robotcenter-blog

[robotcenter-blog]

The Muscle Suit Interview 

Innophys: https://innophys.jp/en/ 

Robot Phil: http://www.robophil.com

Philip English -All right guys, it's Phillip English, again. So, we're just at another stand at the iREX 2019. We've got a gentleman here who's going to give us an intro into some exoskeletons, and then we'll run through a bit of a company overview. So, could you introduce yourself?

Shimei Ze -I'm Shimei Ze. I work for this company for sales. I'm selling muscle suits in domestic market.

Philip English -So, what's the history of the company? Like, tell us a little bit about where you guys have come from.

Shimei Ze -This company starts from 2013. From laboratory, Mr. Kobayashi, in the Tokyo University of Science. And our main product is muscle suits. This product is support your waist. Mainly for nursing, hospital, factory, and agriculture or something like that.

Philip English -All right, okay. And then, is there different sorts of weights then? Or different sorts of strengths?

Shimei Ze -Yes, it's defined from strengths. In factory or in nursing, in hospital, people have many trouble in waist.

Philip English -Right.

Shimei Ze -Yes. So, our target is this program, this trouble.

Philip English -Right, so when you say waist, so is it the bending over, or is it a certain way that it's lifted up? And does the exoskeleton give you extra strength? So, I can see that there's, on some of the information, there's pieces about giving you extra kilograms. So, is that extra kilograms of more strength? Is that how it works?

Shimei Ze -This muscle suits support 25 kilograms support. And if you went down your body, this support gives the power to 25.5 kilograms.

Philip English -Right. I see. So, it gives you an extra 25 kilograms. Okay, okay. So, the problem is, people with bad, bad, bad waist, so bad lower back, and the idea is that this gives you extra strength so you can pick up more obstacles. Is that work out?

Shimei Ze -If you wear this suit, you can't, you can't pick up, for example 100 kilograms back, just support.

Philip English -Oh, okay. So it's basically a support. It's a support. So, you mentioned there was an inventor? Like, what was his name? From Tokyo University of Science? There was an inventor who made the product?

Shimei Ze -Professor Kobayashi. Mr. Kobayashi.

Philip English -Right, okay. And then, is he developing the product? Is he making more products?

Shimei Ze -Yes, he's still developing some products. For example, walking, moving legs for rehabilitation.

Philip English -Oh, okay. So, he's got, he's sticking to the rehabilitation line, oversee working down that line?

Shimei Ze -Yes.

Philip English -Okay. So, these units, they're not powered by electricity. They're powered by air. Is that right?

Shimei Ze -Yes, this, our products doesn't use electricity. Only air. So, no need to charge, electric charge, or batteries, for like this.

Philip English -Okay. So, you haven't got a worry about batteries? You don't need any batteries? And it's waterproof as well, did you say? Okay. So, what's the future? What's the future idea of the product? Is it gonna get more and more developed? Where does the company see itself in five years time?

Shimei Ze -In future, first our muscle suits, we'll upgrade for more easy to use, more reasonable, so everyone can buy. And we considering to make for arm support or like this. Not only waist.

Philip English -Right, so the idea is to develop more and more products. More for arms and legs. So, and I think you were saying that, your first one was made in 2013, and then there's been many different iterations, but then the price has come down?

Shimei Ze -Yes.

Philip English -So, the newer model is a lot cheaper. So it's a lot more accessible. Is that right?

Shimei Ze -Yes, yes.

Philip English -Right, no, that make's sense. So, many thanks for like the overview. So what I'll do guys, I'll put some links and everything so you guys have a bit more information. I don't think it's available in the UK yet. I think it's a few years away, but, yeah, definitely one to keep out for. Cool. So, thank you very much for your time.

Shimei Ze -Thank you very much.

Philip English -All right, let's put it on. All right, okay.

Shimei Ze -Pump the air.

Philip English -That pumps the air up? Okay. Okay, oh, I feel it. Yeah, okay. And is there a certain amount of pumping?

Shimei Ze -Uh huh.

Philip English -Okay. Like, when do you know to stop? Or do you just keep going and going?

Shimei Ze -Roughly 40 or 50 times.

Philip English -40 to 50 times? Okay.

Shimei Ze -And once I'm pumping air, it's at least one day. No need to pump again. First, I think you try it without support.

Philip English -Oh, right. Okay. So, this is me picking up the thing right here.

Shimei Ze -It's 20 kilograms.

Philip English -Okay, so this is without support. Okay. And what's that? 25 kilo… Oh okay, it's 20 kilos. That's without support. I'll put that down. That'll do my back in. Okay, right, now with support.

Shimei Ze -Yes.

Philip English -With the exoskeleton. Pumped up exoskeleton. All right, we'll do it again. You have to still bend correctly? Oh, I see. Okay. Okay, I can see. So, you've still got the, so you can get it on your shoulders, but the actual bend down piece, you're certainly protecting your back. And I'll go all the way down. I mean, you'd have to, you couldn't run in it, could you? Like you couldn't run.

Shimei Ze -Oh, can't run.

Philip English -Yeah, can't run.

Shimei Ze -So when run, that's off.

Philip English -Oh, so you take it off?

Shimei Ze -Yes.

Philip English -And then you run. Okay, right.

Shimei Ze -And if you feel difficult to bend, you can adjust your air.

Philip English -Adjust the air then. Oh I see. If it's too, like, restrictive, you just let it off, and then you pump it up again. Okay, I can definitely see if you're out in the garden if you're out doing a lot of, just general tasks and you've got a bad back. Okay. Okay, no that's good. Thank you very much. So that's me just doing here, guys, like a quick demo. I've had a use it. So, I'll put some more links. Thank you, thank you! Cool.

[robotcenter-blog]

Suzhou Pangolin Robot Interview 

Suzhou Pangolin Robot: https://en.csjbot.com/ 

Robot Phil: http://www.robophil.com

Philip English: Hi guys, 2019 [inaudible 00:00:02] show, it's Philip English. I'm just going around each stand and just doing a quick interview, just getting to know all the latest robot tech, really. So I've actually got some questions today, which is quite different for me. So if you can let me know your name first of all.

