Tag: robot

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Health and Wellness Robots/Drones

Pillo lets you rest easy about taking your pills

Forgetting to take one’s pills can lead to major health problems, especially when those medications are for life-threatening health issues including heart disease.

patent-claimedPillo is a connected pill-dispensing robot that recognizes individuals in the family and helps people of all ages to better manage their health. In addition to dispensing medication, it can answer users’ health and wellness questions and connect a person directly with healthcare professionals. Because Pillo has been designed to be intelligent, its functionalities grow as it learns about the user and his or her family.

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Imaging Smart Home

Patrolling your home is how the Orbii security camera rolls

The appeal of home security solutions stems from always being connected, allowing a user to always know what’s happening back at home. Most of these systems use video cameras to supplement alerts and other notifications with smart recognition technology to detect the source of a disturbance, for instance. Depending on the size of the home, this can require purchasing many cameras, making what should be economical systems far more expensive.

Orbii solves this little problem. Its spherical design lets it move by shifting its internal center of gravity, like a hamster in a hamster ball. Inside, a central sphere contains omni-directional drive motors that shift the sphere in any direction with control and agility, letting it freely roam (and map the environment over time) or be controlled by smartphone or tablet app. This makes it easy for users to take advantage of its 720p HD camera to get a clear picture whether it’s day or night due to built-in night vision, with eight hours of onboard storage or 30 days of cloud storage available for footage.

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Robots/Drones

AMY shows the way to the future of helpful home robots

A few years back, robots weren’t very much a part of the crowdfunding world. Those that were being pushed simply weren’t ready for what people expect of them. Fast forward to now, and there are still a set of companies trying to push that vision of an autonomous robot that can help around the house — a robot like AMY.

In many respects, AMY is set up as a standard home robot, capable of getting around by itself to offer news, calendar reminders, and alerts to the entire family. Its Wi-Fi connectivity lets it use a built-in HD video camera to facilitate video calls, lets users control connected devices in the home using voice control, and lets users ask it questions about the weather, for instance. (There’s no mention of the types of questions users can ask.)

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Imaging Robots/Drones

Appbot Riley patrols, keeps its eye on your abode

The promise of the future is one built on the idea that robots will help humans progress against the challenges of tomorrow. Making this idea a reality will require huge leaps in technology, the types of which are around the proverbial corner but still a while off. Until then, there are products like the Appbot Riley that afford a glimpse at these possibilities.

Riley is a charming little robot designed to be a set of eyes and ears in the home when work or play calls. This roving robot is equipped with a microphone, speaker and 5MP camera with night vision capabilities, all of which can be controlled from its companion smartphone app over Wi-Fi to take snapshots, record video, check around the house, or communicate with those who may be at home.

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Robots/Drones Tablet Accessories

EMotion helps move telepresence robotics into more affordable territory

editors-choiceTelepresence robots allow people who are away from home to check in on their pets and make sure burglars haven’t broken in. Regular viewers of the TV show The Good Wife know that telepresence robots can also be used to take part in office meetings when users are home sick or on a business trip. Such devices can also conceivably be used so that sick kids don’t miss important lessons at school. One major problem so far has been that these devices are too costly.

EMotion is designed to be a more affordable option for consumers who want a telepresence robot. The moving robotic device works in conjunction with iPads or Android tablets. Additional functions that can be done with it include video chatting with friends and family via services such as FaceTime or Skype. EMotion ships in June at $599, although early bird Kickstarter backers can get one for a pledge starting at about $178. Its makers hope to raise $48,146 by March 3.

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Connected Objects

KUMO desktop assistant tries to make you feel less lonely, winds up talking a lot

The modern age isn’t all its cracked up to be. While there are pretty incredible technologies being created every single day, the majority of people’s daily work is done on a single desk with a computer, some tools, etc., leaving lots of people alone while they work.

The team behind the KUMO hope their cup-sized little robot will be enough of a companion throughout the day to eliminate desk loneliness. Its different parts — a camera, microphone, LCD screen, speaker, battery, Wi-Fi module, and USB port — are all encased in a vaguely charming and eternally smiling plastic ghost body. With these parts, it can connect to social platforms and messenger apps like Facebook, Line, and WhatsApp and read out messages to users. In its Greeting mode, it can serve as a desktop assistant by recording messages left by others and pushing it to users’ smartphones while they’re away. In Security mode, KUMO turns into a desktop guardian by taking images and videos of moving objects scheming on valuables and pushing those out, too.

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Maker/Development Technology

Alpha 2 robotic companion aims to be part of your family, doesn’t need a car seat

Previous campaigns JIBO and Buddy have shown how crowdfunding platforms are perfect vehicles to bring the dream of helpful robot companions to life. This time, company UBTech is hoping its bipedal Alpha 2 will not only catch backers’ attentions but also be an integral part of their lives too.

Boasting 20 joints that replicate human motion, Alpha 2 is an humanoid robot created by UBTech that’s all charm. Standing 17″ tall and weighing in at five pounds, Alpha 2’s programming offers the entire family a wide array of features to make daily living a little easier.

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Connected Objects Food and Beverage

Eazyshot dispenser keeps the good times simply flowing

Large and sophisticated robot bartenders have been featured on commercials for cruise ships, but simpler and less expensive models are making a pitch to be the next countertop appliance. Many of them seek to make a wide variety of drinks, even employing Keurig-like pods for cocktails.

Eazyshot, though, keeps it simple with a limited range of shots in its egg-like form. Liquors are filled up in its refillable tube-like reservoirs to make variations of “Mexicans” and “Bombers” from the tap of a companion app. The device can even function as a Bluetooth speaker to kep the party tunes accompanying the party. The Eazyshot is expected to retail for about  $495 but early bird rewards have started at about $345. The campaign is seeking $65,000 CAD (about $49,137) by September 24th.

The best part of Eazyshot is its portability, including the ability to run on battery power. Its smaller size means it can’t make the variety of drinks of other bartender bots, but — let’s face it — these are something of a novelty right now anyway.

Categories
Podcasts

Backerjack Podcast #21: Dish-sized Desktops and Roving Robots

In Episode 21 of the Backerjack Podcast, the triumphantly returning Steve and Ross check out some of the latest products seeking funds and preorders:

  • Remix Mini, a $30 PC that you can hold in your hands and runs a Windows-flavored version of Android.
  • Buddy, an expressive, face-sensing robot that can interact with multiple family members when you’re home and watch your home when you’re away.

Download the episode or listen below, subscribe via iTunes or RSS, and subscribe to the Backerjack Daily Digest to make sure you catch all the gadgets we’re covering. Also check out Steve’s great work on Apple World Today!

 

 

Categories
Connected Objects

Buddy companion robot’s out to be your family’s best friend

editors-choiceThere’s a growing number of multi-function robots on crowdfunding sites. While some consumers may find a few of them, such as JIBO, too robot-like to warm up to, other consumers may find a few of them, including the Personal Robot, too creepy because of their attempts to seem human.

Buddy may avoid both of those problems because this new social robot that was designed to be a family companion is fairly cute. The robot’s face is featured on an integrated tablet and features two wide eyes and a small mouth that make it appear a  bit like a friendly cartoon character. Preliminary tests with the Institute for Children with Autism found that its kid-friendly appearance makes it a good companion for children with special needs, according to Buddy’s Indiegogo campaign.

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