Developing a Robot Companion(& Co)

Your heard right. The 58cm Nao robot is becoming the Hilton’s first bipedal robotic ‘Concierge’. Endowed with IBM’s AI platform Watson, it is taking over hotel lobbies in the US. 

Making a small step toward the integration of social robots in every day life, this project was introduced to facilitate client’s treasure hunt in this new perplexing city they just arrived in, and keep them updated on hotel’s news. ( Well. Lets say it’s also bringing a cool tech touch to the art of hospitality 😉 ) 

A couple of notable woman can be counted among the big figures in social robotics.

Among them: Cynthia Breazeal, an Associate Professor of Media Arts and Sciences at MIT, director of the Personal Robots Group at the MIT Media Laboratory and founder of Jibo Inc.

Breazeal is particularly famous for her work in social interaction and socially situated learning between people and robots. She helped developed a few robots including Kismet, Leonardo, Nexi and Jibo.

Check out her TED talk on The Rise of Personal Robots.

Breazeal and Jibo.

Jibo is a robot that is aimed at becoming one of the first social robot for the home. 

Breazeal and Nexi.

As mentioned in a previous post, I used NAO® for my senior thesis during which I developed an approach to make it reproduce and learn handwritten letters.

The full behavior was designed using Python, Aldebaran's APIs, and image analysis and mathematical tools such as Numpy, Scipy and OpenCV. I used image analysis tools specifically to extract the contour of a pattern in real-time and translate it into a trajectory that the robot could reproduce with its arm/hand. 

Sample of a handwritten letter shown to NAO

What are “Social Robots”?

(According to Wikipedia)

“ A social robot is an autonomous robot that interacts and communicates with humans or other autonomous physical agents by following social behaviors and rules attached to its role. 

Social robotics is a fairly recent branch of robotics: since the early 1990s artificial intelligence and robotics researchers have developed robots which explicitly engage on a social level.

NAO isn’t the only advanced (while still affordable) robotics research platform out there. For more info: 

The Bioloid (”make your own robot” kit) -- Robotis

DarwinOP -- Robotis

Over the years Aldebaran Robotics developed a whole family of humanoids.

I’ve been passionate about robotics since I was around 7 or 8 years old (remember Bicentennial Man featuring Robin Williams ? Well, it used to be my favorite movie -- still is --- ). 

I first heard of NAO® 3 years ago at the NYC Maker Faire. A programmer from Aldebaran’s new developer program was making a demonstration, and I was sold on the spot. I contacted the company about using NAO® as the main research platform for my Senior Thesis and finally met with them last summer at their new Atelier in Paris. 

NAO® is a humanoid robot developed by Aldebaran Robotics.

Used in schools, universities and research labs it is a state-of-the art robotic platform aimed for companionship and education.

It is particularly used in projects involving Human-Robot Interactions and the reproduction of anthropomorphic tasks (like drawing, walking around the house, grabbing objects, etc).

A few technical details:

58 cm tall (1′8″ ft) it possesses:

25 Degress Of Freedom

2 frontal cameras 

A variety of sensors including tactile sensors, ultrasonic sensors and an inertial measurement unit

Multiple micros, recorders and speakers