Check out Electronic Design's coverage of CES 2024.
Enchanted Tools is French startup that’s targeting application spaces like hospitals, nursing homes, and medical clinics with its Mirokai robot (Fig. 1). The cobot takes an interesting approach with its animated face built around a compact rear projection system. It will interact directly with people and can carry small loads using a pair of arms.
The cobot has 28 degrees of freedom (DOF), including the ball it sits atop that allows for omnidirectional movement. It utilizes a host of sensors, including a pair of color cameras, two infrared cameras, a dozen time-of-flight (ToF) sensors, half-a-dozen ultrasonic sensors, and four microphones. The system also incorporates three inertial measurement units (IMUs) and a six-axis torque sensor. The battery provides up to eight hours of operation.
Standing 1.3 m tall and weighing in at 30 kg, the cobot has a maximum speed of 3.2 km/h but will usually move more slowly. It has a pair of processing units and a pair of GPUs to help with the autonomous navigation systems. The arms and hands are articulated, and they can pick up and hold small, lightweight objects (Fig. 2). The robots aren’t designed for heavy lifting, but rather to deliver small items. The hands have a 97% chance of grasping most objects.
On-board cameras can be used for face recognition and microphones for voice recognition. The face display is one of the more interesting aspects, as it provides an easy way to present different facial expressions that would be challenging even for an articulated face. It enables non-verbal feedback with very little hardware and power overhead.