ROBO-ONE Helper Robot Contest - Part 1 of 4

GetRobo was in Japan to cover the finals of ROBO-ONE's first Helper Robot Contest on Sept. 6, 2008. Ten robots that passed the preliminary  gathered in an underground mall in Kawasaki City to compete. Initially the plan was to have the robots actually walk into the shops inside the mall, but the organizers decided that was too difficult and set up mock-up storefronts in a plaza instead. The store clerks and merchandise were real. Each robot was given 10 minutes to buy something from each of the two shops that were set up, and then walk back to the starting line with the purchases. Besides competing with time, the store clerks were asked to rate the robots depending on how natural the interactions were.

The robots were operated remotely using Wi-Fi. The operators were in the same plaza but had their backs against the shops which were about 50 feet away so they had to see everything through the cameras on the robots. Each robot was unique in terms of payment methods, how they carried the purchases and the way they communicated with the clerks.

The first video below is Aero-Blue developed by Team CAP Project. This was the only robot that used a cart which made it easier for it to bring home heavy things. The money was in a small plastic capsule inside the cart.

Next is ARRC-X which was developed and operated by Terukazu Nishimura, the Chairman of the ROBO-ONE committee himself. He wanted to participate in this inaugurating event to see how difficult the task might be. ARRC-X was popular in a demonstrative fashion show that preceded the shopping competition due to its girlish walk and the outfit which was made by Mrs. Nishimura. Chairman Nishimura's comment after the contest - "I felt really frustrated with the maneuvering."

To fully appreciate what went on during this competition, we must understand that just 6 years ago when ROBO-ONE first started, the robots could not even walk. For the biped robots to be able to walk inside a real mall - an uneven surface - is an accomplishment in itself.

And these are all hobbyists - not corporations that can spend millions of dollars developing their robots. How much do these robots cost?  "I would say around 400,000 to 500,000 yen (4,000 to 5,000 dollars)," according to Nishimura.

In the early days of ROBO-ONE, recalls Nishimura, "we knew that the robots would definitely fall, so we wanted all contestants to come up with ways for the robots to stand up on their own."

So now most of the robots are capable of recovering on their own. One example is shown below. KromKid developed by Team kupakuma. KromKid had a hard time bringing back the merchandise because it kept losing balance from the weight of the goods. This was a typical problem with other robots too.

=Continues to Part 2 of 4=

Comments

[LUIS BECK]

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If you are interested let me know.

[Lanza]

This is great info to know.