Huo Xiang Ting: Hi, my name Huo Xiang Ting.

Philip English: Okay, thank you, thank you.

Huo Xiang Ting: Thank you, thank you.

Philip English: And then, and you work for?

Huo Xiang Ting: I work for Pangolin Robot Japan.

Philip English: Okay. Okay. And these guys have a whole mix of different robots here. We've got ones that like a moving trolley. One's a sort of a humanoid, but all around the restaurant industry. And we've also got a security robot with these guys. So they're all around sort of the mobile transport, sort of hotel security, the full piece, really. So how many robots have you sold across the world?

Huo Xiang Ting: So we sold to Europe, Germany, and Japan, and Indonesia, American and Australia.

Philip English: Australia. Okay. So all around the world, then?

Huo Xiang Ting: All around the world. 40 countries.

Philip English: So 40 countries. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So we have a number of different robots here. We got the Amy robot, the Alice robot, Snow robot, and the one behind us is called Acre. So first of all, let's have a look at the Amy robot.

Huo Xiang Ting: This one is Amy.

Philip English: Amy, okay.

Huo Xiang Ting: She's delivery.

Philip English: Delivery. So she looks like a waitress. So, she can carry the food around to people. So, restaurants, hotels. Okay, okay.

Huo Xiang Ting: Next one, Alice.

Philip English: Alice.

Huo Xiang Ting: Alice can communication with ...

Philip English: Okay, and is that another Amy?

Huo Xiang Ting: Amy Plus.

Philip English: Amy Plus? Okay. Because it's got a screen.

Huo Xiang Ting: So, the screen.

Philip English: Screen on the front. Okay. So what does the security robot do?

Huo Xiang Ting: He can 24 hours around buildings and street.

Philip English: Okay.

Huo Xiang Ting: And parking.

Philip English: Parking, as well, yeah?

Huo Xiang Ting: School.

Philip English: And schools, as well. Okay. And then how does it work? Is it must be a different technology compared to Amy? Is it like GPS or is it laser scanners?

Huo Xiang Ting: GPS navigation. Navigation.

Philip English: Okay. Yep. Okay. So for the security, right, well, we've got GPS and we got a navigation system. So again, it's got all the safety components and the idea is that goes around the building, obviously, to the tech schools and colleges, hotels, airports, sort of, et cetera. So, like on that side. And hospitals as well?

Huo Xiang Ting: Hospital.

Philip English: Hospital, as well, yeah? Okay. So, I've also had a quick look at the software. So, it's slammed based system and, yeah. All their robots work the same way, I would say, apart from the security robot, which I believe is a different system, but the guys seems to have a good mix. I think that they've also got a floor cleaning robot. And then, what's this?

Huo Xiang Ting: This one is Domo. Domo.

Philip English: Tomo.

Huo Xiang Ting: Domo.

Philip English: Right. Okay. What does he do?

Huo Xiang Ting: She can sing, dancing and speak to the camera with the child's parents.

Philip English: Right. So it's like a parent. So, it can sit by the child and it can speak, internet, and it's like a phone. It's like a phone, as well. Yeah. Okay.

Huo Xiang Ting: Knowledge, knowledge.

Philip English: Knowledge. Yeah, yeah. Knowledge. Is it linked to Google, so I can ask it questions? Yeah.

Huo Xiang Ting: Ask her a question.

Philip English: You can ask questions.

Huo Xiang Ting: And communication.

Philip English: And communication. Right. Okay. Oh, he's cute. He's cute. I quite like him. Yeah. Yeah. I'll put him up to the camera. That's him there. So we get some pictures. Okay. Okay.

Huo Xiang Ting: Thank you.

Philip English: Yeah, no. It's a very good array of robot that you have here.

Huo Xiang Ting: Thank you.

Philip English: Okay. No, I think that's good. I think that's a very good, quick interview with the company. So, obviously, keep an eye out for these guys. And I thank you very much the interview.

Huo Xiang Ting: Thank you.

Philip English: Very good. Thank you.

[robotcenter-blog]

RT Corporation Interview 

RT Corporation: https://rt-net.jp/company-page/?lang=en 

Robot Phil: http://www.robophil.com

Philip English: Hi guys, it's Philip English here again. We're at another stand and we are having a look at what appears to be a 3D-printed robot with some quite smart technology for the home. I've got a lady here who's going to introduce herself and give us an overview of what the robot's all about. Please, can you introduce yourself?

Yuki Nakagawa: Yeah. My name is Yuki Nakagawa, CEO with this company, RT Corporation. We develop for the research and student robot education robots.

Philip English: Right, so this robot is a mixture of a few different projects. So you have the students that give you a hand from the university, you have the university. So from what I understand, it's completely 3D printed. Is that right?

Yuki Nakagawa: Yeah, this robot, named Sciurus 17, that is 3D-printed humanoid robot because he is for the research. And if students want to revise on a model, we give them a 3D model for 3D printers and they can do it.

Philip English: Yeah. Well, I suppose if it's 3D, it's a lot cheaper to produce, and it's a lot easier to produce. I mean, if a student wanted to make a robot then, how long would it take them to make? Would it be quite a while?

Yuki Nakagawa: It's a difficult question. We developed for this robot for six months.

Philip English: Right, okay.

Yuki Nakagawa: All included, a vision system and how to move the motions like that.

Philip English: Right, I see, I see. And then I suppose, what's the problem that the robot solves? I mean, the reason why it's been created. What's the main problem that the robot solves?

Yuki Nakagawa: For the research.

Philip English: For the research?

Yuki Nakagawa: Yeah, yeah.

Philip English: But then eventually you're looking to get it to be like a home robot?

Yuki Nakagawa: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Philip English: Is that the plan?

Yuki Nakagawa: Yeah, a home robot or a collaborative robot.

Philip English: Right, okay, okay. So at the moment it's a research project, but you're looking to develop it to become more of a commercial product. Is that right?

Yuki Nakagawa: It's not for the consumer robot because we developed this robot for the research and as they made a future.

Philip English: Right. Okay. Okay. I understand. I understand. Take me through how it works then. It uses, obviously, the camera here to see the obstacle, to pick it up, and then put it in the box?

