robovie

Japanese start-up Vstone and Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International, or ATR, have launched a new half-size humanoid robot designed to assist the elderly and disabled in everyday tasks like grocery shopping and navigating train stations.

Robovie R3 is the latest version of the robotic platform that the Osaka firm and Kyoto lab have been developing for several years. Last year, Robovie II was tested at a supermarket and could be seen making shopping suggestions to the woman it was accompanying.

R3 is built of plastic over an aluminum frame. It stands about 3 feet tall, weighs 77 pounds, and moves around on a wheeled base at roughly the same speed as a person walking.

It can roll over raised tiles designed to guide visually impaired people, a common feature in public areas of Japan. It can also hold a person's hand while moving and go up and down wheelchair ramps.

The robot is equipped with 15 servomotors and has 17 degrees of freedom (axes of movement). It has 11 touch sensors, USB eye cameras, two microphones, and two optional distance sensors.

It's being sold as a research platform. While incorporating significant cost reductions from Robovie II, R3 will still cost about as much as a sports car--some $40,000. ATR and Vstone hope to sell about 30 units this year.

One option for R3 is a special exterior designed by Tomotaka Takahashi of start-up Robo-Garage. The design makes R3 look a lot like Takahashi's Ropid humanoid, a cute little bot that can hop several inches off the floor.

With all the work that went into R3, it's a pity the machine's voice sounds like Mickey Mouse on helium. Would it be a hit with kids? See (and hear) it in action after the jump. … Read more

A humanoid robot has been deployed to a supermarket in Japan to help senior shoppers with their grocery purchases.

The modified version of the Robovie II robot developed by Japan's Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International, or ATR, is working as a temporary shopping assistant at Apita-Seikadai supermarket in Kyoto until March. It's another experiment to test the viability of advanced personal robots in everyday situations.

Robovie can wirelessly receive a list of items selected beforehand by the customer, carry the shopping basket, and make recommendations about what to buy.

In the video below, the robot slowly follows a … Read more

Osaka, Japan-based robot maker Vstone has announced a new humanoid hobby robot that has its own 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z530 processor, compatible with Windows and Linux.

Developed in collaboration with Japan's ATR labs, the new Robovie-PC represents an evolution in hobby robots with its advanced electronics.

Robovie-PC attempts to fill the gap between high-end machines in research labs and competitive hobby bots as seen in Robo-One and Robocup.

The 15.3-inch Robovie-PC comes preassembled and has an impressive 20 degrees of mechanical freedom, a gyro sensor and accelerometer, as well as onboard Wi-Fi and a 1.3-megapixel CMOS … Read more