Geminoid F, Geminoid HI-1, and Geminoid DK met their original humans, an anonymous young lady, Prof. Hiroshi Ishiguro of Osaka University, and Prof. Henrik Scharfe of Aalborg University, in Denmark.
Geminoid-Human Reunion
This is the first (and probably the last) time that the Geminoid robotic family meet together with their human counterparts. As shown in the video below, it was a “crazy tea party”.
These androids are used as telepresence avatars who mimic the human operator’s speech and emotion. Due to the very expensive shipping cost of the robotic clones, this sort of meeting might never happen again.
We are proud to announce that the very awesome Jazz telepresence robot by Gostai is available for sale at RobotShop. This robot can virtually teleport you to any place in the world and allows you to work remotely. As a result, you can save on business trips, boost productivity, quickly manage problems in multiple distant locations and save on commuting time if you work from home.
iRobot unveiled AVA, their technology demonstrator, at CES 2011. AVA, which stands for “Avatar”, is an autonomous robot equipped with Primesense cameras (similar to the Kinect), laser range-finders, sonars, and even the old-fashioned bumpers.
Although the computational-heavy sensor data processing and navigation is done internally by AVA’s on-board computer, the high-level control is left to whatever device is connected to its head. In the video below, you can see AVA being controlled by an iPad.
The future of AVA is uncertain, but it could be immediately useful for telepresence. Nevertheless, iRobot does not want to limit the public’s vision of the robot to a single application.
Gostai, the creators of Urbi, the popular Open Source control software for robots, just released their new robot: Jazz.
Jazz from Transformer (winstonltl.blogspot.com)
Transformers fans, don’t get too exited, because this is not a transforming robot from outer-space, it is a telepresence robot that can be accessed trough a web interface in order to “teleport” the user to a different location. It rolls on two wheels and has a camera on its rotating head.
Gostai Jazz Telepresence Robot
The video below demonstrates some of its features.
RobotShop is putting together a list of the most noteworthy and outright coolest robots for 2010 and we need your help. You can participate by voting in a poll on the RobotShop Forum that will decide which are The Ten Coolest Robots of 2010.
We have selected twenty of the coolest robots from a cross section of the robotic market. Robots are presented in alphabetical order to remove bias. Keep reading for a brief description of each of the robotic contestants for the 2010 RobotShop Top Ten Coolest Robots.
Aldebaran Nao
Aldebaran Nao
The Nao form Aldebaran Robotics has been very present this year performing all sort of dances and rather cute actions. It is the only fully autonomous humanoid in the market today with such great capabilities at a (sort of) reasonable price.
Anybots QB
Anybots QB
The QB form Anybots is a new and upcoming telepresence robot that is intended to be user friendly and allow you to be present at a remote location in an instant.
AR Drone Parrot
AR Drone Parrot
The Parrot form AR Drone is the first affordable UAV that can be intuitively and easily controlled though a web enabled device such as an iPhone or laptop.
BAE Systems Taranis
BAE Taranis UCAV
The Taranis by BAE Systems is an Unmanned Combat Aircraft System (UCAS) developed for the UK military. This stealth “swept delta” aircraft is intended to be fully autonomous.
Boston Dynamics Little Dog
Boston Dynamics Little Dog
As a derivative of Big Dog, Boston dynamics‘ Little Dog is a smaller version of the popular quadruped robot. This robot is intended to navigate very challenging terrain and cross large obstacles. The dog can learn and quickly adapt to a wide variety of terrain and recover form unexpected situations such as slipping or sudden terrain modifications.
Dr Robot created a very nice tracked professional robotic platform intended for extreme terrains. The Jaguar can climb stairs, and navigate autonomously indoors and outdoors. Lately, the Jaguar got redesigned ad received a significant price cut thanks to improved manufacturing techniques.
Evolution Robotics Mint
Evolution Robotics Mint
The Mint from Evolution Robotic is a new floor cleaning robot that can operate very quietly. It can systematically and thoroughly mop and wipe hard floors thanks to it indoors navigation technology and proven wiping pads such as Swiffers.
Google Autonomous car
Google Autonomous car
The desire of having self-driving cars is very present in science fiction. Now, thank to Google and and the engineering behind the DARPA Challenges, the autonomous car is a reality. This type of technology can truly revolutionize humans’ everyday lives.
Humboldt University Myon
Humboldt University Myon
The Myon (or Muon) from Humboldt University is a child sized a modular humanoid. It is made of interchangeable parts that can operate independently of the rest of the body. This means that if a critical leg part breaks, it could be replaced by a less critical arm par for instance.
Kawada HRP-4
Kawada HRP-4
The HRP-4 by Kawada ifs the latest of a long series of very impressive humanoid robots. This last iteration is particularly thin, fast and gracious.
Neato Robotics XV-11
Neato Robotics XV-11
The XV-11 by Neato Robotics is cleverer than its predecessors and is becoming very popular quite rapidly. Thanks to its mapping capabilities, the robot vacuum is capable of systematically and efficiently cleaning a room very rapidly.
