Meet Aeo, a Helper Robot That Can Actually Help Us
Tech
Speaker 1: I'm meeting up with an old robot friend who's got some new tricks. New sensors, new accessories and he's got something for me. Hey AO AO is sensing the table using all of the vision sensors inside the cameras inside to see [00:00:30] where this table is located, making sure it lifts up the package high enough to not smack into anything around it and delivers me my package. Thank you. Notice how we also gets taller to reach the table. That's so neat. Let's see what I got in my package here.
Speaker 1: It's a ham and cheese sandwich. Thanks for the lunch. Okay, so obviously you could do a lot more than just deliver lunch. This is the latest invention from Aless Robotics and it has a gripper arm [00:01:00] that is able to do so many exact things mixed with all of this vision technology inside that it can go use elevators. Things that you and I take for granted, pushing an elevator button, being able to turn a doorknob handle and push a door open. So these small things to us are actually big challenges in robotics and this guy's getting better at that.
Speaker 1: This is AO the newest assistant from A OS Robotics and we're getting an early preview of what it can do at CS [00:01:30] 2023. We first saw these robots at c e s in 2018 and early versions have been deployed in Japan. They're assisting nurses at elder care providers. They're doing jobs like delivering medical supplies and providing security patrol for the night shift. There's a lot of new functionality here that we're being showcased. Um, first off the face, lots of new sensors here, including the ability to do infrared sensing. So this guy can go in the dark to like a security camera and be able to find its way around. [00:02:00] There's also depth sensing cameras, a regular RGB camera and with all those different things, it's able to do skills like being able to recognize faces, be able to recognize objects, to know about a door handle, where that door handle is placed.
Speaker 1: The three dimensions that you need to be able to navigate a world, uh, whether it's putting a box on a table or being able to push an elevator button. The various camera sensors packed in here are helping the robot with object and facial detection so we can learn who [00:02:30] a patient is to greet them and also alert a nurse if that person isn't where they're supposed to be. Posture identification can help know if someone is on the ground and needs help. These grippers can be swapped out for whatever the needs are. Here in the demo we have a UV sanitizing hand, so it can go over handrails, very specific areas that it needs to, to be able to keep an area clean. But also this gripper can do things like do the elevator doors open, the handrails, [00:03:00] pick up objects, um, and they have more and more accessories depending on whether this is gonna be something that helps a hotel or helps someone in elder care.
Speaker 1: Now, depending on what services AO is doing, it's gonna need to recharge it about six to eight hours and it'll be able to just kind of automatically pilot itself to a recharge station. It kind of back up and plug its way in and the ears and the eyes. This is what helps you and me understand what the robot's doing. So the ears will glow different ways to indicate what's going on with the robot. Maybe it's yellow [00:03:30] if there's a problem, that sort of thing. And the eyes will emote different ways to let you know that it's listening or it's doing something. So if you see one of these in the wild, maybe the company will give it its own name, but it could be programmed to be responding to, Hey ao. Hey robot. I don't know. What do you want your name to be?
Speaker 1: Although AO isn't quite at the rosy, the robot level of home helper, it is designed to take some of the load [00:04:00] off today's overworked nurses. It can be an extra set of eyes or just make supply runs between multiple floors of a building, a building that was designed for humans, not robots A os. Robotics is showcasing these new features and the potential to add on other attachments and hopes to find more companies that want a robot helper around. It is expensive to buy a robot. The company isn't sharing how much it's gonna cost, but it is priced like a service with a monthly [00:04:30] fee depending on the needs. Where do you think this robot could be the most helpful in your life? Let us know in the comments. I'm always fascinated by how robotics companies make a robot have these humanoid features that don't seem threatening and they're friendly. Um, of course cute eyes helps. Um, I like his size. He can extend if he needs to, but of course, what better way to really relate to a robot and feel connected and to take a selfie?
Speaker 2: Okay, get [00:05:00] ready now I Ready. 3, 2, 1. Hey Siri, take a selfie.
Speaker 1: Snap.