Yuki Nakagawa: Yes.

Philip English: Yeah. Okay, and then what's this camera that you've got here?

Yuki Nakagawa: That camera is [inaudible 00:02:34] and that camera watches cutlery or the dishes, to distinguish which is which, and the robot had hands, [inaudible 00:02:43] normal hands, but it can handle a spoon, cup, and dishes in the same hands. And usually, industrial robots changes on the hands if there's each different object.

Philip English: Right, I see. I see. So the advantages of this one is that you wouldn't change the hand for a different object. It can pick up multiple different objects.

Yuki Nakagawa: Yeah, exactly.

Philip English: Right. Right.

Yuki Nakagawa: Because the vision distinguish what by what.

Philip English: Right, and then do you have to teach the robot what it's picking up? Do you have to say, "Okay, that's a cup, that's a bowl," and then it understands and then it can pick each one?

Yuki Nakagawa: Yeah, depending on the AI, we can do such a way.

Philip English: Okay. I can definitely see the advantage and I can see the progression. It's probably because I put the cup there, funny, but I'm really impressed with the way, obviously, that all this has been built. So this is, obviously, being built up in 3D, and then all of their mechanics are there. So what's the future step? What's the next step for you guys?

Yuki Nakagawa: Next step? This robot next step is intelligent.

Philip English: Intelligent?

Yuki Nakagawa: Yeah.

Philip English: Okay. Is that more of a software thing?

[robotcenter-blog]

Obodroid Security Robot Interview 

Obodroid: https://obodroid.com/ 

Robot Phil: http://www.robophil.com

Philip English: Right, so hi guys. It's Philip English and [IREX 00:00:05] 2019. We're just at another stand and this is an interesting one. This looks like a security robot and I've got a gentleman here who's going to introduce himself and tell us a little bit more about the company.

Philip English: So what's your name sir?

Mati Songwonpadee: My name is Mahi Songwonpadee. Yeah, I'm from Thailand. Our company is from Thailand. So just behind us is the security robot that we built with the real estate company in Thailand.

Philip English: Right. So the real estate company?

Mati Songwonpadee: Yeah.

Philip English: Right. Okay. Are they a manufacturer of parts, are they? Or?

Mati Songwonpadee: So actually this is the [Obederoi roid 00:00:36]. This company called Obederoi. It's the joint venture between my company, a robot company with the real estate company to build a robot company that build a robot for real estate business.

Philip English: Okay.

Mati Songwonpadee: So this one will be used in the retail space, in the condominium or in even the office space. And we already have some orders for the next year, so you start using this robot next year in Thailand.

Philip English: Okay. So as you're saying, so it's around the security really? So airports, retail those sort of businesses.

Philip English: And I suppose does it solve the problem of security guards? Is it designed to work with security guards?

Mati Songwonpadee: So it works together with security guards. What the system do, is that it's combine data from the camera on the robot and also the CCTV camera inside the building together.

Mati Songwonpadee: We have a server that process all the data and turn that into a notification and send that to the secretary room, so the people can make decisions based on the data and make some preventive action instead of waiting until something happen and then if you just go back to review the videos.

Philip English: Right, I see. So the idea is, within the software it's calculating what's going on and if there's something bad going on, it will alert the security guard. So the security guard hasn't got to be sitting there watching all the time. He can do his job.

Philip English: So, how does the security guard get the information? Does it go out to the cloud or does it going to the wireless network?

Mati Songwonpadee: Okay, so the scheme of the data transfer depends on the need of the customer, depends on the need of the security or privacy that you want.

Mati Songwonpadee: The basic idea that the robot has a very powerful computer insights. Some of the recognition is done on the robot and that is sent to the central computer. Or in some situation we live streaming the video from the robot to the central computer and it's recognized on the computer.

Mati Songwonpadee: Yeah. And then that will be notifications sent to maybe the message application of the security guard or in the security room or even send back to the central command center of the business. So that is like fallback scheme.

Mati Songwonpadee: So if secretary guard in the building is not respond, then it fall back to the central control. So then they can just notify the human.

Mati Songwonpadee: If they call and someone not respond yet, they maybe send somebody.

Philip English: So, send somebody to get it sorted. Okay. And then, so what's the battery life of the robot?

Mati Songwonpadee: For this one, one charge can work up to eight hours. Actually it's more than that, but we limit to that. But in the real situation, it will be a couple of robots working together. One robot will go out for 30, 40 minutes, come back charging, another one will go out.

Philip English: Oh, I see. Mati Songwonpadee: So keep the battery life long and so we don't have to change very often.

Philip English: So how quickly does the robot charge?

Mati Songwonpadee: Fully charged in two hours.

Philip English: Two hours? Yeah, so it's a lithium battery, is it?

Mati Songwonpadee: Yeah, lithium battery. Quite a big battery inside.

Philip English: It's quite a big battery. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, so where do you see yourself in five years? Is this the first ... like, this is the first one and you're hoping to keep on developing up and just developing more and more, more, more, more robots.

Mati Songwonpadee: Yeah. So and you can see in our board, you see the security robot here and you might take a picture of the communication robot over there.

Philip English: Yes, so-

Mati Songwonpadee: So, if you're looking from the social space between human and robot, that one very close intimate distance. Right? So you really deep integrate into your house or in your room. That will be functional, outside [inaudible 00:04:17].

Mati Songwonpadee: We will put more research on robot, delivery robot, so in between. So we will add more robots, so it can fit in your daily life more.

Philip English: In the process?

Mati Songwonpadee: Yeah.

Philip English: But can the robot speak to each other? Can that robot speak to the smaller robot?

Mati Songwonpadee: So actually our software is the [inaudible 00:04:36] of the robot. It really depends on what we're going to want two robots to communicate to each other.

Philip English: Right, okay.

Mati Songwonpadee: It's more like preplanned behavior or scheme of how the robot works.

Philip English: How does the robot navigate the area? Is it [SLAM 00:04:51] based system or?

Mati Songwonpadee: Yes, it is a SLAM system. Right now we use the 2D leader in front of the robot to do SLAM and we will add more SLAM features from the camera around the robot-

Philip English: Around the robot?

