Robots are Everywhere at France’s Innorobo Show

   
       
           
       
     

                          

By Brett Davis



Even as fixed industrial robots decline due to a shrinking worldwide automobile industry, mobile robots are expected to continue to grow into markets such as small factories, home assistance and medical robotics, according to speakers at the 2014 Innorobo conference.



These robots will be less focused on rapidly conducting specific factory tasks and more aimed at operating alongside human coworkers or helping in homes. Hirochika Inoue, chief technology officer of Japan’s Kawada Robotics Consortium, dubbed them coworker robots, or “cobots.”



The conference, held 18-20 March in Lyon, France, brought together robotics companies from all over France as well as some international speakers and exhibitors.



Inoue said Kawada has been building humanoid robots for more than a decade, including ones with legs and ones that are just “half humanoid.” 



These robots can move from the fenced-in areas containing today’s industrial robots to where they work alongside humans, shifting to small-scale factories and even shops and homes.



“Looking like a human is not the point, but the key feature is human geometry, friendly functionality, and all in one,” he said. Humanoid shapes are useful because they can occupy the same space as people, can be trained inituitively and can use the same tools and peripheral devices, he said.



Frank Tobe, editor of the Robot Report and cofounder of the Robo-Stox stock tracking service, said there is a looming battle over what companies will do well in the new commercial robotics market.



The price of technology is going down, smartphones and tablets are becoming ever more capable and upstart companies are eager to move into the space, he said.



Bruno Maisonnier, CEO of Paris-based Aldebaran Robotics, maker of the diminutive educational humanoid robot Nao, said most of the people at the show come from the world of industrial robots, “but for me that’s not going to change the world.”



He said humanoid robots that can empathize with humans and understand their facial expressions and body language will find a place in people’s homes and change their lives.



“You have to want to have the robot in your home or by your side. If I make something … that is fun and cute, then you probably want it. So if you’ve got a humanoid robot that’s cute and response to you, I it means you have an intuitive connection here.”



Such technologies are set to “change the world,” he said, and sooner than most people think. Asked when, he said, “before 2015. It’s coming very fast.”



Romeo and Cybedroid



On the show’s exhibitor floor, Maisonnier’s company debuted Nao’s much larger brother, Romeo. The company has so far built seven of the systems, according to Rodolphe Gelin, the company’s research director. Four will go to research laboratories in France and Austria.



“This is a research platform,” Gelin said, although the company plans a smaller, cheaper model that could one day work in people’s homes, monitoring their health and helping with everyday tasks.



A startup company named Hands has a similar, although simpler, goal with its Adam robot. The sleek white unit has a tablet for a face and is intended to serve as sort of a butler or house alarm.



For instance, if the owner settles on the couch to watch a movie, Adam would automatically dim the lights. If a burglar broke in, it would take a picture and send it to the owner’s cell phone. It could also serve as a telepresence robot. The company plans to mount a Kickstarter campaign for funding in September.



Other robots, such as Cybedroid’s and PAL Robotics’ humanoid robots, are aimed at the entertainment and service industries, where they could help entertain crowds or give information. That’s also the role seen by ODM Technologies, which markets robots made by Korea’s FURo company to customers in Asia and South America to serve as interactive information kiosks at airports and shopping malls.



Telepresence robots were also on the prowl at the show, from France’s AWAbot, which had its Beam robots gliding along on the exhibit hall floor, operated by remote users.



Robo-Stox’s Tobe also made us of a telepresence robot to deliver his remarks from the United States; his presence onstage was via robot.