Courtesy of Fellow Robots, Inc.

In our previous post we looked at socially engaging robots and how they are helping to break down barriers to remote presence. Another area on the fringe of telepresence is service robots. These robots operate autonomously, but have the ability to be controlled in telepresence mode when the need arises. The symbiosis between robot and machine allows these robots to take care of easier things, while allowing humans to take over when it needs help. As autonomy improves, the bar moves higher and higher.

In October 2014, Suitable Technologies opened the first retail store staffed only by Beam telepresence robots. Two months later, Orchard Hardware in mid-town San Jose began using the semi-autonomous OSHBot by Fellow Robotics. OSHBot has image and voice recognition enabling it to guide customers up and down aisles to the items they are looking for — most of the time. Fellow Robotics, still in the pilot phase for the project, is improving certain processes like natural language recognition. Phrases like, ‘lawn mower’, ‘lawnmower’ or ‘lawn-mower’ can be a problem. However if an issue does arise, an associate from another store can login to help with more technical questions. No different than doctors using telepresence robots in rural hospitals when an expert isn’t physically available.

Silicon Valley isn’t the only place where you can find examples of service robots in retail.  REEM, by Pal Robotics, recently spent the summer on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi.  When at the mall she (yes, she) helped shoppers and tourists find their way, along with taking lots of photos. The team at Pal Robotics are also working on a bipedal unit called REEM-C, a robot that could potentially rival Honda’s ASIMO. REEM has two advantages: its use of ROS and availability to researchers. As of now, ASIMO uses proprietary software and he’s not available for sale.

Service robots are also entering homes as well. Korea’s Future Robot first unveiled FURo-i at CES in 2015, a home assistant robot, designed to maintain your home while away and chat with friends and family when you are there. Robot Base, out of NYC, also debuted ‘Personal Robot’ at CES in 2015. Think of Personal Robot like Siri on wheels, which can play your favorite music and remind you of upcoming appointments, ‘Personal Robot’ comes with advanced connectivity and autonomous algorithms to automate your home, like turning off lights and turning down the thermostat when you aren’t there. Recent media attention has gone to Buddy, by Blue Frog Robotics, due to its highly successful Indiegogo campaign (perhaps you saw it on RoboHub). Buddy is certainly the cutest robot of them all. Buddy can integrate with IBM’s Watson cloud services improving natural language and object recognition, along with the typical personal and home assistant functionality you would expect.

We’re now reaching the end of our telepresence series. In the final part, we’ll talk about the future of telepresence and where it could be headed.

Using a BeamPro, Brianna Lempesis waits in line to buy an iPhone6s from the Apple Store in downtown Palo Alto. Photo: Suitable Technologies.

Robots are great for doing dull, dirty, and dangerous jobs, and few jobs are more dangerous and downright dull (at times) than waiting in line to buy the latest tech gadget. Last week in Palo Alto, California, and in Sydney, Australia, telepresence devices stood in for their human counterparts to buy the iPhone 6S. 

Both transactions took place without the humans ever getting in line. Brianna Lempesis, who works for Suitable, hopped in line in Palo Alto the morning the iPhone went on sale there. Lucy Kelly, who works at a marketing firm in Sydney and normally uses a Double for work, was able to hop in line the day before. Kelly on her Double in Sydney and Lempesis on her Beam Pro in Palo Alto were both able to operate their telepresence devices and complete the entire transaction in the comfort of their homes, while multiplexing themselves at their respective offices.

“This the most fun I’ve ever had waiting in a line,” said Lempesis. Though each event was seen as a publicity stunt, I expect this to happen more often as busy people with the financial means wake up to the idea that they can physically be in more than one place at a time.

I’m currently hatching a plan to use this idea for Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens tickets, though I think Sphero’s BB8 might be more appropriate.

In the coming weeks, I’ll be covering  the current state of telepresence to give you an idea of just how prevalent it is, and why this isn’t going away. Watch for more soon.

Suitable Technologies Beam Remote Presence Robots

Two very visible things struck me as indicative of why the show was packed with enthusiastic exhibitors and attendees. One was the use of Beam remote-presence robots on the exhibition floor. Palo Alto start-up Suitable Technologies brought two dozen Beam robots to the show and rented them by the hour to people calling in from around the world. They worked flawlessly, moved freely and accident-free, carried on conversations with passersby and exhibitors – a perfect solution for those who couldn’t physically come and experience the trade show portion of RoboBusiness. There was even a Beam Hour where the show floor was closed to all except exhibitors and Beam attendees. A high-tech solution to broaden the high-tech audience of RoboBusiness.