Mati Songwonpadee: ... so it can sense things in 3D. Right now in this event we also saw some interesting sensor that we believe that could be very useful for our robots.

Philip English: How heavy is the robot?

Mati Songwonpadee: So it's about 80 kilos.

Philip English: 80 kilos?

Mati Songwonpadee: So, and but the [CG 00:05:21] is very low-

Philip English: CG's low? Yeah.

Mati Songwonpadee: ... so to prevent the robot from falling down it is all under [inaudible 00:05:26].

Philip English: Is he quite easy to push, though-

Mati Songwonpadee: No.

Philip English: ... to push him? Yeah, okay.

Mati Songwonpadee: Because we have the synchro drive wheel, so that means wheel will lock itself. It cannot be pushed, if we decide that. But it's so can align in the way that we can push it also

Philip English: Right. Okay. Okay. No, I think that's quite good, actually. That's a very good overview of the company. What I'll do is I'll put some links to get some more information and we'll keep an eye on you guys as well. So thank you very much for this interview.

Mati Songwonpadee: Thank you.

Philip English: Thank you.

[robotcenter-blog]

Mira Robotics Interview 

Mira Robotics: https://mirarobotics.io/index_en.html 

Robot Phil: http://www.robophil.com

Philip English- All right guys, it's Philip English, IRX 2019. We're at another stand and we've got a gentleman here who's gonna introduce himself and tell us a little bit more about his robot called Ugo. Is that right, Ugo?

Kim- Ugo.

Philip English- Ugo, okay. Okay, and so what's your name, sir?

Kim- I am Kim.

Philip English- Kim.

Kim- CEO of Mira Robotics.

Philip English- So, the CEO?

Kim- Yes.

Philip English- Wow, okay, and Ugo is the first product from the company?

Kim- Yes, exactly.

Philip English- All right, perfect. And then, so, what, well I can see we have two different robots here. So we have one that folds up laundry and that's more of a manual robot, is that right?

Kim- Yes, but basically, same robot, same avatar robot. Avatar robot is a tele-operating robot. So you can control by this kind of VR controller.

Philip English- Okay.

Kim- And you can control arm and also you can move the robot and also you can change the height.

Philip English- Ah, right, okay.

Kim- Body.

Philip English- And then, and is it a 3-D printed robot, is that right?

Kim- Yes, actually, we pro-typing, doing pro-typing, so, not in mass production.

Philip English- Right, okay, so in mass production you use more of a harder material.

Kim- Yes, yes.

Philip English- But for prototypes. Okay, okay. So this one, so this one is obviously for folding and this one's for security.

Kim- Yes.

Philip English- And is the whole, is the idea to create a veritable amount of robots that basically do a different amount of tasks, is that right?

Kim- Yes, exactly.

Philip English- Oh, okay. So what did you see, so like what's the sort of problems that the robots fix? Is it because there's not enough labor?

Kim- Yes, yes.

Philip English- So this is for security?

Kim- As you know, Japanese population is very decreased. And also, for, especially in service market, like middle men and us, like a security person and also clean staff, is very limited resource. So we provide such a partner robot for working with human.

Philip English- Yeah.

Kim- So we want to serve such a human resource issues.

Philip English- I see, so, so, the main problem is, is that, obviously there's a lack of a work force, so the idea is to create, add these robots that can do a whole mixture of different tasks and then they, one could be security, what one could be fold cleaning. But then it's just more and more and more tasks.

Kim- Yes, exactly.

Philip English- Right, I see. So that's the solution of the actual robots. And are they autonomous or is it just manual right at the moment?

Kim- Actually, we use hybrid motor. Like autonomous and also there are remote control.

Philip English- Okay, yeah, so like the teleportation thing.

Kim- Yes, exactly.

Philip English- You, yeah, okay, okay. And then for the, I guess the idea is that to become more and more autonomous as?

Kim- Yes, exactly.

Philip English- As the product goes.

Kim- So robot can learn from every day they doing task.

Philip English- Okay, okay. And then, I quite like the height thing. So that's very smart, so it can pick up something from the floor and it can go up to quite high, yeah.

Kim- Yes, exactly.

Philip English- I really, really like that. So, so, so, how far are you away from like a mass-produced product?

Kim- So we plan to sell this robot next year.

Philip English- Next year, yeah?

Kim- So yeah, during this year we will produce in mass production.

Philip English-Right, right, so 2020. Okay, and then, so, if, do you think in five year's time that you'll start selling or see your stuff, you start next year, but in five years, you'll have more applications, more things.

Kim- Yes, exactly.

Philip English- What about the grippers, are you gonna stick with that gripper, are you gonna change those, or?

Kim- Yes, actually, this hand, robot can exchange by themselves.

Philip English- Oh, right, okay, yeah.

Kim- So maybe some hand is changed for such a task, specially tasks.

Philip English- Do you think that they'll be able to, you know, if you change the hand, then do you think they'll be able to cook food as well? Like one day?

Kim- Maybe, it's possible, I think.

Philip English- Okay, okay. That's a great, and obviously, it's mobile as well, so it can move around.

Kim- Yes.

Philip English- Is the idea to have like an autonomous mobile thing as well?

Kim- Yes, autonomous.

Philip English- Right, okay.

Kim- Using slam.

Philip English- Slam technology, yeah, okay. And you guys are based in Tokyo?

Kim- Based in Kanagawa, Kawasaki.

Philip English- Oh it's just from there, right, it's.

Kim- Yes, next to Tokyo.

Philip English- Next to Tokyo. Right, it's a great, yeah, I think it's a great product.

Kim- Thank you.

Philip English- It's got a lot of potential. I especially know what you know in all the different fields.

Kim- Thank you so much.

Philip English- Right, so thanks guys. Yeah, so that's obviously a very good overview of the Ugo robot. So, like, thank you very much for your time.

Kim- Thank you so much.

Philip English- Thank you!

