It might not be as nifty as the famous Star Wars droid but at least Big-I speaks English.
Big-I is the brain child of the Hong Kong based company NXRobo. After years of development, the 76 cm (30 inches) robotic butler/ assistant is ready for the market.
The developers have taken a different approach towards the appearance and have put a lot of thought in making the little walking dustbin more family friendly.
The first thing that catches the eye, is Big-I’s enormous eye. The developers were torn between using body language or an eye to interact with the robots owners and express feelings, obviously the eye won.
A novelty is the soft, cloth-like “skin”, which gives Big-I a warm and friendly look also making it more pleasant to hug, should the urge over come you. The soft texture and the available colors are a step to make the robot more compatible to an home environment.
Programming
In addition to normal voice commands, Big-I will also understand If- then commands. The robot is capable of facial recognition, motion tracking and can monitor its environment, so you can tell it to turn off the lights if the room is empty, or remind you take an umbrella if it is raining outside. The built in software helps it understand spoken language and learn on the way.
With its analytic and monitoring capabilities, Big-I has unlimited possibilities and the developers are not at the end of the line, there is definitely more to come. No wonder the Kickstarter campaign is a success. On top of everything, the little guy(or gal) is cute too.
