Atlas Kicked!

We love robot competitions, and the only bad thing about them is that we don’t have the time (and, er, travel budget) to cover them all. The biggest robotics event happening this week was RoboCup, in Hefei, China, and we have some videos of that for you. But first, let’s watch a 150-kilogram robot getting kicked, shall we?

Warner, the WPI-CMU Atlas, was the only robot that didn’t fall or need a reset at the DARPA Robotics Challenge Finals. In fact, the team was “thrillednot to be included” in this compilation. The video below shows their “robust lateral balance” practice, including a human “interacting” with an operating Atlas, which is something we had never seen before. 

The robot recovers very nicely. Atlas kicked, Atlas shrugged.

- Robojentics (Robotics), Sweeya Virtu Hub, Rajahmundry.

Sphero BB-8

Over the years, the magic of Star Wars has always lived on screen and in our imaginations. Thanks to our advancements in technology, we’ve made it possible to bring a new part of Star Wars: The Force Awakens into your home. Meet BB-8 – the app-enabled Droid that’s as authentic as it is advanced. BB-8 has something unlike any other robot an adaptive personality that changes as you play. Based on your interactions, BB-8 will show a range of expressions and even perk up when you give voice commands. Set it to patrol and watch your Droid explore autonomously, make up your own adventure and guide BB-8 yourself, or create and view holographic recordings. It’s now possible to explore the galaxy with your own trusty Astromech Droid by your side. BB-8 is more than a toy – it’s your companion.

As you might have suspected by its design and the company behind the project, BB-8 by Sphero is a rolling robot powered by your phone or tablet. Just like Sphero and Ollie, the app is designed to make an effortless connection to your robot and get you driving as quickly as possible. Just start the app, hold your phone or tablet near BB-8, and when it lights up you're good to go.

The driving portion of the app gives you a large virtual joystick and an orientation pad. Point the orientation dot to yourself, and whatever direction you slide the virtual joystick is the direction BB-8 will travel. The interface for driving couldn't be more simple, but since you're driving a rolling ball there's a bit of a learning curve. If you've ever used the original Sphero ball you've got the basics, but the addition of BB-8's head adds a layer of complexity in driving.

You can drive BB-8 on just about any flat surface, but things are a little different on each surface. On most carpets, BB-8 will be the most stable but not quite as fast when you first give a movement command. Hardwood and similar hard, flat surfaces are the best for BB-8 for movement, but it's easy for the robot to slide out of control for a moment or two. Gritty surfaces like pavement are the best of both worlds as long as the surface is nice and flat, but if you're on a road or a similarly imperfect surface, BB-8 tends to overcompensate any time there's a bump which frequently leads to pauses while the robot re-orients.

As a brief aside, there's no need to worry about those gritty surfaces damaging the outer shell of BB-8 as long as it is driven on the ground. Like all Sphero robots, the outer plastic is tough and stands up to quite a bit of abuse. That having been said, one of the fastest ways to deal permanent damage to BB-8 is to drive it off of something and let it fall off a table or down a flight of stairs. As long as you drive it on the ground, and that ground is nice and flat, BB-8 is a lot of fun.

Above all else, BB-8 will try to keep the magnetically attached head connected to the body. This means it turns a little slower to keep the head on the top half of the body, and while its top speed is right around the same as a Sphero ball it takes a little longer to get there. If you're not happy with how long it takes to reach that top speed you can tap the boost button in the interface, but if you lose control and there are kids around the results can be a little on the traumatic side when the head goes flying. Fortunately, all you need to do to remedy the situation is set the head back on top of the ball.

The rest of the driving interface is accessories for making BB-8 feel more like the bot we'll see in the upcoming Star Wars movie. You can make it shake the head yes or no, spin all the way around, shake with fright, and perform simple movements like a square or a figure-8. Each of these actions is accompanied by some audio, much in the same way you'd hear R2-D2 chirp as it moved. These sounds all come from your phone, which is cool when you're in a small room where everyone can hear BB-8 but somewhat less exciting when outdoors. Ideally, BB-8 would have its own speaker for this sort of thing, but when it works the audio accompaniment is cute.

