la cybernétique

"A new ASTRO design was conceived. The design had to find also a balance between the user requirements and the technical constraints due to the size and the shape of commercial robotic platform (SCITOS G5) and the final height of the handle which should be comparable with the average height of human beings. The new ASTRO is 20 cm shorter than the previous version. In this version, we maintained the smiling face to propose a friendly robot and the same grey colour. The 10" frontal tablet (Samsung, Korea) is mounted on a flexible support with a spherical joint, thus the user is free to adjust the screen. A RGBD camera (ORBBEC, USA) was mounted in correspondence of the neck to mimic a bow-tie. On the back we added a 7" tablet (Samsung, Korea) mounted in the plastic cover and a small camera (NGS, Spain) to monitor the user while he or she is walking. Additionally, force sensors were mounted on the handle to monitor the user force. Finally, ASTRO can bring small objects on his back. This new design of ASTRO was realized with a 3D printer and was made out of 100% of recycled plastic, and all the soft textiles were removed." – Laura Fiorini et al., Co-creation of an assistive robot for independent living: lessons learned on robot design.

RobuWALKER (2009) by Vincent Dupourque, Robusoft, France. With later versions based on the robuLAB, RobuWALKER is a robotized walking frame, helping the user with the transition from sit to stand and acting as a walking assistant.

RobuLAB10 (2007) by Robosoft, France. "The RobuLAB 10 is a small multi-service robotic platform designed for a variety of applications in the areas of services, communication, education, health and research."

"Robuter II, is a commercial robot mainly used in research applications. This robot is supplied with two DC motors driving the wheels (differential configuration), with two incremental encoders coupled to them. It has a ring of 24 [ultrasonic] sensors connected to a CAN field bus for obstacle detection and avoidance." – Hardware Architectures for Mobile Robots, by Leopoldo Armesto, Juan Carlos Torres, and Josep Tornero.

"In 1985, convinced of the innovation’s potential, Vincent founded Robosoft to industrialize and commercialize the robuTER. It quickly became one of the first mobile service robots in Europe, used for research, education, and technical development. Between 1985 and the late 1990s, more than 100 robuTER units were manufactured and deployed in research laboratories across the world. robuTER laid the groundwork for what is now a major field: robots designed to navigate and assist in human environments." – Robosoft, The Origin of robuTER: When ROBot Met compuTER.

"The story of robuTER begins in a research lab at INRIA in the early 1980s. At the time, researchers in computer vision were developing algorithms to perceive and analyze visual environments. Their goal was clear: to apply these algorithms to robotics, in order to create machines capable of navigating intelligently through the real world. It was in this context that Vincent Dupourqué envisioned the very first robuTER. He designed an autonomous mobile robot from an electric wheelchair, intended to serve as a platform for experimenting with service robotics. The name robuTER is a play on words that reflects this fusion: it combines ROBot and compuTER, symbolizing the union of mobile mechanics and embedded intelligence." – Robosoft, The Origin of robuTER: When ROBot Met compuTER.

"The acquisition by a French investor and the transfer of Robosoft's activities to Toulouse led to Robosoft's liquidation in April 2017. "I had ceased my activities with Robosoft in 2015, but I was a minority shareholder. I bought Kompaï's assets before the liquidation," recounts Vincent Dupourqué, who limits his communication on this matter, which is clearly not entirely resolved… In July 2016, he created the company KOMPAÏ robotics in Bidart to dedicate himself solely to the development of the Kompaï robot. A small team of five engineers is currently working on the third version of Kompaï. The goal is to lower the current price to around €20,000-€25,000, explains Vincent Dupourqué, with a market launch within two years at a price of €5,000. A partnership has been established with the French group Korian, which operates 710 nursing homes and assisted living facilities (365 of which are in France) across Europe. "Initially, we are targeting the market for long-term care facilities for dependent elderly people (EHPADs), with Kompaï positioned as a tool for staff. Discussions are underway to adapt organizational structures." As you can see, introducing a robot—even one with a friendly face—into human teams requires diplomacy. The latest artificial intelligence technologies, particularly in the area of ​​conversational intelligence, will be integrated. The development of Kompaï will inevitably involve the arrival of investors; this is the rule for a young, innovative company like KOMPAÏ robotics." – A third generation of Kompaï robots, La Semaine No 1231, June 15 2017.

Kompaï-2 (2015) by Robosoft, France. "KOMPAÏ-2, with its new and improved design, includes … IoT and Big Data technologies, in addition to state-of-the-art navigation and Human-Machine Interface. It has been on the market since early 2016."

"Mobiserv is targeted at older persons with early dementia and/or physical disabilities and provides health-care support, wellness monitoring, safety protection, and social support through nutrition assistance and dehydration prevention. This includes a health-coach providing a self-check platform and motivational advice for physical activities as well as games for social and cognitive stimulation responsive to the user’s emotions. Mobiserv also provides a mobile remote control for the home and a panic responder with audio/video communication to a service centre, family/friends." – “Maybe it becomes a buddy, but do not call it a robot”, Claire Huijnen, Atta Badii, Herjan van den Heuvel, Praminda Caleb-Solly, Daniel Thiemert.

