Meka Robotics is based in San Francisco, which is lucky for us, since that made it pretty much impossible for them to not show up at the IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems. They're probably best known for their underactuated, compliant hand (and the arm that goes with it) and more recently for their humanoid head. The S2 head is notable because it manages to maintain a high degree of expressiveness (those eyes are amazing) while entirely avoiding the Uncanny Valley effect, thanks to its vaguely cartoonish look. We asked Meka's co-founder, Aaron Edsinger to take us through it:
The particular robot in this video is called Dreamer, and it belongs to the Human Centered Robotics Lab at the University of Texas, Austin. Dreamer's head was a cooperative effort involving Meka and UT Austin professor Luis Sentis, who came up with the subtle and effective anime look. Part of what helps keep Dreamer's motions so compliant (and lifelike) is its software: called "Whole Body Control," it's a collaboration between UT Austin, Meka, Stanford, and Willow Garage.
Meka is also offering an entirely new system consisting of an arm, gripper, sensor head, and mobile base for $200,000. It's no coincidence that the one-armed PR2 SE costs the exact same amount; the NSF's National Robotics Initiative provides research grants including up to $200k for research platforms. Yep, the government is basically giving these things away for free, all you have to do is convince them that you deserve one, and then pick your flavor.
[ Meka Robotics ]
[ HCRL ]