Unbounded Robotics UBR-1 Mobile Robot

The other was Unbounded Robotics and their new UBR-1 one-armed mobile robot. Built by many of the same team that built Willow Garage’s two-armed robot PR2 – a robot that launched and sold for $400,000 in 2009, the new $35,000 UBR-1 is as capable as the older PR2 but it is now affordable whereas very few could pay for the PR2. This price drop phenomena was talked about by speakers and in private conversations. Words like “plug and play,” “convergence” and “confluence” were used to describe it.” “In just five years — from $400,000 to $35,000! Amazing.”

The UBR-1 appears to have encapsulated for all to see a major trend happening in robotics over the last five years: sensors, cameras, batteries and other component costs have been and continue to drop dramatically and, combined with mobility and ever-more-powerful CPUs, those lower costs are enabling cheaper more capable robots — such as Unbounded’s UBR-1.

With 2D and 3D sensors, scanners and cameras, more capable lighter and smaller batteries, and all the other functionality developed and incorporated in ROS and the PR2, Unbounded Robotics will begin shipping UBR-1 units next summer. First units will go to academia but shortly thereafter commercial versions will begin shipping to companies for various mobility tasks such as machine tending and material transport. After that, Melonee Wise, CEO, suggested additional application areas being developed for the hospitality business – mobility tasks like room service delivery and after-room-cleaning inspection. Other applications could include restocking shelves and, with the proper software, limited eldercare. The new UBRs will be manufactured and assembled in Silicon Valley. Unbounded is in the process of closing their “A” round of funding.

Invest, Innovate, Implement

“Invest, Innovate, Implement” was the theme for RoboBusiness 2013 and it was carried throughout with extensive speakers, panels and workshops. Funding methods and understanding what VCs think and want were a big part of the show. It started with a 3-hour workshop sponsored by Grishin Robotics, the start-up funding entity of the Russian VC Dmitry Grishin. It was followed by an evening session where a group of start-ups presented their elevator pitches in front of four venture capitalists. There was also a breakout session with VCs discussing today’s investment trends and how they view them in relation to investing.

ROS-Industrial

As costs come down and component systems become more capable, many companies are moving to add advanced vision and perception systems, path and grasp planning, and networking capabilities to their existing robots. One way to accomplish this is by having a ROS-Industrial front end – a common open-source language familiar to most engineering and robotics students – where one can design and simulate cross-platform vision systems and other additions before implementing them. ROS-Industrial, a non-profit open source robotics operating system organization, provides a common framework for robotics applications and is proving to be a good resource for rapid development of new components and uses for existing robots.

Google’s Self-Driving Cars

Google’s Chris Urmson, Director, Self-Driving Cars, a keynote speaker, showed not only the history but the complexity of the process of robotic self-driving cars. There’s a whole lot going on as a Google car moves along it’s path.

Notice the red circle in the left top picture. With 360º vision provided by the scanner, the car has to process every type of information, everywhere, including behind and around corners. In the top right picture, there are lights, pedestrians, lane markings, etc., all identified and color coded and tracked by the onboard computers. When maps are available, comparisons to what the car is seeing versus what the map says is there is another input to the massive data processing – 1 GB of data every second – that occurs thousands of times every second.

RoboBusiness 2013 had over 500 attendees and 60 exhibitors. Next year’s show will be held in Boston.

• ROS (Robot Operating System) and ROS-enabled software packages and libraries can be found in most universities and research labs.
• The 50 PR2 research robots and development platforms around the world and at Willow Garage’s offices in Menlo Park have enabled countless roboticists and research labs to spend their time innovating instead of having to re-invent.
• The spin-offs abound as well: TurtleBot, OpenCV, Galapagos, ROS and ROS-Industrial, Suitable Technologies’ Beam Remote Presence System, HiDOF consulting, the detection and perception leading to the establishment of Industrial Perception, are all indicators of WG’s policy of spinning out entities with a sustaining business plan.
• Joint ventures like Redwood Robotics and Industrial Perception.

The PR2s around the world will continue to be supported and the recent establishment of non-profit organizations will continue the open source platform and libraries.