[robotcenter-blog]

Amoeba Energy Interview 

Amoeba Energy: https://en.amoebaenergy.com/ 

Robot Phil: http://www.robophil.com

Philip English- Right so hi guys. It's Philip English, 2019 iREX. And we're here at another stand and this is quite an interesting stand. This looks set out to be like this soft robotics. So, I'll get the gentleman to introduce himself and tell us a little bit more about the company. So what's your name sir?

Masashi Aono- Masashi Aono, I'm CEO of Amoeba Energy.

Philip English- All right, fantastic. And can you give us an overview of your product really.

Masashi Aono- Yes so we are creating a soft robot. The robot made of the soft material, and in this case we are using the rubber foam for the track. So that this robot can climb up, climb down the stairs with arbitrary, you know defense types of steps. 'cause the soft material changes their shapes. So even though there are many irregularities this robot doesn't care.

Philip English- It doesn't care. And the idea is this for to be an external robot to go outside--

Masashi Aono- We were thinking about using this robot interior. Inside a house or a building.

Philip English- Okay, okay. So it's internal like delivery. Yeah, I mean I love your branding, I mean I love the yellow and the name and everything.

Masashi Aono- Thank you.

Philip English- I think that's really smart. I really, really like it. So this is the prototype, so how long do you reckon another year or so before you get it into production?

Masashi Aono- So we are planning to sell our first product in 2021.

Philip English- 2021, Okay.

Masashi Aono- By that time we'll perform many times experiments so that we can, you know, develop the techniques to get it to the market.

Philip English- And then I can see from the video, so not only can it deliver the product, it can also actually drop off the product as well?

Masashi Aono- Yes, 'cause this robot can bend its attitude. So that we can drop the luggage in front of your door. Which makes it possible to deliver, you know, at last one more problem can be solved.

Philip English- Maybe, maybe. So what sort of price range are you thinking that this robot's gonna be?

Masashi Aono- We are thinking about a price so that you know not only the company but also consumer can use this.

Philip English- Consumer can use it.

Masashi Aono- And we haven't yet decided the price, but yeah.

Philip English- Okay, and then to do with the scanners. I can see you got a Lidar scanner, you've got a 3D camera?

Masashi Aono- Yeah.

Philip English- Right at the front.

Masashi Aono- So this we are developing the automated driving. So that with just, it simply need to give this robot the destination and it can autonomously deliver.

Philip English- Go off from there.

Masashi Aono- Yes.

Philip English- Has it got WiFi connection and stuff like that so if you want it to speak to like a lift or something like that, it can go in a lift and call it?

Masashi Aono- Yeah, I think so yeah.

Philip English- Yeah, on that side. And I suppose obviously you showed me a picture earlier of the ideal dream is to have an inflatable unit or you know.

Masashi Aono- Yeah, yeah, yeah. So our ultimate goal is to create a robot with a airbags. Which is, you know, the softest and the lightest material to use for the robots yeah.

Philip English- Okay, and then the sort of max kilogram of weight that the robot can have?

Masashi Aono- At the moment six kilograms.

Philip English- Okay,

Masashi Aono- But if the user needs to have heavier load we can increase the payload of course.

Philip English- So could you increase the size of the robot, could you make a bigger version.

Masashi Aono- Of course, why not yeah.

Philip English- Maybe a smaller version as well?

Masashi Aono- Yeah, to climb up the stairs the length needs to meet certain criteria.

Philip English- To get to the basic stairs, yeah. So is this the smallest it can be for a stairs?

Masashi Aono- Exactly yes.

Philip English- Yeah, right, Okay, okay. Yeah again, it looks like a fantastic product, you know I really like the idea about it. What I'll do then is I'll put some links in so people can find out where to find you. And yeah, many thanks for the interview and all the info.

Masashi Aono- Thank you very much.

Philip English- Thank you very much, cool.

[robotcenter-blog]

Robocare Interview 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/robocarelab/ 

Robot Phil: http://www.robophil.com

Philip English- Right. Hi guys. Innorobo 2016. We're here with a gentleman that's gonna introduce his company, which is Robocare, and he's gonna tell us a little bit about his products, one being a telepresence product, and another one being Milo. So can you introduce yourself and tell me a little bit more about your company?

Faisal- Hi, my name is Faisal, and Robocare Lab is a French-based company. We have plan, by the way, to extend in UK, and we develop a full range of services to improve the lives of people. So our range of services is named PRESENCE+ and it includes services to help autistic kids to better communicate and for that we use Milo. Milo is manufactured in the US and it includes over 120 lessons to develop the capabilities of kids with autism to better communicate.

Philip English- All right, okay. So this is Milo to the right of you. So the lessons are all to do with autism, really. To help the kids speak better, or visualize better, I suppose. How long and how old is the company?

Faisal- The company has been created one year ago, but we have been working off the rider for roughly over two years now.

Philip English- Right, two years development. So, you've got Milo, so that's one of your products for the autism side. So the other product you've got is to do with telepresence. So can you tell us a little about this one?

Faisal- Yeah, mobile telepresence. It's a great services that we are deploying in different segments. One of them, of course, is the retirement homes. We think that a lot of families today are living away from their grandparents. In France, or even in UK, you have millions of citizens who are living abroad, and I think it's very important for everybody to visit their grandparents. To support the only member of the family who is living next to the grandparents, who is doing the whole job. And we plan through PRESENCE+ Visitor, to offer the services we have already deployed in few retirement homes already in France, where the families can go onto our gateway, PRESENCE+ Visitor, book a slot, and then it is validated by the retirement homes, and then the family can visit the families using SAM. We name it SAM, for System Audio Mobile, and they can move around, just like with a feeling to be there. Yeah, you know when you call your Grandma over Skype, it will last three minutes. With SAM, I think you can stand over 30 minutes and it's like a real visit. You can really come with your Grandma to the restaurant or the retirement homes and visit her.

Philip English- Right, okay. And that's the senior level, but I remember you speaking earlier that you've also got some new sort of levels, like a campus level, is that the next one?

Faisal- Yeah, we are very pleased to announce that we are launching next week PRESENCE+ Campus. It will be announced actually next week in the press, working with one of the top 20 worldwide MBA business schools, where PRESENCE+ Campus will allow some students who are living abroad, or teachers to be present in the campus through SAM.