Raytheon XOS 2
Raytheon XOS 2
The XOS 2, a military Exoskeleton by Raytheon is able to greatly augment the force and thus the endurance of a human soldier. The XOS 2 is basically the closest technology to the Iron Man suite (form Marvel comics) currently in existence.
RobotCub iCub
RoboCub iCub
The iCub from RobotCub is a humanoid robot intended to emulate a toddler in size, motor skills and learning capabilities. The video below demonstrates its motor and learning skills.
RobotShop DFRobotShop Rover
DFRobotShop Rover
The DFRobotshop Rover is the result of the collaboration of RobotShop and DFRobot. It is the cheapest Arduino-based programmable robotic platform currently available on the market. The clever use of the PCB as a structural part is partly what makes it so affordable.
Smartpool Nitro
Smartpool Nitro Wall Scrubber
The new Nitro pool cleaner robot family form Smartpool is faster and more accurate than its predecessors. It is very technologically advanced and cleans pools thoroughly.
University of Penn Aggressive Quadrotors
University of Pennsylvania Aggressive Quad-rotor UAVs
The BEAR by Vecna Robotics is a military rescue robot with a friendly Teddy-Bear face. Despite its friendly face, it is extremely strong and can easy carry a soldier on its extended arms.
Wild Planet Trakr
Wild Planet Trakr
The Trakr form Wild Planet is a interesting spy robot toy. It has a camera and microphone and can record video. Another noteworthy aspect of the robot is that it is easily hackable and can become a very interesting robotic development platform.
Willow Garage PR2
Willow Garage PR2
The PR2 from Willow Garage is a service robot that runs the Open Source Robotic Operating System ROS. Since its creation, the PR2 has been making significant progress at tackling everyday tasks. This rapid advancement is mainly due to its simple programming interface that provides useful abstractions for its components.
Now that you had a quick look at all the robotic candidates, feel free to chose your favourite in the following poll: 2010 RobotShop Top Ten Coolest Robots.
The new TRAKR from Wild Planet is a very interesting mobile spy toy on its own, but it also has lots of hacking potential. Wild Planet is even embracing this hacking movement by providing documentation about all the platform features. Soon enough, this toy will be converted in a very inexpensive programmable robotic platform for all roboticists to enjoy.
Wild Planet TRAKR
The kind people at Hack a Day have made a very thorough review of the platform and even went to the extreme of dissembling the robot completely. Their findings are rather interesting and definitely a good read for anyone wanting to purchase the TRAKR or simply looking for an inexpensive telepresence robot.
TRAKR with Arduino in its cargo bay.
They even contemplated the possibility of expanding the TRAKR‘s main control board by adding an Arduino in order to provide further inputs and outputs. We are eager to see how the TRAKR now that they are in the wild.
Hiroshi Ishiguro is a master of creepy robotics, and now has managed to produce the creepiest robot by far: Behold the Telenoid R1.
The robot is intended to be a telepresence companion that will emulate the facial expression and body gestures of the human controlling it from afar. Everybody would agree that there are many other ways of producing a telepresence robot that will not give you nightmares for the rest of your life and that will not cost 35 000 $ each. For those of you already wanting one of these unholy creatures but are not prepared to speed such an important amount of money, there will be a cheaper version that will sale for as low as 8 000 $ and will feature fewer degrees of freedom and a cloth skin (instead of the original silicon skin)…What a bargain!
Prof. Hiroshi Ishiguro (on the right) Holding a Ghoulish Robot
As shown in the videos below, the robot can clumsily pan and tilt its head, wiggle its abbreviated limbs and “tail”, and requires a stand in order to face other humans.
We quite frankly do not understand what is being said in the video, but it nevertheless remains creepy and disturbing.
Some time ago, the RobotShop team decided to build a telepresence system. Usually, these kinds of systems are sadly limited to a web-cam and a screen on wheels, and are simply a glorified videophone. This is not the case at RobotShop since we love robots and are all for crazy projects. This is why, a full motion controlled system was put together in order to provide a truly immersive experience to the user. This is very similar to the Justin control haptic suit by DLR featured in the past days, but a few tens of millions of dollars cheaper.
The team did this mainly inspired by one of the coolest robots of all Hollywood history: Johnny 5 (from the Short Circuit movie).
Johnny 5
The Lynxmotion Johnny 5 robotic platform was used, and a motion-capture exoskeleton was put together using mainly potentiometers and wooden sticks. The video below shows further details about the project, its motivations and the end result.
For the reader’s convenience, we have transcribed the list of materials used during the construction featured at the end of the video:
Vgo, a start-up in Nashua near Boston is in the process of developing a telepresence and video-conference robot which can be remote-controlled and attend conferences.
Vgo has already raised 8 million dollars and will introduce its robot at the start of June in Las Vegas at an exhibition.
The prototype will move on its two wheels and looks like a sort of giant Wall-e.
It will be the eyes, ears and “presence” of the person remote-controlling it.
It should start to be marketed next month at a price of 5000 dollars, or one third the cost of QB by Anybots, anticipated for the end of the year.
This type of robot is quite simply the future of teleconferencing.
It’s very practically when the person can’t travel and is efficient because the robot acts like a real human presence by displaying the face on the screen (the head).