- Robojentics (Robotics), Sweeya Virtu Hub, Rajahmundry.

MIT Engineers Develop Most Human-Like robot For This Year’s DARPA Robotics Challenge

At the DARPA Robotics Challenge finals, you will usually find many humanoid robots. After all, this is the direction much of our technology engineers are trying to go into the future.

But MIT’s new “Hermes” robot is a bit more graceful and human-like than the other entries this year. And perhaps it moves a little more smoothly because instead of trying to simulate human movement via algorithm, this robot is actually hooked up to a human controller. Indeed, the MIT Department of Mechanical Engineering bot can, in fact, mimic the movement of its human controller but in order to operate the more delicate tactile functions—like moving and gripping with the hands and fingers—the human in control can use a joystick-like device instead.

Of course, while the machine might ape human movement it is certainly stronger than that of its human counterpart. The good news, then, is that the robot can likely be sent to perform missions in dangerous locations, particularly for search and rescue missions. And it will perform these missions while keeping personnel safe from harm.

“The human’s still going to provide that creativity, that problem-solving and that large-scale coordination of all the joints, but we’ve designed the robot to be stronger than a person, so we’d imagine that in the future we want to merge some level of autonomous control along with the human’s intelligence,” the researchers explain.

Of course, they plan to give the robot more autonomous control in the future as they continue to update the mechanics, the hardware, and, of course, the software.

source http://www.piercepioneer.com/ and https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFe-pfe0a9bDvWy74Jd7vFg

- Robojentics (Robotics), Sweeya Virtu Hub, Rajahmundry.

Can A Thousand Tiny Swarming Robots Outsmart Nature?

How does a group of animals -- or cells, for that matter -- work together when no one’s in charge? Tiny swarming robots--called Kilobots--work together to tackle tasks in the lab, but what can they teach us about the natural world?

About Kilobots

How do you simultaneously control a thousand robots in a swarm? The question may seem like science fiction, but it’s one that has challenged real robotics engineers for decades.

In 2010, the Kilobot entered the scene. Now, engineers are programming these tiny independent robots to cooperate on group tasks. This research could one day lead to robots that can assemble themselves into machines, or provide insights into how swarming behaviors emerge in nature.

In the future, this kind of research might lead to collaborative robots that could self-assemble into a composite structure. This larger robot could work in dangerous or contaminated areas, like cleaning up oil spills or conducting search-and-rescue activities.

What is Emergent Behavior?

The universe tends towards chaos, but sometimes patterns emerge, like a flock of birds in flight. Like termites building skyscrapers out of mud, or fish schooling to avoid predators.

It’s called emergent behavior. Complex behaviors that arise from interactions between simple things. And you don’t just see it in nature.

What’s so interesting about kilobots is that individually, they’re pretty dumb.

They’re designed to be simple. A single kilobot can do maybe... three things: Respond to light. Measure a distance, sense the presence of other kilobots. 

But these are swarm robots. They work together.

How do Kilobots work?

Kilobots were designed by Michael Rubenstein, a research scientist in the Self Organizing Systems Research Group at Harvard. Each robot consists of about $15 worth of parts: a microprocessor that is about as smart as a calculator, sensors for visible and infrared light, and two tiny cell-phone vibration units that allow it to move across a table. They are powered by a rechargeable lithium-ion battery, like those found in small electronics or watches.

The kilobots are programed all at once, as a group, using infrared light. Each kilobot gets the same set of instructions as the next. With just a few lines of programming, the kilobots, together, can act out complex natural processes.

The same kinds of simple instructions that kilobots use to self-assemble into shapes can make them mimic natural swarming behaviors, too. For example, kilobots can sync their flashing lights like a swarm of fireflies, differentiate similar to cells in an embryo and follow a scent trail like foraging ants.

