MWC 2016 : Futuristic Robots on Display

The recently concluded Mobile World Congress, despite its tag of being the biggest Mobile Phone Expo in the World was witness to a host of other technological advancements. From innovative technologies that promise to charge your phone in 15 minutes, to modular attachments for phones, Mobile World Congress, 2016 had it all.

But more importantly for the tech enthusiast inside all of us, Barcelona bore witness to number of bots from the future which could pretty soon be helping us in our daily lives. So without further ado, here is the list of the top bots on display at the Mobile World Congress, 2016.

Pepper the Human-like Robot

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJwNoaCN0TY

“Pepper,” the humanoid is programmed to be a home-helper and business assistant. The bot can dance and hold a conversation as well as act as a reminder system; it also has a tablet that can access the internet and operate apps. But it’s most salient quality is its ability to read people’s emotions and react in kind.

Aldebaran, the french based parent company of “Pepper” hopes to make the humanoid capable of caring for the elderly, a growing population around the world with little support. The humanoid robot speaks and interprets 20 languages. “Pepper” also comes with a set of gestures such as high-fives and fist bumps but can also be equipped with more such gestures through customization.

Making all this work is the tech hidden Inside Pepper’s little head. Pepper boasts of four microphones, two HD cameras (in the mouth and forehead), and a 3D depth sensor (behind the eyes) which helps it to pick up on speech patterns and facial expressions, and to use these cues to recognize the emotional state of anyone Pepper interacts with.

Sony Xperia Agent

The Xperia Agent as Sony intends it to be is a mix of a watchdog, butler, and an assistant which can be controlled with your voice, gestures, and more. This bot is essentially a smart hub equipped with a rotating camera, a two-way microphone, a speaker system, a projector, and Wi-Fi so that it can perform a wide range of tasks, including information retrieval, message delivery, and even automated control of your home appliances for you.

Xperia Agent can do tasks like recognize when you walk into your house, and then automatically turn on your lights for you, play your favorite playlists, and tell you about the calls you missed. The project is still under development, but upon its completion, the Xperia Agent is to possess a more of a natural, human interface you can have a conversation with.

Sharp RoBoHoN

Sharp’s new RoboHon look like a cross between “Pepper” the Robot and a Lego figure. RoboHon is a small robot phone that is 8 inches tall and can take calls, read emails, and be of great help snapping pictures of you and your friends at your the next house party.

RoboHon is majorly controlled through voice commands and unlike Pepper isn’t adept at gestures and understanding human emotions, but it does come with a small touchscreen on its back for tasks that are more complex. It is possible to ask the RoboHon questions. It connects to the net to find answers and speaks instead of showing a result on a screen.In addition to answering questions, the uber cool droid can be asked to dance and it responds ‘look how good I am,’ before showing some smooth robotic moves.

Starship Technologies Delivery Bot

Move aside humans, future of pizza delivery is here! This delivery bot that goes by the name of Starship is an autonomous delivery robot from Starship Technologies, that can drive on footpaths, and sideways and  hopefully in the future will do most of the delivering for you. Ahti Heinla and Janus Friis, the brains behind this project want the Starship to become a common thing for our cities as they see huge potential in the idea to help small suburban businesses by making low-cost deliveries with almost no added infrastructure.

Starship can reach maximum speeds of 6.5 KM/h and has a capacity of carrying weight of 10 KG. But the what works in the Starship’s favour is that it seems inherently safer than the delivery drones and autonomous trucks that Amazon and Google are planning for us. Starship’s onboard cameras and AI help it avoid running into objects, and the robot will even move out of the way of nearby pedestrians.