Paul, a member of the Care-O-bot 4 robot family, has been greeting customers in Saturn-Markt Ingolstadt since the end of October 2016 and directing them towards their desired products. Image: Saturn.

In January 2015, Fraunhofer IPA presented a prototype of the “Care-O-bot 4” service robot. The charming helper is now proving its worth in the real world. “Paul” the robot has been greeting customers in Saturn-Markt Ingolstadt since the end of October 2016 and directing them towards their desired products.

Care-O-bot 4, alias Paul, approaches Saturn customers and welcomes them to the store. If they ask him about a certain product, he accompanies the customer to the department and points them in the direction of the relevant shelf. As he indulges in small talk about the weather, or another subject, Paul turns out to be a most charming contact partner. However, he prefers to leave actual customer service to his human colleagues. Paul is able to call another member of staff for support via “Voice over IP”. Before Paul bids a fond farewell and returns to the store entrance, he still has time to ask for feedback. In this way, he discovers whether customers appreciated the interaction or not. Martin Wild, Chief Digital Officer at Media-Saturn-Holding: “With Paul, we are offering our customers the opportunity to get to know one of the most advanced robots in the world.”

Image: Fraunhofer IPA, Photographer: Rainer Bez (2015)

Modular construction facilitates a wide range of application areas

The interactive robot prototype was originally developed by Fraunhofer IPA as an assistant robot to actively support humans in areas such as the household, hotels, care homes and hospitals. IPA scientists worked together with the design studio Phoenix Design and Schunk over a period of three years to complete the fourth generation of the robot.  While the predecessors of Care-O-bot 4 were used primarily in the development of technological fundamentals from 1989 onwards, the latest version is a modular product family offering elementary commercial solutions for the first time. Fraunhofer IPA is now working with its spin-off company “Unity Robotics” to ensure the solution is suitable for use in various commercial application areas. Saturn is the first customer to make use of the robot platform in real-life scenarios. The project will initially run for six months, with practical findings from customer interactions and employees directly incorporated into the further development of robot technology.

Care-O-bot 4 providing assistance in the kitchen. Image: Phoenix Design 2015

For the assignment with Saturn, the Stuttgart-based scientists supplemented Care-O-bot 4’s software and hardware with additional features. Ulrich Reiser, IPA project manager, explains: “For example, we specified Paul’s navigation, dialog communication and facial expressions. Semvox and Phoenix Design helped implement these changes.” Laser scanners at shin level help with Paul’s orientation. Paul’s front camera and the “Shore” software developed by Fraunhofer IIS allow him to ascertain the mood of the person he is dealing with and express their emotional state. Microphones and cameras for speech and gesture recognition respectively allow Paul to communicate with those around him.

Care-O-bot 4 open for research and industry

Care-O-bot 4 is not only making a positive impression as a retail assistant. With its modular construction and open software interface, the system can be used in many different application areas. It could, for example, conceivably be used as a mobile information kiosk in shops and airports, for pick-up and delivery services in homes and offices, for security applications or as an attraction in a robotics museum. “We retain an interest in ensuring that as many scientists and companies as possible are able to work with the system in order to expand its potential areas of application”, Reiser explains. Within the framework of the Care-O-bot 4 research platform, experts from around the world can further develop the software and hardware components. Together with the spin-off company Unity Robotics, IPA experts are intending to adapt applications to the needs of companies, making Care-O-bot 4 available as a commercial product.

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Fellow Robots, in partnership with Lowes Hardware, today launched the OSHbot as a customer assistant robot at the Orchard Supply Hardware store in San Jose. Although the robot can only give information, this trial will help determine what sort of benefit a robot assistant can provide, both to customers and to store associates.The International Federation of Robotics or IFR predicts that ‘public relations robots’ is a strong and growing sector that will see more than 400 robots deployed in the next three years. These robots are increasingly used in supermarkets, at exhibitions, in museums, and other venues as guides or information providers. The IFR figures will prove conservative if the first public relations or kiosk robots like Oshbot, Pepper and Furo, prove to be popular.

OSHbot is a tall white column mobile robot with two large screens. People can interact with the tablets to search for items or more information about products, and ask the robot directly where to find things. OSHbot speaks both English and Spanish. OSHbot will also help store employees with inventory management and communicating with employees in other locations.