Click link for video: http://youtu.be/TYuJ-aXZEjQ

- Robojentics (Robotics), Sweeya Virtu Hub, Rajahmundry.

Nao robots playing Soccer!!!

NAO robot from Aldebaran Robotics is a small humanoid robot with the ability to see, hear, speak, feel and communicate not only with people but also with other NAO robots. In this video, NAO shows off its soccer abilities at RoboCup 2010 in Singapore. Today over 1500 NAOs are utilized throughout the world as research and educational platforms in 35 countries.

Nao  is an autonomous, programmable humanoid robot developed by Aldebaran Robotics, a French robotics company headquartered in Paris. The robot's development began with the launch of Project Nao in 2004. On 15 August 2007, Nao replaced Sony's robot dog Aibo as the robot used in the RoboCup Standard Platform League (SPL), an international robot soccercompetition. The Nao was used in RoboCup 2008 and 2009, and the NaoV3R was chosen as the platform for the SPL at RoboCup 2010.

Several versions of the robot have been released since 2008. The Nao Academics Edition was developed for universities and laboratories for research and education purposes. It was released to institutions in 2008, and was made publicly available by 2011. More recent upgrades to the Nao platform include the 2011 Nao Next Gen and the 2014 Nao Evolution.

Nao robots have been used for research and education purposes in numerous academic institutions worldwide. As of 2015, over 5,000 Nao units are in use in 50+ countries.

 - Robojentics (Robotics), Sweeya Virtu Hub, Rajahmundry.

USA CHALLENGES JAPAN TO GIANT ROBOT DUEL!

Robotics has been a great interest of Man for many years. Actually, Man has always been fascinated by machines—which we understand to be “technology”—as the earliest Man developed higher cognitive function and began to understand the relevance and efficacy of tools.

In Japan, though, robots are probably loved more than in any other community. And in America we know this, which is probably why the United States has recently challenged Japan to a giant robot battle.

Of course, Japan recognizes the gauntlet has been thrown and is more than happy to take up the challenge.

And for this battle, it is going to be the US company known as MegaBots versus Japan’s Suidobashi Heavy Industry to a robot fight to the death, so to speak. The US firm issued the challenge through a YouTube video and the Japanese firm’s chief Kogoro Kurata also issued a video response via YouTube.

Of course, it would be very easy to argue that the call-and-response mechanism of this strategy could easily be seen as a viral marketing method meant to spur a call to action. The two videos have already, collectively, attracted more than 4.8 million views so maybe the strategy is working.

- Robojentics (Robotics), Sweeya Virtu Hub, Rajahmundry.

Wheeled Robotic 3D Printer

Small, light in weight, and movable with four wheels installed, this 3D printer robot holds no limitations in the size of the objects that can be printed.

- Robojentics (Robotics), Sweeya Virtu Hub, Rajahmundry.

LEGO Robot breaks the Rubik's Cube World Record

Solving the Rubik's Cube - Lego Robots

- Robojentics (Robotics), Sweeya Virtu Hub, Rajahmundry.

Wi-Fi-powered electronics make Nikola Tesla’s dream a reality

Ambient Backscatter transforms existing wireless signals into both a source of power and a communication medium. It enables two battery-free devices to communicate by backscattering existing wireless signals. Backscatter communication is orders of magnitude more power-efficient than traditional radio communication. Further, since it leverages the ambient RF signals that are already around us, it does not require a dedicated power infrastructure as in RFID.

- Robojentics (Robotics), Sweeya Virtu Hub, Rajahmundry.

Innovative design: Mab deploys flying robots to clean house

Twenty-three-year-old Colombian designer Adrian Perez Zapata designed a home-cleaning system that has won the top prize at the Electrolux Design Lab competition. According to Zapata, his design was inspired by the controlled flight of bees.