Philip English- Right, brilliant, brilliant. So it sounds like you guys are sort of like the integrators. You take a product, whether it's telepresence or Milo, and then you integrate it so it works for the end user, for the actual customer, so yeah.

Faisal- Yes, exactly. Our main focus is to take products who are very reliable. If you look at SAM, it is named Beam in the US, and Beam is already present in thousands of units in the corporate world. So Milo is already present in 200 hospitals or schools in US, so we take the progress of robotics with something very reliable and we bring new services where we can supply a region key solutions with the hardware, with the software, with the whole integration solution, to make it easy. To make it easy for the people.

Philip English- For the end user. So, what's next then? So you've got the two products here. Is there something else that you guys are starting to look into, or?

Faisal- Yeah, I mean PRESENCE+ has a lot of other opportunities. I mentioned PRESENCE+ Visitor for the retirement homes. We are launching PRESENCE+ Senior for the old people living alone at home, to facilitate the communication with the family, and to check that everything is going fine. We are planning, so PRESENCE+ launch in, I will say, a nice hotels or bar, to facilitate communication with colleagues and friends, and we have also other plans in our mind that we will be launching in the next month.

Philip English- All right, brilliant, brilliant. Okay, no that's brilliant. I mean that's a brilliant overview of your company Robocare, and I think it's given us a good insight to where you guys are going, and you said you're coming to the UK soon. Is that right, or?

Faisal- Yeah, I mean London actually. I am very pleased to be invited at the London Founder Forums, that will take place mid-June, by the way. And I'm also invited by the National Autistic Society where we'll be presenting Milo to 10 Head of Schools in charge of autistic kids, and we have also planned to deploy our PRESENCE+ services opening as soon as possible at GV in London. Hopefully we'll get some investors by the way, in UK, to starting deploying in the UK market.

Philip English- Okay, that's brilliant, that's brilliant. Right, what I'll do guys, is I'll put loads of links so you can find out where to find these guys, and yeah I thank you very, very much for the interview.

Faisal- Thank you, very much. Much appreciated.

[robotcenter-blog]

Relay by Savioke Interview 

Savioke: https://www.savioke.com/ 

Robot Phil: http://www.robophil.com

Philip English- Hi guys, Philip English, 2016 Innorobo. We're here with, on another stand that's having a look at a whole host of new products. We've got Renauld here, who's gonna introduce himself and then he's gonna tell us a little bit more about his company, and a little bit about this robot that I've got in front of me. So if you can quickly like, introduce yourself Renauld?

Renauld- Yeah, sure, thanks Philip. So, I'm a business engineer at Awabot, a French company, that provides service robotics in Europe. So we've been providing you know, remote presence devices for about a year and a half. And today at Innorobo, we are introducing this new service robot, Relay, from a company named Savioke, based in the US. And Relay brings delivery information to the market. So basically what it does, it can carry any kind of package, stuffed goods, things like food, any kind of goods. And go through a building, take your literature and bring to the destination. So, Savioke has been working with the hotel industry for a couple of months, and this is, I mean, just a kind of test market. We aim to bring this kind of technology to like, concierge, for enterprise market, but also retail stores and industrial applications.

Philip English- Okay, no that's a brilliant overview. So, as you were saying like, you've got them in hotels, you've got them in-- I suppose the idea is to take out the person. So instead of a person running up and down the halls, then you've got this little device doing it. What's the speed of Savioke, like, how fast will it go?

Renauld- Well it's more or less the speed of a human working. What makes it very unique is that Relay's able to navigate very flawlessly in a human-friendly environment. Take the literature, this is a very unique feature among the service robot on the markets. And also its design, the way it behaves, makes it very suitable, again, for people-friendly environment.

Philip English- Okay, no that's fine, that's fine. I think that's a good overview. And what I'll do guys, if I put some links down here, so you guys can find some more information about Savioke. So, thank you very much for your time.

Renauld- Thanks Philip

[robotcenter-blog]

Jessiko The Robotic Fish By Robot Swim Interview 

Robot Swim: http://www.robotswim.com/?lang=English 

Robot Phil: http://www.robophil.com

Philip English- Right, hi guys. It's Philip English, 2016 in Innorobo. We're here with some robot fish for you. So we got a gentleman here who's gonna give you like an introduction and then he's gonna explain the product a little bit more. So, if you could introduce yourself for us.

Cristophe- I'm Cristophe. I founded the Robotswim company in 2009. It's based on rubber, in Jessiko. It's based on Jessiko rubber fish, our products.

Philip English- Okay, so give us a run through of how the fish works. I'm assuming that you sorta charge them up, they last so many hours and then I see that they're attracted to a little light or a little beacon. Can you explain to us?

Cristophe- Yes. There are two main innovations. The first one is for very long range swimming. They can swim for eight hours or more, so during one day. And the other innovation is about the localization system. It's based on light, so they are a sort of homing head, like on a missile. So you can call them and they can use beacons in the tank to follow localization to know their way, where they go.

Philip English- Right, see then. And then, so for these sorta robots, it, so, see you're looking to sell it as a display sorta piece, so it's there to design, to attract people, so people can come see the robots and then they come into the restaurant or they come into the place of wherever the robots are, is that right?

Cristophe- Yes, the economic motivator for our client is to attract the people, yes. It's a, we designed this robot to be very amazing, to transmit emotions to people. That's why it's interesting for our customers to use it, to attract people and to, so that people can take picture, take video and share it on the social networks.

Philip English- Yeah so it's got that wow factor, so you know, that wow factor so people can come and see it. So can it go like any color? I can see we got some blue ones, some pink ones. Is it any color?

Cristophe- In fact with colors, it was at the beginning used as a debugging system, because we wanted to know the direction and what was the fish thinking about next movements, but we can design it differently, we can choose different color, or we can also change color by following the music or something like that.

Philip English- Yeah, 'cause that was my next question actually. So, is it, can you literally do, what would it called? Like a musical piece, so there'll be certain music playing and the fish would go to that, to the sound of the beat almost. Is that, can you actually do that?