Customers can also bring a part into the store and have OSHbot scan it, using scanning technology first developed for Lowe’s Holoroom home improvement simulator. After scanning and identifying the object, OSHbot will provide product information to the customer and help guide them to its location on store shelves.

The OSHbot was developed through a partnership between Lowe’s Innovation Labs and Fellow Robots, a Silicon Valley technology company specializing in the design and development of autonomous service robots. The partnership was initiated through SU Labs, a Singularity University program that connects corporate innovation teams with startups and other organizations to explore exponentially accelerating technologies and create new sustainable business solutions.

“The last decade was one of rapid technological advancement and prototyping, especially in robotics,” said Marco Mascorro, chief executive officer of Fellow Robots. “With OSHbot, we’ve worked closely with Lowe’s Innovation Labs to take autonomous retail service robot technology out of the sandbox and into the consumer market – enhancing the in-store consumer experience and creating smarter shoppers.”

Fellow Robots have quite a vision and have clearly been busy developing a much more sophisticated robot than the telepresence robot with a coat hanger that was their first robot concept at the Consumer Electronics Show in 2013.

http://youtu.be/Sp9176vm7Co

Korean-based Yujin Robot continues to release thoughtful new products. They just announced a meal-transport robot designed to operate in eldercare and other hospitality and health care facilities.

Yujin’s new GoCart robot is a joint venture between Yujin and ScanBox, a designer and manufacturer of food transport systems for hospitality and institutional faciliities around the world. GoCart maps its environment and uses an array of sensors and cameras to autonomously carry its cargo without interfering with people or other objects along its path. It also has an Internet-of-Things interface so that it can connect with existing IT systems and works with smartphones, tablets and PCs.

A third partner in the new GoCart venture is the Horst Construction company, a property management and senior care facility builder, insurer and property manager.

Field tests of the new GoCart will begin this October in two locations: the US and Sweden.

In 2011 Yujin produced the iRobiQ robot, an English teaching robot for kindergarten classes throughout South Korea.

Thereafter they released a complete line of robotic vacuum cleaners for the Asian market as well as a research mobility device predicated on their Kobuki mobility platform and called Turtle-bots.

This Smart Trash Can, developed by Minoru Kurata, an engineer at a Japanese auto maker, won an Excellence Award at the Japan Media Arts Festival.

“When you toss trash at it, a sensor detects the position of the trash, and sends the information to a PC. The PC calculates where the trash will fall, and communicates it to the can via wireless connection.”

“The trash can has to move autonomously. To achieve that, I created a special mechanism, with a single axis for both the wheel rotation and the change in angle. So even if the wheels rotate, the position of the can itself doesn’t change. That mechanism, the circuitry, and the motor controller all fit within the diameter of the can. If the center of gravity is high, the can will fall over, so I made the can low, narrow, and compact, to keep the center of gravity as low as possible.”

“I’ve received inquiries about turning this into a commercial product. Right now, I’m working to patent the technology for the Smart Trash Can.”

“The probability that the trash will go in is not very high, only 10-20%. Even making full use of the current sensor, it still has errors. So I’d like to improve the success rate. I want to either improve the sensor, or upgrade the control by reducing the error through a program.”

Panasonic has developed a prototype dry head spa robot, which in the future could be attached to a desk or bath. It uses robot hand technology previously developed for use in their hair washing robot.

“For kneading the scalp while the hair is dry, people use dry head spas. So, we’ve added a robot hand we’d already developed for washing hair, and developed this, as a model for seeing how such therapy might feel.”

To start the dry head spa, you first adjust the head fitting, and record your hairline position. Then, the robot hand applies slight pressure to recover a 3D scan of your head.

A 3D tracking mechanism enables the 24 fingers to follow the shape of your head automatically, with the arms expanding and contracting, to make sure they reach the center of your scalp. As well as gently kneading your scalp, this machine can be used in conjunction with a massage chair to give a full-body experience.

“We’d like to develop this hand unit further, in a variety of ways. For example, it could be attached to a bathtub or a desk.”

“We’ve only just created this, so we don’t yet have a timeline for releasing it. We’d like to use this version for fine-tuning the technology, to check that it provides optimal sensation and movement.”