The technology, called The Mab, is a circular automated cleaning system that scans an entire house for areas that need to be cleaned, then deploys hundreds of tiny, flying robots to carry out the task. The Mab comes with a total of 908 robots, which are solar powered and each clean using one drop of water.

The main docking device itself is equipped with a filter to keep reusable water clean, and pills which are deposited into the system through a capsule give water viscosity and surface tension to help the robots clean more efficiently.

- Robojentics (Robotics), Sweeya Virtu Hub, Rajahmundry.

Tiny Robot Pulls Objects 2,000 Times Its Size

A tiny robot that weighs no more than a bouncy ball can pull objects nearly 2,000 times its size — the equivalent of a human pulling a blue whale, according to researchers at Stanford University.

This robot, called a MicroTug, can also hoist an object 100 times its weight vertically up a glass surface, which researchers say is the equivalent of a human climbing up a skyscraper while carrying an elephant.

DNews: Rescue Robots Battle It Out At DARPA Challenge

At Stanford University’s Biomimetics and Dextrous Manipulation Lab, a team of researchers looked to nature when designing the miniature robots and emulated the uniquely grippy feet of ants and geckos that help them climb surfaces.

As a result, the MicroTug uses strong directional adhesives to tightly grip a surface. The robot, equipped with a large winch, tow cable and hook, then uses its onboard motors to pull the objects. The researchers use 3-D printers to make the parts.

In the video below, the 12g MicroTug pulls off some pretty impressive feats, like pulling a 600g coffee mug. The miniature robots suggest that adhesion can dramatically outperform friction robots.

Robot Ants Mimic A Real Colony

The project’s researchers see the miniature robots, which only cost about $20 to make, as a launching pad for bigger things to come. They are now looking at ways to make multiple MicroTugs work together as a team and then plan to scale the technology up to larger robots that have much more force.

In the future, researchers say we could see these types of robots pulling objects out of hard-to-reach spots or even sent into a burning building to find survivors.

Underwater robot swarms use collective cognition to perform tasks

Scientists have created underwater robot swarms that function like schools of fish, exchanging information to monitor the environment, searching, maintaining, exploring and harvesting resources in underwater habitats. The EU supported COCORO project explored and developed collective cognition in autonomous robots in a rich set of 10 experimental demonstrators, which are shown in the 52 videos.

The COCORO project's robot swarms not only look like schools of fish, they behave like them too. The project developed autonomous robots that interact with each other and exchange information, resulting in a cognitive system that is aware of its environment.

According to Dr. Thomas Schmickl, coordinator of the project and Associate Professor in the Department of Zoology at the University of Graz in Austria, what distinguishes COCORO from other similar projects is that researchers created robot swarms that are capable of collective cognition. They work as a collective system of autonomous agents that can learn from past experience and their environment.

Robot swarm cognition in action

In one experiment, twenty Jeff robots floated in a tank of water. As they came into contact with each other, they gradually became aware of the size of their swarm. This 'swarm size awareness' was made possible by relaying status information using LEDs.

In another scenario, the robots' mission was to find debris originating from a sunken airplane. Lily robots searched just below the surface while Jeff robots searched at the bottom of the pool.

Magnets were placed around the airplane to mimic an electro-magnetic signal emitted locally and the robots used their built-in compasses to locate the target. A Jeff robot soon discovered the target and settled on it at the bottom of the pool.

By transmitting LED, it 'recruited' the other Jeff robots, which then gathered around the target, while Lily robots collected overhead.

During field trials in Livorno Harbour, Italy, the robots were exposed to waves, currents and corrosive salt water. Despite the difficult conditions the robot swarms were able to remain clustered around their base station as well as go on "patrols" and successfully return to base.

Bio-mimicry: inspired by nature

'We didn't invent all of this ourselves,' says Dr. Schmickl, explaining that COCORO's scientists modelled collective cognition in nature. Observing how honeybees cluster, for example, helped them to develop the BEECLUST algorithm that they used to aggregate robots at a specific location. They also applied mechanisms derived from existing studies on how slime mould amoebas congregate using chemical waves to communicate with each other.

