Robots
mRobo is the combination of a dancing humanoid robot and a speaker.[4]
TOPIO ("TOSY Ping Pong Playing Robot") is a bipedal humanoid robot designed to play table tennis against a human being. It has been known that ping pong is interesting to roboticists because it requires an understanding of dynamic environments, accurate real-time vision, fast actuation and intelligence to play the game with a winning strategy. It was first introduced in IREX – world's largest robot trade fair – held in Tokyo, Japan on November 28, 2007.[5] While TOPIO 1.0 runs on water power, measures 1.8m, weighs 500kg, has 6 legs and cannot move, TOPIO 2.0 is 2,1m but only weighs 60kg, has 2 legs and can move. As it is considered a much more advanced version compared to the former one, TOPIO 2.0 has 28 DoFs and runs on electricity. Its ability to move, dance and play ping pong is based on modules such as high-speed image sensor, artificial neural network, movement controller, etc. The newest TOPIO 3.0 is as tall as 1,88m and weighs 120kg with 32 DoFs.
The biggest challenge in designing TOPIO 3.0 is to fulfil 2 requirements: to be able to move & to play ping pong. In robotics engineering, it is not an easy task to combine these two factors. Nevertheless, TOPIO has undergone a thorough research and development procedure so that it could move fluently in 2 foot.[6]
SketRobo is a humanoid robot that can draw over 200 pre-loaded images, using a hand-held pen and a sheet of paper clipped to a table in front of it. SketRobo is a cool little robot from Vietnamese toy maker Tosy Robotics that can use its cameras to sketch anything you want. At the moment, SketRobo’s drawing ability is still limited; however, in the future, TOSY Robotics will equip the robot with facial recognition system and motion detection so as the robot can sketch the faces of real people.[7] TOSY Robotics also aims to use SketRobo to help children learn how to draw.
The TOPIO Dio is a robot designed to serve in a restaurant or coffee shop, or as a cocktail bartender, which is manufactured by Vietnam-based company, Tosy. TOPIO Dio is a humanoid robot that measures 125cm tall and weighs 45kg, where it features 28 DoFs, a trio of wheels, a built-in camera, a sensor that helps it avoid obstacles and a Wi-Fi control capability.[8] TOSY Robotics says that the robot is mainly aimed at the “hospitality and restaurant” industries.[9]
