Aldebaran Robotics promises humanoid "Nao" robot by 2007

French start-up Aldebaran Robotics has recently gone public with its plans to deliver a humanoid household robot by 2007, although judging from their website, they still seem to be milking the mystery aspect pretty well, complete with tantalizing close-ups of unidentifiable robot parts. If it ever becomes a reality, Aldebaran's "Nao" robot looks like it could be a big brother to Kyosho's Manoi AT01, standing a full 22 inches tall and, from its silhouette at least, looking like it rolled off the same assembly line. The bot should also please homebrew aficionados, running on Linux and controllable via its built-in WiFi, with customization possible using the open source URBI programming language. Best of all, it appears that Nao comes complete with kung-fu grip action, although we're guessing it'll be too expensive to risk an updated bout of Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots.

[Via Linux Devices]

[JJ @ Jul 21st 2006 7:54PM]

I, for one, welcome our new kung-fu grip actioned overlords.

[G-Unit @ Jul 21st 2006 8:01PM]

wierd

[jsis @ Jul 21st 2006 8:14PM]

I for one, welcome our humanoid nao robot overlords.

[navamske @ Jul 21st 2006 8:27PM]

Will it drink Aldebaran whiskey, as Scotty and Captain Picard did in the NextGen episode "Relics"?

[L.Rawlins @ Jul 21st 2006 8:37PM]

Is 'Nao' French for Nintendo Mega-man?...

[Mathew @ Jul 21st 2006 9:43PM]

I looked at the HTML and found a full bodyshot - get it while its hot...

http://www.aldebaran-robotics.com/eng/images/PGPix.jpg

[Bard @ Jul 21st 2006 11:12PM]

I'll be impressed when they can actually get these 'bots to a decent USABLE size and actually have them doing somthing USEFULL instead of dancing around like a bunch of sillicon fairies!!

Hell, even if it's for pushing/lifting/pulling heavy stuff around or patroling w/webcam in whatever limb it'll want to call for a hand with some athourity that would be great! The American public aren't going to pay this kind of money for a glorified toy unless you can put some real-world, industrial application to them. When they see these things stocking the shelves at the local Target and making the rounds at the shopping malls sporting a Pinkerton Security logo, THEN we may finally see public support and innovation with these bots.

Remember: There's no innovation if nobody has a real-world use for a product

[Yves @ Jul 21st 2006 11:36PM]

I think they are picking up their names from French graphic novels.

See Aldebaran: http://www.amazon.fr/gp/product/2205049674/402-8580897-8432169?v=glance&n=301061

And Nao is the hero of Aquablue: http://www.editions-delcourt.fr/album.php?id=1

And the design of the Robot looks like Nao's robot nurse (except it has legs...): http://www.editions-delcourt.fr/goodies/aquablue06.JPG

[Matt Hadder @ Jul 22nd 2006 4:33AM]

Bard, good point.

One of the only ways a household robot like this would ever catch on is if be became cool to own one (or horribly uncool not to own one). If a show like Big Brother or Newlyweds or Friends paraded one of these things around simple people (with maxed out credit) everywhere woudl be snatching them up.

Something that can hover with fans (keep away from people) equiped with a camera to do security for homes and businesses would be marketable... that is if practicality comes into play. Anything's possible though.

[Thomas Watts @ Jul 22nd 2006 6:40AM]

yeah uh... someone should tell them that size is traditionally a vertical bracket to the side - here it's just in the ... wrong place.

I for one do not welcome this our overly endowed house guest - too much competition right there.

[sendeth @ Jul 22nd 2006 8:23AM]

i quote porno for pyros: "we'll make great pets."

[Mike @ Jul 22nd 2006 8:33AM]

iBot

[Jason @ Jul 22nd 2006 12:56PM]

Robots like the iRobot Roomba are so much more practical than this.

What people want is robots that can do the repetitive tasks that they don't want to do.

Robots that can do common household chores will probably be the biggest growth sector in robotics over the next decade or two. This is especially true with an aging population in Europe and the U.S (and Japan).

Dancing $5,000 toy robots that have no real application are for the rich.

[chris @ Jul 22nd 2006 1:07PM]

ASIMO?

[Vikram Mohan @ Jul 23rd 2006 1:45AM]

In there there is a project now where you can get free Pet Cleaning Robots with your house when you purchase one from that project.

More information on this at,

http://loresofdubai.blogspot.com/2005/12/get-pet-cleaning-robots-with-your.html

[Aaron @ Jul 23rd 2006 6:23PM]

This could be pretty impressive depending on what they do with it, but I see a couple problems:

Size - Like other people have mentioned, a humanoid robot that size can't do much. On top of that, it seems like it would get knocked over pretty easily.

Battery - I just don't think we have the battery technology to keep something like this going for more than a few hours.

Computing power - To do anything helpful would require a lot of processing power, and I'm not sure they could fit it all in something this size (yet).

We'll see what happens, I guess. But I predict it'll just be another expensive toy.

[phoebe @ Jul 24th 2006 5:44AM]

How cute!

[RacetrackOwner @ Jul 24th 2006 7:11AM]

Bard, Jason and Aaron are stating what would seem to be obvious points. Can somebody explain to me why this deserves the "household" moniker? Nothing that is 22" tall is going to accomplish anything particularly useful around the house.

[Bastien @ Jul 24th 2006 9:51AM]

Hi,

I'm from Aldebaran Robotics and i would like to give you some precisions.

Nao in not the robot's name but the project's name.

He will not look like Magaman

There's no relation with any graphics novel

He is not designed to help you in your household task. It's a mistake ! He is designed for fun, programming, and some helpness features at all : he can read wathever you want from the web with his text to speech funtion (e-mail, news...) and can deliver information from rss as soon as you get back to home.
He will be a buddy, not a domestic slave

We will keep you up to date, as soon as we release a near-commercial version.

[Sp-----K @ Jul 25th 2006 1:25PM]

How can you have an personal home robot at 22Inches? How will it get me a beer while I'm sitting on the couch playing my imaginary Ps3 that I will have to sell my liver to get......?

[maadio @ Jul 26th 2006 8:41AM]

I keep wondering: does it obey the three rules of robotics?

And I'm so glad it won't look like Magaman. That guy's a jerk.

[booda @ Jul 27th 2006 9:38AM]

Ultraman, on the other hand....

[KillerSaber @ Jul 27th 2006 10:07AM]

Well, I for one am pretty keen to find out exactly what this new bot's going to be like. I mean, to have a tiny semi-autonomous gadget walking around your house responding to you when you ask it a question or trying to get onto a chair in an attempt to get your attention is pretty flippen cool. It's like a pet dog with the only difference that you can switch it off when you've had enough of it and the added benefits that you won't have to find any surprises on your carpet when you come home, hopefully! Heck, I'm not a rich guy and I sure as hell won't be able to afford a unit like that, but if I got the opportunity to own one I would jump at with all four limbs. A gadget that can show emotion...I can't wait!

KillerSaber

[Rich Jerk @ Dec 6th 2006 3:50AM]

Looks like the start of terminator 3 man
;)