A diverse group of biologists, computer scientists and other experts participated in COCORO, which ran from 1 April 2011 until 30 September 2014 and received EUR 2.9 million in EU funding.

Although the project concluded in 2014, its results could have wide application in the fields of computer science, biology, theology, meta-cognition, psychology, and philosophy, as well as a broader impact on our economy and society. Possible applications are in distributed environmental monitoring and search&rescue operations.

- Robojentics ( Robotics ), Sweeya Virtu Hub, Rajahmundry.

The World’s First Personal Robot

Welcome to a new time with your personal robots Luna. It is the world’s first personal robot, which is announced to have the ability to handle almost all kinds of works and even comes with its own app store where additional functionalities such as face recognition would be sold.

It is also built with 8-inch touchscreen, two cameras, wireless connectivity, a three-mic array, and a variety of sensors. Coming soon before the end of 2011, and you may reserve one now.

- Robojentics (Robotics), Sweeya Virtu Hub, Rajahmundry.

Google’s self-driving cars are now cruising the streets of California!

Like hoverboards and jetpacks, self-driving cars are one of those 'too-good-to-be-true' technologies that could change everything for everyone living in a big city. Except unlike hoverboards and jetpacks - you’ve got a lot to prove, Lexus! - self-driving cars are an actual reality right now, and are starting to make real changes to how the residents of Mountain View in California get around.

As Mike Murphy points out at Quartz, these things look like adorable little pandas, and they’re getting Californians where they need to go, no driver’s license required.Quartz reports that they’re only travelling at 40 km/hour right now, and have a driver behind the wheel at all times in case of an emergency. As we reported back in May, a review found that one in 12 self-driving cars have been in accidents since September 2014, but humans were at fault for the collision, not the cars.

Unfortunately though, Google’s self-driving cars still have their training wheels firmly attached -

By getting them out on the public roads now, Google is aiming to increase the 1.6 million km of experience that their self-driving cars so far have under their very round belts. More driving means more data on what could possibly go wrong for these cars when they’re interacting with regular cars. While the crashes over the past 16 months weren't serious and caused no injuries (and no wonder - they were travelling at less than 16 km/hour at the time) researchers at Google are keen to figure out exactly what kinds of situations will put them in danger, and use that information to further improve their cars' AI.

And together with their own data, they’d like to gather information from people who have actually encountered one of their self-driving cars on the streets too. Chris Ziegler reports for The Verge that Google has launched a website where drivers can recount their experiences of having to interact with one of these sweet-looking bubble-mobiles, telling them if it went smoothly, if it required extra concentration to move around the car, or if it was just kinda weird sharing the streets with something not controlled by a human brain. 

"It'll probably help that some of the cars are going to become rolling works of art - how can you hate a cute car covered in an even cuter pattern?” says Ziegler. "Then again, the cars are capped at 'a neighbourhood-friendly 25 mph (40 km/h),' so if you've ever wanted to lay on your horn at an artificially intelligent vehicle that's going way too slow on a public street, this might be a wonderful opportunity."

Just everyone please be patient with these plucky little robots. They're trying their best to create a world where less and less of us are compelled to spend our valuable hours behind the wheel, let's hope they get us there. 

- Robojentics, Sweeya Virtu Hub, Rajahmundry.

The 20 jobs that robots are most likely to take over By Kathleen Elkins

Machines are only getting smarter and more efficient.

So much so that they’re starting to take over both blue-collar and white-collar jobs.

NPR recently posted a guide created by researchers that predicts the chance of our jobs being automated within the next 20 years.

To make their projections, the experts scored jobs across 21 fields on nine possible traits, the four most important being: cleverness, negotiation, helping others, and squeezing into small spaces.

Mental health and substance abuse social workers appear to be in the clear, with a 0.3% chance of being automated.

