Anybots

Last updated
Anybots Inc.
Type Private
Industry Robotics
Founded2001;22 years ago (2001)
Founder Trevor Blackwell
Headquarters Santa Clara, California
Key people
David Rogan (CEO)
Website anybots.com

Anybots Inc. is an American robotics company based in Santa Clara, California. It was founded in 2001 by Trevor Blackwell.

Contents

History

The company was incorporated as Anybots Inc. by Trevor Blackwell in 2001. [1] David Rogan later became CEO in July 2012. [2]

Robotic Products

Q(X)

Anybots QX Prototype 4 Anybots QX.png
Anybots QX Prototype 4

Q(X) (also known as the QX) was a 2013 virtual presence robot from Anybots. It could support a 21-inch display or 2x 15.6-inch screens. It provided HD video, a 64x zoom camera, and audio capabilities. It was the first product from Anybots that did not feature its laser pointer as a standard. [3] [4]

However, its modular design allowed for customer-specified payloads and alternate conferencing systems to be included.

QB

Anybots QB Anybots.jpg
Anybots QB

QB was a two-wheeled, gyroscopically stabilized remote telepresence unit driven via a web browser. The user was able to select from a range of bots located around the world, and drive it from the website. The end user was required to have power, Wi-Fi or 3G/4G. This product featured a touchscreen display, speaker and microphone and a laser pointer.

Intended applications included marketing, [5] and various telepresence tasks, such as for remote experts, remote lobby receptionists, museum guides, education, translation services, remote property tours by real estate agents, exhibition attendants and security patrols, as well as the more general business meeting presence.

It could also have become useful for the handicapped, severely disabled, [6] [7] and sick children, according to marketing material. [8] [9]

Anybots could be purchased in the United States, Japan, and Europe.

QA

QA, which debuted at the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show, was the first of Anybots' two telepresence Robots. [10] 5-foot-tall (1.5 m), 35-pound (16 kg) [11] It balanced on two wheels, like a Segway, [12] had 5-megapixel cameras, two-way audio and a laser pointer for gesturing. [13] The user could connect to QA via Wi-Fi. [14]

The robot was never produced commercially. [15]

Dexter

Dexter was a dynamically balancing bipedal humanoid robot research project. [16] It was made to learn walking and jumping, with its feet clearing the ground for a third of a second. [17] Because it uses pneumatics as actuators, its joints were compliant and provided a springy restoring force, much like a human's tendons, allowing it much greater capability to deal with obstacles. [18] [19]

Monty

A Monty prototype Anybots robot monty.jpg
A Monty prototype

Monty was a telemanipulation prototype. It could pick things up with an 18 degree of freedom hand [20] and was operated remotely through the use of a suit that included a special glove.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Consumer Electronics Show</span> US trade show

CES is an annual trade show organized by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA). Held in January at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Winchester, Nevada, United States, the event typically hosts presentations of new products and technologies in the consumer electronics industry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Haptic technology</span> Any form of interaction involving touch

Haptic technology is technology that can create an experience of touch by applying forces, vibrations, or motions to the user. These technologies can be used to create virtual objects in a computer simulation, to control virtual objects, and to enhance remote control of machines and devices (telerobotics). Haptic devices may incorporate tactile sensors that measure forces exerted by the user on the interface. The word haptic, from the Greek: ἁπτικός (haptikos), means "tactile, pertaining to the sense of touch". Simple haptic devices are common in the form of game controllers, joysticks, and steering wheels.

Telepresence refers to a set of technologies which allow a person to feel as if they were present, to give the appearance or effect of being present via telerobotics, at a place other than their true location.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Telerobotics</span>

Telerobotics is the area of robotics concerned with the control of semi-autonomous robots from a distance, chiefly using television, wireless networks or tethered connections. It is a combination of two major subfields, which are teleoperation and telepresence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Simultaneous localization and mapping</span> Computational navigational technique used by robots and autonomous vehicles

Simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) is the computational problem of constructing or updating a map of an unknown environment while simultaneously keeping track of an agent's location within it. While this initially appears to be a chicken or the egg problem, there are several algorithms known to solve it in, at least approximately, tractable time for certain environments. Popular approximate solution methods include the particle filter, extended Kalman filter, covariance intersection, and GraphSLAM. SLAM algorithms are based on concepts in computational geometry and computer vision, and are used in robot navigation, robotic mapping and odometry for virtual reality or augmented reality.

Motion detection is the process of detecting a change in the position of an object relative to its surroundings or a change in the surroundings relative to an object. It can be achieved by either mechanical or electronic methods. When it is done by natural organisms, it is called motion perception.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scott Fisher (technologist)</span>

Scott Fisher is the Professor and Founding Chair of the Interactive Media Division in the USC School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California, and Director of the Mobile and Environmental Media Lab there. He is an artist and technologist who has worked extensively on virtual reality, including pioneering work at NASA, Atari Research Labs, MIT's Architecture Machine Group and Keio University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Videotelephony</span> Real-time video communication

Videotelephony is the two-way or multipoint reception and transmission of audio and video signals by people in different locations for real-time communication. A videophone is a telephone with a video camera and video display, capable of simultaneous video and audio communication. Videoconferencing implies the use of this technology for a group or organizational meeting rather than for individuals, in a videoconference. Telepresence may refer either to a high-quality videotelephony system or to meetup technology, which can go beyond video into robotics. Videoconferencing has also been called visual collaboration and is a type of groupware.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Medical robot</span> Robots used for medical purposes

A medical robot is a robot used in the medical sciences. They include surgical robots. These are in most telemanipulators, which use the surgeon's activators on one side to control the "effector" on the other side.

