iMachines

Robotic companion are developed to use for therapeutic applications and to fill a basic human need for companionship and most of them are look like animals. Why? Research indicates that animal companionship benefits people; they can lower our stress, reduce heart rate and respiratory rate, elevate mood and facilitate greater socialization with other people. So why they used robots not real animals? There are many situations where animals are not welcome, due to allergies, risk of disease or institutional requirements like in hospitals and nursing homes. Example of these robots are the huggable robotic bear and the robotic baby seal.

The cutting-edge technologies of huggable robotic bear:

• The full-body sensate skin consists of three different types of sensors - electric field, temperature and force - that cover the entire surface of the robot. (The sensor-skin lies under a silicone skin and plush fur fabric for greater comfort.) This may be an improvement over earlier efforts to give robots pressure-sensitive skin and electroluminescent thin film sensors.
• An inertial measurement unit, cameras embedded in the eyes and microphones in the ears.
• Voice coil actuators with position sensing give the Huggable silent, compliant and backlash-free movement in the neck, shoulders and face.
• An embedded PC with wireless communication capabilities implements the robots behaviors and provides care givers with effective patient monitoring and efficient data collection.

Characteristic of robotic baby seal:

• Sensitive to touch, light, sound, and temperature, as well as even to the way it is held.
• It can mimic animal behavior and respond by cooing, blinking its eyes, and wiggling its fins.

Other companion robots that are non-animal look is the PaPeRo R100. The PaPeRo R100 is a one-foot-tall personal companion robot developed by NEC’s Personal Robot Research Center. This robot is a pint-sized, 5 kilogram robot that recognizes and can speak hundreds of words. It also can remember faces (up to 10 people), responds to hand gestures and can move about and even dance on its two roller feet. This PaPeRo also comes with different personalities and capabilities. There’s a comedian PaPeRo, a lazy PaPeRo and even a silver, child-care model.

In my next post lets talk about Household Robots. See you.