Telemarketers, umpires, cashiers, and several other jobs that are already being replaced by robots, have reason to worry, however. You can interact with the full guide here.

While the researchers admitted that these percentages are rough, the data offers insights into what the future may look like.

20. Electrical and electronic equipment assemblers

Electrical and electronic equipment assemblers have a 95.1% chance of being automated.

Robots are becoming critical to the production process of electronics because of their precision and accuracy. They are being used to do things such as: load solar wafers into solar cells, place LED light bulbs, and inspect circuit boards, as reported by the Robotics Industries Association.

19. Postal service workers

Postal service workers have a 95.4% chance of being automated.

Postal sorters, clerks, and mail carriers are being hit hard by automation. Not only are robots able to do tasks such as sort mail, but snail mail is also becoming more and more obsolete with the increasing digitization of mail.

18. Jewelers and precious stone and metal workers

Jewelers and precious stone and metal workers have a 95.5% chance of being automated.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts their employment to decline 10% between now and 2022 as robots begin assisting in the manufacturing and repairing of jewelry.

17. Restaurant cooks

Restaurant cooks have a 96.3% chance of being automated.

A noodle-slicing robot named Foxbot can be found at Dazzling Noodles, an open-kitchen restaurant chain in North China’s Shanxi province.

There’s another robot chef making crab bisque from scratch, thanks to 20 motors, 24 joints, and 129 sensors. The robot, designed by Moley Robotics, can complete the complicated dish in 30 minutes and even plates it.

16. Grinding and polishing workers

Workers who grind and polish materials have a 97% chance of being automated.

Robots are increasingly able to grind or polish a variety of metal, wood, stone, clay, plastic, and glass objects.

15. Cashiers

Cashiers have a 97.1% chance of being automated.

Panera Bread announced that it will have replaced all of its cashiers with kiosks by 2016, according to a USA Today article.

Additionally, self-checkout machines are continuing to spring up in grocery stores around the world.

14. Bookkeepers

Bookkeepers have a 97.6% chance of being automated.

The Wall Street Journal reported that big companies such as Pilot Travel, Verizon, and GameStop, among others, are using software to automate corporate bookkeeping tasks.

These companies now only need about 10 clerks to pay suppliers, as opposed to the 80 or so they would need without the robot bookkeepers.

13. Legal secretaries

Legal secretaries have a 97.6% chance of being automated.

Secretaries are disappearing from the job market now that technology allows bosses to field calls and arrange meetings themselves.

12. Fashion models

Surprisingly, fashion models have a 97.6% chance of being automated.

In addition to “taking over” fashion model jobs, robots are performing in other surprising ways, such as acting. Engineered Arts, a British company, has created a fully interactive and multilingual robot called the RoboThespian, which can hold eye contact, guess a person’s mood and age, and break into song.

11. Drivers

Drivers have a 97.8% chance of being automated.

Drivers and chauffeurs won’t be needed for much longer. Google’s self-driving test cars have driven thousands of miles without human intervention. Also, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick loves the idea of autonomous vehicles and announced that Uber will eventually be replacing all of its drivers with cars that drive themselves.

10. Credit analysts

Credit analysts have a 97.9% chance of being automated.
Automating the process of analyzing credit data and financial statements, and preparing reports with credit information, could result in a lower degree of risk.

9. Milling and planing machine setters, operators, and tenders

Milling and planing machine setters, operators, and tenders have a 97.9% chance of being automated.

Setting up, operating, or tending milling or planing machines are tasks that are increasingly being delegated to machines.

8. Packaging and filling-machine operators and tenders

Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders have a 98% chance of being automated.
Using robots to prepare industrial or consumer products for storage or shipment is becoming more and more prevalent. Amazon now uses an army of robots — each 320 pounds and 16 inches tall — to bring shelves of goods out of storage in order to be shipped, reported Time.

