LONG BEACH, California — Go into the typical American home and you’ll find a television, a computer, perhaps a videogame console, and even an iPad. But you won’t find a robot. What’s wrong with us?
We haven’t found the right robot. Or at least that’s Keller Rinaudo’s take on the problem, presented at the TED conference Tuesday along with his creation: A $150 robot named Romo, which can stream video, wheel around in response to remote control, and be custom programmed.
Except that Romo isn’t so much a robot as an iPhone accessory, a base with tracked a wheels for movement. You plug your Apple smartphone into Romo’s movable hinge, and the iPhone forms Romo’s face, as well as its brain, eyes, ears, and means of remote control and communication.
“By leveraging the power of the iPhone’s processor we can create a robot that is Wi-Fi enabled and computer-vision capable for $150, which is about 1 percent of what these kinds of robots would cost in the past,” Rinaudo told the audience at TED.
This makes Romo just one of the most ambitious members of an entire generation of cheap, rapidly developed hardware devices that owe their existence to smartphones and their ability to leverage the processors, screens, and sensors that come along with those devices.
To the Romo, the iPhone supplies a camera with which to detect your face; a display to show Romo’s eyes, which follow the user; and a Wi-Fi connection, which is used to beam video to a different Apple device, which can be used to drive the Romo around. The iPhone’s processor, meanwhile, is used to evaluate command logic that can be set up by the user ahead of time using a simplified, drag-and-drop programming interface.
Rinaudo keeps coming back to the lively animated face, complete with a goofy smile, which he hopes will help Romo sell when it comes on the market this June.
“It has to be something people want to take home and have around their kids,” Rinaudo says. “It should be friendly and it should be cute.”
That cuteness will be enough to get the Romo in the door, but whether it appeals to the common man or woman will have more to do with its functionality. Maybe future versions can be adorable while also being able to fetch drinks from the fridge.
Meet the Common Man's Robot: Headless and Adorable
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Meet the Common Man's Robot: Headless and Adorable