"It is a mobile and communicative product. Somewhat like a dog, it has its "basket," which is the recharging dock that it heads back to when its batteries are low. Equipped with speech, it is able to understand simple orders and give a certain level of response. It knows its position within the house, how to get from one point to another on demand or on its own initiative, and it remains permanently connected to the internet and all its associated services. Its primary means of communication with people is speech, with an additional touch screen that features simple icons. Future generations of Kompaï will be equipped with visual abilities, and also the possibility to understand and express emotions. And later, the addition of arms will allow it to handle objects, leading to meal preparation and tidying; more practical functions, yet still fundamental in everyday life." – "Robosoft Unveils Kompai Robot To Assist Elderly, Disabled" by Erico Guizzo, IEEE Spectrum.

"The fundamental service that CLARA had to provide was the ability to autonomously conduct some tests typically included in the CGA [Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment]. Briefly, the robot needed to autonomously conduct a questionnaire-based test (the Barthel test), a test for evaluating the patient’s gait (the get-up-and-go test), and a test for cognitive evaluation (the mini-mental test). However, before conducting the tests, the CLARC robot needed to introduce itself as an accessible and helpful assistant (or, at least, a tool). CLARA was designed to be able to receive and accompany patients and their families to the medical consulting room and, once there, help the physician to capture and manage their data during CGA procedures. To meet these requirements, we had to develop a robot that could talk or navigate between standing people, but whose perceptual resources were mainly designed to interact with a seated person being interviewed in a questionnaire-type test or to capture the gait of a person in a test such as the get-up-and-go test in which the person walks up to four meters away from the robot." – CLARA: Building a Socially Assistive Robot to Interact with Elderly People.

"Displayed as part of the exhibit "Designs for Different Futures" at the Philadelphia Museum of Art 2019-2020, Quori is intended as a basis for the study of human-robot interaction (HRI) research. It stands about five feet tall, and has a customizable digital face, moveable torso and arms. The motors and wheels in the omnidirectional mobile base are protected by a pyramid-shaped shell. Quori can respond to human movement, turning, waving and bowing in response to people near it."

"The MILVA robot was one of the first robots in the department to serve as a research platform for various fundamental models of biologically motivated perception and action planning. It was therefore rebuilt several times and equipped with various sensors. Later, MILVA also served as a platform for outdoor robotics, could be controlled remotely via the Internet and learnt to assess the navigability of surfaces. ... MILVA was a central experimental platform in the development of the 'perception-through-participation' approach for the self-organization of an individual understanding of space and form." – Neuroinformatics and Cognitive Robotics Lab, Technische Universität, Ilmenau.

"UHAM will provide the robot TASER that will be used only in the initial developmental activities of Robot-Era. TASER is the main research platform of group TAMS from UHAM. It is mainly used for delivery tasks in home and office environments with its sub-tasks like human interaction, localization, object detection and grasping. The robot system features a mobile platform with differential drive and wheel encoders, two laser range finders and is controlled by an industrial computer PC. Different sensor and actuator systems as well as control strategies can be tested with the robot platform." – Robot-Era Prototypes and Experimental Platforms.

“The Toy-Pet Plexi-Ball has three ‘eyes’ and one ‘ear’ that respond to light and sound. Its creators explain: If a person, in the same room with the sphere, makes a loud noise, such as clapping his hands, the sphere begins to roll. If, after five seconds, he makes no other loud noise, the sphere will stop. If he continues making noise for the five seconds, the sphere continues to roll for a longer period in the same direction. If the sphere has stopped and the person makes a noise a second time, the sphere rolls in another direction. If he directs the sphere toward any other object, it eventually sees a reflection of its blinking and goes in either of two other directions. If he approaches the sphere and gets in front of the light source, the sphere sees him and begins to move in one of three directions. A controlled series of sounds can guide the sphere in the direction of another person or pursue him around the room. The only override to the sphere's internal decision-making process consists of throwing a blanket over the sphere, or putting it in its special bag. The sphere then remains in a dormant state until released.” – Museum of Modern art, NY, “The Machine: As Seen at the End of the Mechanical Age” by K.G. Pontus Hultén (1968).

“The 1950s were the first golden age of advertising robots. With great interest from the press and the public, larger-than-life metal men trudged through the streets, whose technical abilities were usually low: they could perform little more than simple step, arm and head movements. The radio controlled advertising robot "Roberto" is well documented, as presented by advertising specialist Bernhard Kollwitz in 1952 - "Inch by inch, he went his leisurely way, and it was believed to be a man from Mars," the Recklinghäuser Zeitung wrote at the time. Whether the advertising robot exhibited here is "Roberto" or a successor from the hand of the inventor cannot be determined with certainty, but the stylistic similarity is obvious.” – "Die Roboter Kommen!" 2007.

- Kyle Ferguson, South Pole Telescope Researcher.