Cristophe- There are many configuration we can, yes create some choreographies, you can, they can interact with music, change color or move, depending of the music, depending of people if attracting they are using a specific beacon or pushing a button or playing with a smart phone. Are many possibilities and direction with people.

Philip English- Okay, and like what's the next step then? So you got this size fish. Are you looking to make sorta bigger fish or faster fish, like what's the next step?

Cristophe- For us it's this fish is now a definite design, so we only work on the reliability of this fish to improve time between two repairs or two maintenance operations, but we have another project at Robotswim. It's robotic turtle.

Philip English- Okay.

Cristophe- It's robotic turtle. The objective is to design a remote turtle that you can use to explore some parts in the tank.

Philip English- Okay.

Cristophe- And with real time video, directly from example for to use smartphone, our customer for it will be the marine museum,

Philip English- Okay.

Cristophe- for example. Everywhere where you have a tank with fish, with very nice decor and so you want, but people can swim in it, like, if they were really in it.

Philip English- Oh okay, and like how big's this turtle gonna be? Is it say big or?

Cristophe- It be about 20 centimeters.

Philip English- About 20 centimeters, okay. Right, okay no that's fine. So what I'll do is I'll put some links in to show you where you can find some more information about these lovely fish. And I think that's a brilliant overview, so I thank you very much for your time.

Cristophe- Thank you.

[robotcenter-blog]

Kinova Robotics Interview 

Kinova Robotics: www.kinovarobotics.com 

Robot Phil: http://www.robophil.com

Philip English – Hi guys, Philip English, at Innorobo 2016. So, we got new stands, we got, the Kinova stands. I’ve got a gentleman here, just gonna introduce himself, and he’s gonna tell us a little bit more about his robots.

Jerome Bedard – Hello, I’m Jerome Bedard, a product specialist at Kinova Robotics. Firstly, Kinova Robotics was founded in 2006, near Montreal in fact, in Canada. At first, the arm JACO was created for people in power wheelchair, as an arm that would be fit on the power wheelchair to help to grasp daily the objects. So, for that reason, the arm that we created was really small and mostly light, light in weight, so the lightness. And also lower in power consumption. So that was the first thing that was invented in 2006, and first sale was maybe 2010.

Philip English – Okay.

Jerome Bedard – Yeah. So, from there, since we have a really special product, really small compared to traditional, let’s say, industrial robot that are more really, stronger and faster and heavier. We were really different from the other standard robot. So, we decided to open the perspective of our product, and then we started to, to meet new people, especially in research and logistic application. And the demand for a robot continue, and people wanna invent smaller robots, and then we invented MICO, even smaller. And that was really a new way of seeing the robotic, even for us and for people, like, okay, so a robot now can be a really safe and simple robot instead of just being dangerous. Maybe, like an automative kind of a way of seeing robotics. So, that was the first thing, and then continue, we continue to put for example, torque sensor in every joint of our robot. So now we can do what we call torque control, we can move the robot around, and when it touch something, it will stop. So that’s the kind of innovation that we’re doing right now.

Philip English – Way to get it, yeah, so what I do is I put in some videos of the robot, like, getting moved around in a minute. So, what’s the main difference between JACO and MICRO, like, as strength-wise and speed-wise and weight-wise.

Jerome Bedard – Both has, have 20 centimeter a second, so they’re really not fast robot, they are . It’s mainly the reach, JACO has 90 centimeters of reach, and MICO, 70. But what is interesting is that they both have the same weight, let’s say 4.5 kilogram. But JACO is bigger, because it’s in fiber, carbon fiber.

Philip English – Right, I see.

Jerome Bedard – Also, the payload, JACO is at full reach is 1.5 kilogram, and MICO is one kilogram. But it’s interesting because the reach is longer but the payload is still bigger. The reason for that is the second actuator is for JACO is really, really stronger. But, so there’s not much difference and actually just the way we see robotic at Kinova, it’s also, we have product that are really modular in Canada. It all comes through the actuators that we sell as well. So it’s possible for people for example to buy a JACO and okay, put some, remove the last two joint and change something there. So it’s possible to put another kind of actuator at the end. So it’s possible to go that way, so we sell those two robots, but you can also customize it in a way.

Philip English – So, so could you extend it out, say, could you have like, a JACO, and then you add a few more links, so it’s even longer arm. Is that possible?

Jerome Bedard – That could be possible but of course it always goes to the payload that you can watch first, that’s– well for example, we had some people just getting the MICO, and they added a fifth link; no, because we also sell the version in 4 DOF, those are 6 DOF version, but it’s possible to have this in 4 DOF version. So it’s possible to buy a 4 DOF, and let’s say, upgrade it in 5 DOF, see how many joints you need for your specific task. Some would think that’s possible; but of course, the longer reach go, the farther the payload. – So you got JACO, you got MICRO, is there another one that you guys are developing or are those your two key products?

Jerome Bedard – We’re still developing of course, maybe like in one year and a half we’ll have our third version because this is already the second version of our robot.

Philip English – Right, okay.

Jerome Bedard – Maybe a third version we, with a more precision and repeatability from the actuators or with a new version of actuators, all goes to this, I could have this, this mind, is the actuator is, that’s the technology that kind of develop itself, and the new generation’s gonna be a bit stronger, precise, that’s the thing. And then, with this, we’ll be about to do a new robot as well.

Philip English – Okay, okay, no that sounds great, I mean I think that’s a brilliant, like, overview, yeah of obviously like, Kinova, and that’s your robot, so like, thanks very much for your time.

Jerome Bedard – My pleasure.

[robotcenter-blog]

Ubtech Robotics Interview 

Ubtech: https://www.ubtrobot.com/ 

Robot Phil: http://www.robophil.com

Philip English- Right, hi guys, it's Philip English here, 2016 InnoRobo. We're at another stand, and we got three lovely, new robots to show you. We've got a gentlemen here who's gonna introduce himself, and he's gonna tell us a little bit more about these robots, so yep, can you introduce yourself please to the audience?

Adrian- Sure, I'm Adrian, I'm working with a French distributor of UBTECH, which is the brand who has been creating these robots. There are three different type of robots that we sell. Actually the first one here is Jimu. It's a constructable robot for kids to learn how to deal with robots and programming.

