Servo - January 2014

54 SERVO 01.2014

A robot that can get from one place to another autonomously would be a very valuable asset in a variety of businesses. Slowly, but surely, the mobile robot revolution is happening.

Budgee, on the other hand, seems to be reaching towards the consumer market being relatively inexpensive at $1,400. According to the company, Budgee is "the friendly robot who carries your stuff." That's a cool idea. When you think about it, the basic functions of a mobile robot are to fetch and carry, so a simple device that just follows you around carrying your stuff would be useful in a variety of scenarios (although Budgee has none of the navigation capabilities of the Lynx).

Another popular kiosk was the Yaskawa Motoman Yogurt Factory. This is basically a vending machine where you insert a credit card and the robot makes a yogurt for you (at RoboBusiness 2013, the yogurts were free!). You select the flavor, toppings, and souvenir cup.

Carnegie Mellon Silicon Valley demoed their Romibo project which features a pet-like social robot designed for therapy and research, and promoted their current emphasis on personal assistive robots.

There were some goodies for the hobbyists like ROBOTIS and VEX in attendance. It looks like ROBOTIS is moving into full-size humanoids with their THOR-MANG (Tactical Hazardous Operations Robot) humanoid and its Dynamixel servos. VEX is focused on the educational market using robotics to teach STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics).

I work for Neato Robotics as a technician and they were there, too. Our robots are consumer products starting at $400. The Neato XV series also happens to be an excellent hacking platform with the API available through USB and a built-in LiDAR. The primary function is, of course, vacuuming. Our booth featured a navigation pen and a radar-map demo.

What stood out for not being at the show were 3D printers. At Maker Faire, for example, it seemed every other booth had a 3D printer. Personally, I feel this is a space where the hobbyists are ahead of the business world. In fact, I'm of the opinion that the telepresence revolution will happen at home first. In business, no one wants to seem "silly" so they resist the idea of virtual telepresence. With the price of wireless web cameras so cheap, however, how much could it cost to put wheels on them? For home use, I could see someone trying out one of these products to check in on the kids or elderly parents, for security, and to play with the cat. Once business realizes how practical this would be, these robots will become an easy sell. I'm here to tell you, there's tons of room for innovation, improvement, and cost reduction in robotics. This is the same muse that drove the microcomputer revolution of the ‘80s but with eyes, arms, and legs. It's nice to work on a professional platform, but there's something magic about the hobbyist's enthusiasm that moves the medium forward! I believe the robot revolution is going to come from the home. Consumer electronics still drive technology, but there are some wonderful things coming from labs that are finally making an appearance. This is a great business with great people, and it is just getting started. SV

Two anecdotes for your amusement: When I was entering the expo, I encountered a young man coming from the nearby Server Design Summit who desperately wanted to get into the RoboBusiness expo. "My conference is so boring!" he exclaimed. I told him that he was in the wrong business and should get involved in robotics because it is definitely not boring.

Finally, at the end of the expo on my way out the door, I observed a young man working on a robot in the corner. His name was Balaji Lakshmanan and he was working on his "shopping robot" which he had demoed the day before at the Pitchfire event. In a genuine small-world moment he recognized me because he had been following the HomeBrew Robotics Club mailing list from India for the past five years. Balaji is the CEO of Geeky, Inc., and iMakeRobots. He made a robot for the Bollywood movie "Mugammodi," as well as other animatronics, educational robots, a telepresence robot, and his latest shopping 'bot.