Always available, never pushy or mean: Humanoid robots are here to provide welcome help in humans’ everyday lives, whether it’s taking care of the children, vanquishing loneliness or serving drinks.
Cuddling with Liku, learning English with Kebbi or having a drink with XR-1: The Mobile World Congress in Barcelona was filled with humanoid robots that promised to fulfil such basic interactions.
Liku, made by the Korean company Torooc, is supposed to act as human-like as possible and give people the feeling that they are liked. Liku’s entire head is touch-sensitive to help create the feeling of emotional bonding – which means petting is encouraged.
In order to move around the room without bumping into too many things, as well as to recognise people and voices, the nearly half-metre-tall robot features a full HD camera, a four-channel microphone, infrared depth sensors as well as distance sensors.
The robot communicates using its voice, movements and eyes, which feature two display screens that convey its various expressions.
Kebbi from Taiwan functions similarly, though its main purpose is to keep children busy as well as supervise them. Telling stories is one way it fulfils that task, as are language or programming lessons.
As a diversion, children can “take over” the robot with an app and remotely control it. Commands are mainly by touchscreen gestures.
And like Liku, Kebbi’s eyes are important for communication. The robot should be able to tell the difference between various family members and their commands through facial and voice recognition.
Less emotional and more professional is the XR-1. Conceptualised as a service robot, the humanoid device made by Chinese robotics company Innfos feels best when doing basic service tasks like serving drinks. – dpa