Philip English- Okay.

Adrian- Alpha 1 is a humanoid robot built with 16 servos motors, and also have a great interface for programming, and for kids to learn how to program.

Philip English- Okay.

Adrian- And Alpha 2 will be released next October.

Philip English- Right.

Adrian- And will be dedicated to the connected house to control all the connected objects. It will be able to recognize its owners and everything.

Philip English- Okay, I mean this is quite good. So these two are out. This one and Alpha 1 are out are the moment. This one is out towards the end of the year.

Adrian- Yep.

Philip English- So this is gonna go in the house to work with all of like your remote house devices, but these two are on the education side. Is UBTECH looking to build a fourth one as well? Because I can see that they're getting bigger as well. Is the next one--

Adrian- Yeah actually they have, they want to build a human sized robot, which will be dedicated to helping disabled people and elder people.

Philip English- Okay.

Adrian- But I don't have a lot of information about that.

Adrian- I'm sorry.

Philip English- Okay, no, no, no that's fine, that's fine, it's fine. So software-wise, I think you were saying earlier that one of them's gonna have a scratch plugin release soon.

Adrian- Yeah.

Philip English- Is that the smaller one?

Adrian- For the Jimu robot, and it will be released in December.

Philip English- Okay, right, December time. What sort of price range are these products?

Adrian- For that Jimu, you have two different boxes. The smaller one, which allow you to construct the penguin is about 200 Euros. The big one will be 400 Euros with twice the number of servo motors.

Philip English- Oh, so there's two different types of Jimus?

Adrian- It's two different types.

Philip English- Right, okay.

Adrian- This is the small box, which allows you to build the penguin.

Philip English- Right.

Adrian- And this is the big one who allows you to build more developed robots like a rhino, elephants and everything.

Philip English- Right.

Adrian- This one at 200 Euros.

Philip English- 200 Euros.

Adrian- The big one's 400 Euros.

Philip English- 400 Euros, okay.

Adrian- For Alpha 1, it's already for sale at 500 Euros.

Philip English- 500, okay.

Adrian- And Alpha 2 will be available at 800 Euros in October.

Adrian- In October time.

Philip English- Yeah.

Philip English- Okay, So yeah it sounds like you guys have got a good sort of range of robots. Does the software work between all the same robots, or is it a different type of platform for each one?

Adrian- You'll have a dedicated application for each robot, but the PC and Mac software for Alpha 1S will be also, will be the same that for the one for Alpha 2.

Philip English- Right, okay yeah so that make sense. Okay, no that's brilliant. So what I'll do guys is I'll put some links for you, so you guys can see, find out a bit more information about this robot. So and yeah, thank you very, very much for your time.

Adrian- You're welcome.

Philip English- Thank you.

[robotcenter-blog]

Webot By Wicron Interview 

Wicron: https://wicron.com/en 

Robot Phil: http://www.robophil.com

Philip English - Hi guys, Philip English here and we've just got another quick interview with Roman and his robot. These guys are part of the Skolkovo group of guys from Russia. I'm just gonna ask him a few questions, get him to introduce himself and tell us a little bit more about the robot. So Roman, can you first introduce yourself, tell me a little bit about your background and then tell me about the robot.

- We are from Russia. We are from Moscow region. The product provides the market with a special telepresence system called Webot. It is very advanced telepresence robot. It contains new technology for organize teleconference using the technology of Google company. It's based on the standards and you can control such type of robots with a browser, for example Firefox or Google Chrome. And also we have a special application at market and you can download our application and control the robot from the Android and, for example, iPad. And there is a special autonomous mode just touch the point on the screen and the robot can move to this point fully automatically. With obstacle avoidance systems, people detection, and the special attractive mode. It is very popular in Russia for the remote education for disabled people for example. For using in the exhibitions, for using in the museums, for the free services and even paid online services. And there are some applications in the shops and the office use.

Philip English - That's a very good overview. So you were saying that you can tell it to go to different locations. So how does the robot know where it is? Has it got to do a map of the location?

- They can create the map of location using the special laser system. The cost of the robot is not very big because we use the most cheap components inside the robot, especially from the China. We use a First China laser scanner system inside the robot, it can create the map and can make a localization on this map. And also this information is very useful to plan a trajectory and to avoid the obstacles during the moving.

Philip English - Okay. Philip English - So I guess the end user, the customer you're trying to sell to I suppose are shops and retail. Can it do like security as well, can it be used as a security robot?

- In the second version of our robot we added the light for example. Because in some security applications, night telepresence, is a key component of such system. We believe that security telepresence is very prospective market. We don't know about exact parameters of such robots for the telepresence, and now we have a research in the market to understand what does integrate, what do we integrate, to make this able for the security telepresence.

Philip English - Okay, yeah, because this is a, I mean I think, with a robot like this, it can be a multi-task sort of robot, You can have in the retail doing promotions, you can have doing telepresence, you can have it doing security, so you get many different wins for this type of robot. Have you ever been thinking about extending it out with arms or something like that, is that the next step?

- Our system is very modular. It consists of two independent parts. The first part is the upper part, it can be disconnected from the down part, and the other modularity is this side, it can be removed and we can install a special part with arms, for example,

Philip English - Right but it is not very popular for the market now. I think we added this part to the robot for the prospect of using it.

- Okay yeah, so I suppose in retail unless the arms are actually going to be doing something practical, it's not really worth having it.

- Now we have a very interesting project with a merchandising company in Russia, and this project is the first step to integrate such type of robot for the merchandising in the market, the real time merchandising can update the information in the database of company, and can help the company to understand which kind of product can be sold faster.

Philip English - Okay, yes.

Philip English - So the robot moves around shop, it has a special guidance system to detect the bar code, and can update the information database.

Philip English - Information that way, yeah. Okay, okay, that's quite good, yeah that's brilliant. What I do guys is I'll put some links down there so you can find out some more information about the robot and yeah, thank you very, very much for the overview.

- Thank you, thank you.

[robotcenter-blog]

Beam plus and Beam Pro a new telepresence robot by Orange