Robots and Intelligent Toys

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Robots and Intelligent Toys

• Mark Green
• School of Creative Media

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Introduction

• We all like toys, not just kids
• Toys are used for a variety of reasons
• Recreation
• Pass the time
• Curiosity
• Education
• Challenge
• As we grow older our toys change

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Introduction

• Toys change with the times, they reflect the
  current culture
• Children want to imitate their parents, so their
  toys will resemble their parents work
• Children imitate what they see adults doing
• Play is practice for growing older, how we learn
  to be an adult

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Introduction

• Over the past decade electronics has become an
  important part of toys
• This has ranged from computer like toys and other
  electronic gadgets to electronics in traditional
  toys
• Illustrates two approaches
• Toys that emulate technology
• Toys that include technology

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Emulate Technology

• Toys that look like the real thing, or at least
  motivated by it
• Computers and laptops are quite common, combine
  with simple educational software
• Some can now access the Internet
• Mobile phones are quite common as well
• Many aim to be educational

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VTech

• Local company, probably the world leader in this
  type of toy
• Have produced electronic toys for many years,
  many with educational side
• One of the most innovative companies in this
  area, produce some excellent designs
• Go take a look at their toys, see what can be
  done with creativity and electronics

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VTech Electronic Toys
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VTech Electronic Toys
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Include Technology

• Other toys include technology, but its not an
  obvious part of the toy
• Microsoft Barney and similar toys are good
  examples - ActiMates
• Sophisticated use of robotics and computer
  technology
• Could connect to computer and TV to interact with
  the child

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Microsoft

• The ActiMates line appeared in 1997 and has since
  been discontinued
• They were too expensive, with a starting price of
  over 100US
• Problems developing software for licensed
  characters, had to agree with the TV character
• Think carefully about using licensed characters

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Furby

• Probably the most successful toy in this category
• Developed in 1997 and became one of the most
  popular toys in 1998 and 1999
• Had the right price point, around 30US and was
  cute
• Main feature was ability to interact with Furby
  and train it

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Furby
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Furby

• Furby is basically a very simple robot with a
  microcontroller
• A motor was used to move its arms and mouth, very
  simple motions and expressions
• Furbys tried to learn, started with some speech
  capabilities (could not understand them) which
  could be improved

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Furby
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Furby

• Did a few things right
• Small size with big eyes, triggers baby response
  in people
• Gave impression of interaction and emotions,
  acted intelligent
• Speech was very important, its trying to
  communicate
• Developed over time, acted like it was learning,
  like a real creature

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Furby

• Things it did wrong
• Not very robust, ours broke after a few days
• Could easily reach its limit, Furby could develop
  for a while, but after that it was static
• No way to turn it off, could become very annoying
• Developed over a very short period of time,
  didnt have chance to make it robust enough

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Robots

• People are fascinated by robots, a machine that
  you can interact with
• Robots for play and entertainment arent a new
  idea, have appeared in fiction for a long time
• Industrial uses of robots started in the 1960s,
  and have grown rapidly over the past 20 years

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Robots

• Domestic robots robots that appear in the home
  or work with people
• These are now beginning to appear
• Robots for house cleaning, a robot vacuum
  cleaner, commercially available around 200US
• Mail delivery in office buildings, robots that
  have a standard route for delivering mail and
  packages

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Robots

• Entertainment robots have been available for
  several years
• Sony is the leader in this area, but other
  Japanese companies are also active
• The first Sony entertainment robot was Aibo, far
  more successful than they ever thought it would
  be
• Based on a general robot platform OPEN-R

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Aibo

• Originally produced by Sony as an experiment, did
  a small production run to see if it would sell
• Only available on web
• In Japan sold out in 20 minutes, in the US it
  took a full 4 days to sell out
• Initial price was over 2000US, not a random
  purchase!

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Aibo
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Aibo

• Current version in the 1500US range, still quite
  pricey
• Main features
• Wide range of sensors, including camera
• Reasonably fast processor and 32 MByte of memory
• Can use memory cards for programming
• Wireless network connection
• A PC with legs!

