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During the Google IO event, two new great features of the popular Android OS were announced. The most important from a robotics point of view is the Android Open Accessory standard that is Arduino based and enables Android devices to integrate with hardware via usb (or bluetooth in the near future). You can read more in the posts on engadget.com and robots-dreams.com (where the video is from). Also engadget reports on the Android @ Home framework that aspires to interconnect every home appliance, device or gadget to an integrated network. More information and details will be announced soon from Google but already the potential for various robotic applications that could take advantage of these projects looks promising.

Kota Nezu of ZNUG Design talks about his work developing the look of ZMP’s RoboCar, an educational platform for researchers working on autonomous vehicles.  The video is entirely Japanese, but you can see some cool CAD work and there’s some explanatory slides in this .PDF file.  Nezu-san also designed ZMP’s e-nuvo Humanoid, and Toyota’s personal transporter, the i-unit (seen in model form on his desk).  Part 2 follows after the break for those interested.

Mahru-Z is the robotic maid that can make breakfast!. Given certain voice commands the robot can perform functions such as working a microwave, delivering toast, and other tasks such as washing clothes. The robots can see with stereoscopic vision and can identify what objects are and even decide what jobs needs to be done with the objects. In the video, one robot appears to be tethered and the other is not making me wonder if they are really self contained. Also, one is wearing a dress and the other not, so are they both maids or is one a butler? Shouldn't they just call them robotic servants or is that redundant? Regardless, although not apparently sentient, these do appear to be advanced robots. I only wonder if they washed their hands before and after handling the food?

In what comes as a bit of a surprise, Fuji Soft Inc.’s new humanoid robot platform for hobbyists and researchers has been given the name PALRO (pal + robot).  Naturally we feel this name is a superb choice!  Sales to research institutions will begin on March 15th, 2010 with a general release following later in the year.  The robot combines Fuji Soft’s software prowess with an open architecture which will give developers plenty of room to experiment. PALRO stands 39.8cm (15″) tall and weighs 1.9kg (3.5 lbs), and here’s the good news: it costs 298,000 JPY ($3300 USD).  Considering PALRO has 20 DOF, a camera, 4 directional microphones, a speaker, LED arrays in its head and chest, 4 pressure sensors in each foot, 3-axis gyro sensor, an accelerometer, and an Intel Atom 1.6GHz CPU, it is priced very competitively.  A comparative robot kit like Vstone’s Robovie-PC for example, costs $1100 USD more and doesn’t have such a fancy exoskeleton.