Toyota's new robot is a gentle, helpful companion for paralyzed veteran
The robots are coming ... to help us.
Almost a decade ago, as the U.S. war in Afghanistan trudged on, Army Ranger Romulo Camargo was shot in the neck when his troop was ambushed during a humanitarian mission. He was paralyzed from the neck down and struggles with daily tasks that most people might take for granted.
Recently, however, Camargo got a little help in the form of a pint-sized, one-armed robot from Toyota. The company announced Friday that it has completed an in-home trial of its Human Support Robot with Camargo.
The 3 foot-tall, 81 pound robot spent time doing a handful of basic, yet useful tasks for Camargo, like opening doors and grabbing food from the pantry and delivering them to the decorated veteran.
“When they opened the box, and I saw the robot, I figured we would unfold the next chapter in human support robots helping people with disabilities -- like this research is going to change the world," said Camargo in a release.
Toyota designed the robot to be a helpful and safe home companion. The robot can extend its body up over a foot and then the single, telescoping arm reaches deliberately out, as the on-board intelligence identifies objects. Vacuum-pad grippers help the robot grab everything from a pencil to a water bottle to a doorknob.
The robot can move autonomously (thanks to obstacle avoidance) at 5 mph through the home, but can also be controlled via smartphone. It has three primary modes: pick-up with the gripper that extends from the body; fetch, which responds to voice commands; and manual control.
It also has a small screen at its top, where people who connect to it via Skype can appear.
The Human Support Robot joins a growing legion of Toyota home and human-assistant robots, including the wearable brace, WelWalk, and Transfer Assist Robot, which can move an adult from a bed to a chair or even to a toilet.
Camargo's robot splits the difference between Honda's anthropomorphized Asimo and Toyota's wearable and rideable robots. It's short, a mixture of white and black, and relatively nondescript, but it does have a face, of sorts, and a voice. The stereo camera eyes and nose-like wide-angle camera look in your direction or the direction of its task, and a robotic voice responds to voice commands like, "open the door."
The robot runs for about three hours on a charge, but, Toyota told us, it can't recharge itself.
Like most of Toyota's robots, this one is designed to assist those with disabilities and the elderly. Toyota is based in Japan where the populations is aging more quickly than in other parts of the world.
With the two-day trial complete, Toyota, now plans to showcase the robot at Friday's NASCAR Coke 400 pre-race in Daytona, Beach, Florida. As for Camargo, Toyota said they will continue to work with him "to understand how we can use platforms like HSR to improve mobility."
When we asked Toyota how much this robot cost and its availability for purchase, they told us that, since it's considered an on-going research project, it would be premature to talk about either aspect.
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Lance Ulanoff was Chief Correspondent and Editor-at-Large of Mashable. Lance acted as a senior member of the editing team, with a focus on defining internal and curated opinion content. He also helped develop staff-wide alternative story-telling skills and implementation of social media tools during live events. Prior to joining Mashable in September 2011 Lance Ulanoff served as Editor in Chief of PCMag.com and Senior Vice President of Content for the Ziff Davis, Inc. While there, he guided the brand to a 100% digital existence and oversaw content strategy for all of Ziff Davis’ Web sites. His long-running column on PCMag.com earned him a Bronze award from the ASBPE. Winmag.com, HomePC.com and PCMag.com were all been honored under Lance’s guidance.He makes frequent appearances on national, international, and local news programs including Fox News, the Today Show, Good Morning America, Kelly and Michael, CNBC, CNN and the BBC.He has also offered commentary on National Public Radio and been interviewed by newspapers and radio stations around the country. Lance has been an invited guest speaker at numerous technology conferences including SXSW, Think Mobile, CEA Line Shows, Digital Life, RoboBusiness, RoboNexus, Business Foresight and Digital Media Wire’s Games and Mobile Forum.