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Aibo

• Aibo starts as a puppy and over a six week period
  grows into a mature dog
• Aibo can recognize its owners face, and respond
  to voice commands
• Can teach Aibo tricks and train it
• If you arent happy with Aibos behavior can
  reset it to puppy stage and start over again

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Aibo
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Aibo
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Aibo

• Several ways of programming Aibo
• High level scripting language for simple
  behaviors
• Low level C interface for more complex
  behaviors
• GUI interface to customize Aibo
• Sony lets users develop their own software and
  share with others, but no commercial software
  production

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Aibo

• Does a lot of things right
• Sophisticated behaviors
• Can be trained, develops over time
• Ability to customize and program, can grow with
  Aibo
• Complex enough to express emotions and be
  interesting
• Still very expensive, not a standard toy

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Humanoid Robots

• Several Japanese companies are working on this
• More difficult problem
• Balance must be able to walk on two feet
• Must be more sophisticated to fool people
• Cannot be threatening or scare people
• Nothing commercial yet, likely to be very
  expensive, over 10,000US

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Construction Sets

• Construction sets allow us to build our own
  robots, previous ones provided a ready built
  robot
• Far more flexible, have control over the physical
  form of the robot
• Take a lot more time to build
• Need to have building skill, know how to put
  things together
• Large projects, lots of work and testing

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Construction Sets

• Many different types of sets, depends upon the
  audience and their aims
• Simplest are the single function sets
• Given the parts and can then build a single
  robot, or robot platform
• Many of these robots are expandable, but they
  have a fixed structure
• Example my small wheeled robot

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Construction Sets

• You can get a wide range of these sets
• Most of them concentrate on wheeled vehicles, but
  there are some other types
• Tend to be relatively cheap, around 50US for a
  set
• They can lead to much more complex custom robot
  systems, where you design it yourself from basic
  parts

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Simple Robot Kits
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Lego

• Probably the best known of the construction kits
• Based on plastic blocks that fit together
• Pixels for the real 3D world, can build about
  anything, but it will always look like it is made
  out of blocks
• Very flexible, a wide range of parts that can be
  used to build many things

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Lego

• Mindstorms started as a research project at MIT,
  add computation to Lego
• Add simple sensors and motors to Lego under
  computer control
• Original system was large, computer brick was
  tethered to PC, so robots couldnt go very far
• Initial work with Schools, teach science, math
  and programming

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Lego

• Next version was portable, and used as the basis
  for Lego Mindstorms
• Based on a logic brick called an RCX, a
  microcontroller that is programmed from a PC
• There have been three versions of the RCX,
  versions 1, 1.5 and 2.0, we will be using version
  2.0

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Lego

• Lego uses a simple visual language for
  programming the RCX
• Extend the Lego block metaphor to programming
• Users drag various shapes to a work area and
  assemble them to produce a program
• Designed to be easy for 12 year olds, but is
  somewhat limited

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Visual Programming
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Lego

• Since the RCX uses a well known microcontroller a
  number of other techniques have been developed
  for programming
• A number of standard languages, like C, Java and
  Basic can be used for programming
• Fairly open system for programming and hardware

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Mindstorms
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Mindstorms
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Mindstorms
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fischertechnik

• The next level up from Lego
• Produced by an engineering company that also
  produces industrial models
• More flexible and better looking models, but it
  is also more expensive and not as widely used
• Controller is more sophisticated and can support
  more sensors and motors

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fischertechnik
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High End

• Build it yourself out of individual components
• Design it all yourself and assemble the
  components required to produce your robot
• Several companies specialize in parts for this,
  including one in HK
• http//www.robotstorehk.com/

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High End

• These stores carry various kinds of motors and
  sensors, can select what you need
• Mobile platforms that can be used as the basis
  for a wheeled robot
• Also have various types of controllers and single
  board computers
• Need to know what you are doing, but the most
  flexible approach

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HandyBot
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HandyBot Robot Dance
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Artistic Robots

• Artists have been fascinated with robots for a
  long time
• Robots have been produced to dance, draw and play
  musical instruments
• Basically mimicking what people do
• Is this what we really want?
• What is the robot adding to the performance?

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Artistic Robots

• What types of artistic statements do robots make?
• They are modern industrial inventions, they
  should reflect our modern world
• Installation art with robots as themes, live out
  science fiction
• Influenced by violence and rapid pace of
  technology

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Survival Research Lab

• The first and probably best known of the artistic
  groups
• Put together robots out of old scrap and cast off
  technology
• Often have a violent theme, machines that fight
  with each other
• Produce a spectacle as well as a performance

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SRL

• Robots tend to be quite large and potentially
  quite dangerous
• Early show would have robots battle to the death,
  often staged randomly wherever there was an empty
  parking lot
• Now have legal and insurance problems with their
  shows, fear that someone could get killed

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SRL
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SRL
http//www.srl.org/yard/kcop/kcoptvhi.ram
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SRL
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Seemen

• Another group with a slightly different take on
  robots
• Machines are similar to SRL
• Made of old industrial parts
• Tend to be large
• Tend to be violent
• Lots of fire
• But, they like to have audience participation

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Seeman

• SRL tends to be chaotic, while Seemen is more
  staged, like a performance
• SRL will destroy their machines during a
  performance, but Seemen uses them to express
  their opinions
• Dont always use violence as a theme, sometimes
  use love
• Want the audience to experience the robots,
  control them directly