aldebaran announced that their little humanoid is now present in more than 200 universities around the world. Nao is being used in all sorts of academic activities. This video sums it up very well.
Some time ago, Aldebaran Robotics launched their developer program for their popular Nao humanoid platform. The idea is to prepare the little robot for mass commercialization by releasing it to a select group of developers who will create applications for it. The robot is sold to the developers at the incredibly discounted price of about 3600 Euros (which is peanuts compared to the 16 000 USD it usually costs).
If you are salivating and willing to become a developer as well, there are a few steps to follow: (1) you will need to get a private invitation to the program from Aldebaran itself, (2) you will then be eligible to do programming tests, and (3) once you succeed the test and have paid, the robot can be yours and you will have full access to the developer privileges.
The program has received a great response so far but there are still a few vacant spots, so it is not too late to join in.
Via Robot Dreams.
Nao, by Aldebaran Robotics, has been busy this holiday season and prepared some cool presentations for us all to enjoy!
Below, its official holiday greeting. Robots can have the jitters too.
After conquering its stage fear, Nao was able read A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens for children’s and grown-ups’ pleasure. The videos below were created by the German Fachhochschule Kiel University of Applied Sciences.
Chapter Five: The End of It
Via Aldebaran’s Youtube Channel, Robot Dreams.
Aldebaran announced recently an update to the very popular Nao. The little robot has now a more robust body, longer curved arms that allow for further reach, an improved motion engine that allows for smoother movements, a cooler head with better heat management, improved speech recognition, and face detection among other upgrades.
Aldebaran Nao
Aldebaran CEO Bruno Maisonnier demonstrates his creation , shows-off the improvements, and is victim of Nao‘s naughty (but lovable) personality in the video below.
Via IEEE Spectrum.
Aldebaran Roméo
Aldebaran, the manufacturers of the very popular Nao humanoid robot, just unveiled their new full-scale humanoid platform: the Roméo.
This new 1.4 m tall, 40 kg robot is still in the drawing board but a first prototype is planned to be completed by March 2011. It features several interesting innovations such as a four-vertebra backbone, articulated feet, a soft torso, a composite leg exoskeleton, and a back-drivable actuators (which makes it safe to operate around humans, similar to PR2).
Aldebaran Roméo Hand
It will have 37 degrees of freedom, including 2 DOF for each eye, 1 DOF for each foot, and 3 DOF for the backbone.
Aldebaran Roméo Torso
This personal robot is intended to assist the elder and disabled individuals with everyday chores much like the ideal robot butler depicted in science fiction movies. Aldebaran also intends to make the communication with the robot effortless and natural trough speech and gestures.
Aldebaran Romeo Around the House
The price tag on this beauty is expected to be about 250,000 euros.
Aldebaran Roméo Head Prototype
Via IEEE Spectrum.
Aldebaran’s Nao keeps making progress and, as depicted in the video below, was able to register by itself in this year’s RobotCup. The video below illustrates a rehearsal of the registration process where Nao introduces himself and presents the required forms.
More than a demonstration of functionality and versatility, this was a demonstration of sheer cuteness. Also, it proved that Nao can use shoes made from disposable meat trays (the latest in robotic fashion). More importantly it shows how robots can integrate into our human everyday lives.
Via Singularity Hub.
Nao Close-up
Nao keeps making headlines and becoming more and more popular. The little humanoid has been featured on Fox News.
As reported by the anchors, University of Hertfordshire is developing the robot’s response to human emotions. This aims to create better communication between robots and humans. This way, very similar to human children, Nao could learn form the emotional response of a human to a particular situation and act in a very accordingly.
A well known robot with this sort of capabilities is Leonardo from the MIT Media Lab (shown in the video below).
Via Singularity Hub.
Kudos to the IEEE Spectrum people for having put together this rather interesting matrix of child-sized humanoid robots. They are classified by appearance (from robotic to freakishly human), and capabilities (from simulating a runny nose to full autonomy). It is good to note that the familiar Nao is in that list among the most capable and robot-looking robots.
IEEE Spectrum Robot Baby Matrix
Via IEEE Spectrum.
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