We've been wondering wherefore art thou Romeo ever since Aldebaran Robotics promised us a March 2011 unveil of their adult-size bipedal humanoid. Now, not quite a year behind schedule, we've got the first video look at what's in store.
To be fair, Aldebaran has been busy doing stuff like coming out with a new version of Nao, so we'll cut them some slack with their (in both foresight and hindsight) entirely implausible original unveil date. And even now, Romeo is not yet all that we were promised, although he does seem to be coming along rather well:
Eventually, Romeo here will stand 1.4 meters tall, and it'll stand, you know, period, since we're guessing that he's not hangin' out in that chair just for kicks. Not that he can kick yet, but, yeah. He's designed to assist the elderly and disabled in daily activities, ranging from fetching food and taking out the trash to keeping track of health and providing entertainment.
If you want a Romeo of your own, he will be available to interested individuals, but those individuals had better have a whole lotta scratch, 'cause rumor has it that the starting price will be somewhere around $335,000.
For more background on Romeo, make sure and check out our December 2010 interview withRodolphe Gelin, head of cooperative projects at Aldebaran and one of the engineers leading the development of Romeo.
[ Project Romeo ] via [ Plastic Pals ]