Human–robot interaction (HRI) is the study of interactions between humans and robots. Human–robot interaction is a multidisciplinary field with contributions from human–computer interaction, artificial intelligence, robotics, natural language processing, design, and psychology. A subfield known as physical human–robot interaction (pHRI) has tended to focus on device design to enable people to safely interact with robotic systems.

A virtual fixture is an overlay of augmented sensory information upon a user's perception of a real environment in order to improve human performance in both direct and remotely manipulated tasks. Developed in the early 1990s by Louis Rosenberg at the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Virtual Fixtures was a pioneering platform in virtual reality and augmented reality technologies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Legged robot</span> Type of mobile robot

Legged robots are a type of mobile robot which use articulated limbs, such as leg mechanisms, to provide locomotion. They are more versatile than wheeled robots and can traverse many different terrains, though these advantages require increased complexity and power consumption. Legged robots often imitate legged animals, such as humans or insects, in an example of biomimicry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Melco</span> Japanese business

Melco Holdings Inc. is a family business founded by Makoto Maki in 1975 and is located in Japan. The company's most recognizable brand is Buffalo Inc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robotics</span> Design, construction, use, and application of robots

Robotics is an interdisciplinary field that involves the design, construction, operation, and use of robots.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Willow Garage</span> Robotics research and development company

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robotic vacuum cleaner</span> Autonomous vacuum floor cleaning system

A robotic vacuum cleaner, sometimes called a robovac or a roomba as a generic trademark, is an autonomous robotic vacuum cleaner which has a limited vacuum floor cleaning system combined with sensors and robotic drives with programmable controllers and cleaning routines. Early designs included manual operation via remote control and a "self-drive" mode which allowed the machine to clean autonomously.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Domestic robot</span> Type of service robot

A domestic robot is a type of service robot, an autonomous robot that is primarily used for household chores, but may also be used for education, entertainment or therapy. While most domestic robots are simplistic, some are connected to Wi-Fi home networks or smart environments and are autonomous to a high degree. There were an estimated 16.3 million service robots in 2018.

Hillcrest Labs was a sensor processing technology company that developed free space motion-control technology and the first motion-controlled remote for television. Hillcrest also invented the first graphical zoomable interface for television and Kylo, the first Web browser optimized for television. The company, based in Rockville, Maryland, was acquired by CEVA in July 2019.

The Telenoid R1 is a remote-controlled telepresence android created by Japanese roboticist Hiroshi Ishiguro. The R1 model, released in August 2010, is approximately 80 cm tall, weighs 5 kg and is made out of silicone rubber. The primary usage of the Telenoid R1 is an audio and movement transmitter through which people can relay messages over long distances. The purpose is for the user to feel as though they are communicating with a far-away acquaintance. Cameras and microphones capture the voice and movements of an operator which are projected through the Telenoid R1 to the user.

Cloud robotics is a field of robotics that attempts to invoke cloud technologies such as cloud computing, cloud storage, and other Internet technologies centered on the benefits of converged infrastructure and shared services for robotics. When connected to the cloud, robots can benefit from the powerful computation, storage, and communication resources of modern data center in the cloud, which can process and share information from various robots or agent. Humans can also delegate tasks to robots remotely through networks. Cloud computing technologies enable robot systems to be endowed with powerful capability whilst reducing costs through cloud technologies. Thus, it is possible to build lightweight, low-cost, smarter robots with an intelligent "brain" in the cloud. The "brain" consists of data center, knowledge base, task planners, deep learning, information processing, environment models, communication support, etc.

References

  1. Taylor, Colleen (2012-06-26). "Anybots Names Former Cisco Exec David Rogan CEO, Company Enters Into 'Rebuild Mode'". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2023-09-04.
  2. Anybots Names David Rogan as Chief Executive Officer Archived November 7, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
  3. VideoTechnology: Anybots creates new virtual presence robot in partnership with Polycom Inc.
  4. "Anybots' New Monolithic Telepresence Robot: Q(X) - IEEE Spectrum". spectrum.ieee.org. Retrieved 2023-09-04.
  5. Coca-Cola presents: The Social Robot Archived October 17, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
  6. Disabled Gain Freedom Archived October 7, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
  7. Creative Communication: Using iPads, iPods, and even Robots as communication devices via Mac OS X.
  8. NBC: Bay Area Boy Makes a "Wish," Gets Robotic Tour
  9. BBC: Boy 'lived as a robot' for two months
  10. Engadget: Anybots rolls out the QA Telegenic Telepresence Robot
  11. Pocket Lint: Anybots unveils QA telepresence robot CES 2009: Be anywhere in the world, without actually being there
  12. "Live From CES: Will Physically Going to CES Become Obsolete?". Archived from the original on 2017-06-02. Retrieved 2009-01-13.
  13. Business robot debuts at CES
  14. SF Engadget: Anybots rolls out QA, the telegenic telepresence robot
  15. Las Vegas Sun: Teleconferencing robot
  16. none BBC: Walking robot steps up the pace [ permanent dead link ]
  17. Researchers Dream of Humanizing Androids Archived January 2, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  18. Tech Digest: Anybots: the world's first dynamically balancing robot
  19. YouTube: Anybots' Dexter Jumps (March 2008)
  20. Engaget: Robot walks independently with dynamic balancing