Cartwheel Robotics develops cuddly humanoid robots

Robotics start-up Cartwheel Robotics intends to build humanoid robots that have a friendly appearance. This was reported by IEEE Spectrum on Monday. The aim is to encourage people to interact with the robots. The first prototype shown by Cartwheel looks cute and cuddly.

Most humanoid robots are purpose-built and have more of an industrial charm. This could be a hurdle if humans are to interact with them. Especially as household robots that are constantly interacting with people, such robots seem less suitable.

Cartwheel wants to change that. It is important to the company to build “a small, friendly humanoid robot” that brings “joy, warmth and a bit of everyday magic into rooms”. To achieve this, Cartwheel wants to give the robot a good dose of expressiveness, emotional intelligence and personality. The robot should not just be a piece of technology, but have a presence that people can feel.

The founder and head of Cartwheel is Scott LaValley. He previously worked for ten years at Boston Dynamics on the humanoid Atlas robot, and then spent five years at Disney. There he led the team that developed the Disney robot “Baby Groot”. All the best prerequisites for developing an appealing social, humanoid robot.

LaValley's motivation to develop a humanoid robot “that people want to have in their daily lives” is correspondingly high. The robotics company has already developed a prototype, according to IEEE Spectrum. The robot is called Yogi and has what would commonly be described as toddler proportions. This makes the robot instantly cute. Its body is rounded throughout, the head is large, and somehow the robot looks chubby and therefore cozy.

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However, LaValley doesn't see Yogi as a robot, but rather as a character. But it will probably be a while before Yogi is ready to move into households. That's why Cartwheel has developed the Speedy robot. It is simpler in design and should therefore be quicker to bring to market. The robot is to be built in different variants, meaning it can embody almost any character. LaValley is not revealing much yet, only that Speedy has been given a special torso that was designed for a “specific costume”. Delivery to customers is planned in the “near future”.

Humanoid robot with personality

A friendly appearance is just one criterion that a social robot must fulfill, but more important is its social intelligence to build a connection with humans. To this end, Cartwheel relies on artificial intelligence (AI) to enable new and different interactions. This involves not only linguistic interaction, but also AI-generated full-body movements, which are intended to make the robot appear unique and give it a personality.

But the whole thing has to remain affordable, says LaValley. Although Cartwheel's humanoid robots will not be as expensive as a car, they will cost more than a large household appliance. The robot may also be marketed as a service. Interested parties will then pay a monthly fee for its use, similar to how you pay for the services of a housekeeper or gardener. However, LaValley does not yet have an answer to what exactly this will entail. “This problem won't be solved in the next year, maybe not even in the next five years,” he says, according to IEEE Spectrum.

LaValley does not initially see Yogi and Speedy as all-purpose robots. The cuddly humanoid robots are designed to be sociable. The tasks they could take on would only grow over time. The robot will then develop into an all-purpose robot.

(olb)