7. Procurement clerks

Procurement clerks have a 98% chance of being automated.
It is now very simple for machines to place orders with suppliers for materials and services. Also, ordering over the internet — or “e-procurement” — will result in a decline of these jobs.

6. Umpires and referees

Umpires and referees have a 98.3% chance of being automated.
In professional tennis, a computerized umpire called Hawk Eye is already being used to help the chief umpire make close line calls. Players have the option of “challenging” a call, in which the Hawk Eye system will display where the ball landed and whether it was in or out. Its decisions are final.

Hawk Eye represents just one system being used to solve disputes in sports.

5. Tellers

Tellers have a 98.3% chance of being automated.
Chances are you haven’t used a human bank teller in a while. ATMs can provide most of the services that tellers offer.

4. Loan officers

Loan officers have a 98.4% chance of being automated.
A Bloomberg article reported that inroads are already being made at Daric Inc., an online peer-to-peer lender. The company has replaced all loan officers with an algorithm that identifies safe borrowers.

3. Timing-device assemblers and adjusters

Timing device assemblers and adjusters have a 98.5% chance of being automated.Machines are now able to perform the precise assembling, adjusting, or calibrating that timing device assemblers specialize in.

2. Tax preparers

Tax preparers have a 98.7% chance of being automated.

Automating the process of preparing tax returns could result in much fewer errors, and the technology, Optical Character Recognition (OCR), already exists.

1. Telemarketers

Telemarketers have a 99% chance of being automated.
Many of today’s cold-callers are not human. Robots can not only perform the job 24/7, but they can also maintain energy and perkiness no matter how many rude consumers they interact with.

- Robojentics, Sweeya Virtu Hub, Rajahmundry.

Pepper first emotional humanoid robot to be sold in Japan for $1,600

A joint venture between Japan’s SoftBank, China’s Alibaba and Foxconn Technology is bringing the emotional human-like robot Pepper to the global market. It’s the first step to make robots available to general consumers for home and work.

Always Be Chatty: Japanese robot Pepper will sell you a coffee machine… with a smile
Foxconn and Alibaba are each investing $118 million (¥14.5 billion) for a stake of about 20 percent each in the company, with SoftBank holding the remaining 60 percent.

Pepper is the world's first personal robot and will go on sale in Japan this weekend, with monthly production of about 1,000 units, according to SoftBank. Sales outside Japan will not begin earlier than next year. The 1.2-meter tall robot will sell for $1,600, but there will be additional monthly fees of about $200 to use it, including an insurance package.

“Robots are going to be as popular as cars,” Alibaba’s founder Jack Ma said in Tokyo on Thursday during his appearance with SoftBank’s CEO Masayoshi Son. “They will be everywhere and I think we all have to get ready for that.”

Pepper will be the first robot to react to human emotions and even have emotions of its own. He moves on wheels and looks like is wearing an iPad as a pendant. He takes information from his cameras and touch sensors, and his behavior changes based on how this makes him feel. The humanoid robot will be provided with some 200 apps, such as voice recognition though he won’t be able to do dishes or laundry. SoftBank hopes that robot will grow emotionally with its owners and become a family member so they won’t become bored with it.

“Robots have already surpassed human beings in calculation and memory, but I have no doubt that the time will come when they will surpass in wisdom as well,” Softbank’s head, Japanese billionaire Masayoshi Son said. While Jack Ma added, that the only key challenge was adding “the heart,” which now sets humans apart from machines.

During the demonstration on Thursday, Pepper who was introduced to the world last year, danced, took photos and seemed to demonstrate different emotions.

SoftBank also plans to launch several models for enterprises, 'Pepper for Biz,' this autumn. The company wants its robots to serve as baby-sitters, medical workers or even party companions in the future. Robots are already being used at stores including SoftBank's own mobile phone shops.

Softbank, Alibaba and Foxconn are striving to spread and develop the robotics industry on a worldwide scale as they want to become key players in the sector.

- Robojentics (Robotics), Sweeya Virtu Hub, Rajahmundry.