Service robot Floka’s big debut

In a video, researchers from the Cluster of Excellence Cognitive Interaction Technology (CITEC) explain how Floka can lend a helping hand in the home as a social companion. In order to react flexibly, the robot is learning to evaluate social situations in CITEC's experimental apartment. Previously, a sensor head was used on Floka, but this was not optimal for communicating with human users because the head was not able to show facial expressions. "The social robotic head has the most important features of a human face -- eyes, eyebrows, and mouth -- and with its cartoonish face, it has a friendly appearance," says Privatdozent Dr. Sven Wachsmuth, who heads the CITEC Central Lab Facilities. "With its facial expressions, the social robotic head can show attention and give feedback," explains the computer scientist. "We can also vary the appearance of the robotic head to make a feminine one look more masculine, or make an older head appear younger."

In addition to Floka, CITEC will present another four exhibits that show how daily life in the apartment of the future could change. Part of this transformation is Amiro, the mobile mini robot mounted on two wheels that is about the size of a money box in its base version -- about eight centimeters tall, and ten centimeters in diameter. Amiro orients and moves itself autonomously, and is equipped with a video camera. Its hardware is modular, which makes it easy to install infrared, image, or laser sensors. Amiro can be used, for instance, as a mobile sensor that can help the user keep an eye on their own apartment remotely with a Smartphone. The robot runs on a Linux operating system, allowing home users to program Amiro for any task -- whether as a toy for their children, or a mobile video camera.

Adamaas: a pair of glasses that helps jog your memory and provides unobtrusive assistance with everyday activities. The data glasses are designed to recognize the individual needs of their user and determine what is causing the user trouble when performing a task, such as baking a cake or doing exercises. If the user runs into problems, the glasses react in real time and display helpful comments and instructions in the user's field of vision. At Automatica, trade fair visitors will be able to test out Adamaas for making coffee.

KogniChef, the intelligent kitchen, will also be presented at CITEC's trade fair stand. As a cooking assistant, KogniChef makes sure that each recipe turns out a success, providing assistance not only to novice chefs, but also people with cognitive challenges such as early-stage dementia. Like the lane-assist system in a car, the "navigation assistant" for the kitchen notices when things are going off track and immediately offers its assistance. An integrated tablet leads users step-by-step through recipes and can be operated by voice or gesture. Visitors to the trade fair can see for themselves just how good KogniChef is in the kitchen. The cooking assistant is a research prototype from KogniHome, the large-scale project coordinated by CITEC in which 14 project partners from the region of Ostwestfalen-Lippe, Germany are working together on the apartment of the future.

The Soundscape Refiner provides a sonically protected space for visitors who want to get away from the noise of the trade fair. It records noise from the surroundings, turning it into pleasant background sound in real time that is then played over the speakers. In places where there are many conversations going on at the same time, the Soundscape Refiner overlaps the noises to create a subjectively harmonious background sound.

Automatica in Munich is the world's leading trade fair for automation, where companies and research institutions exhibit the latest advances in robotics, modern assembly and handling technologies, and industrial image processing. Robotics is a central area of exhibition at this biennial trade fair, with a focus on how humans and robots can work together.

"Floka, the Social Robot: A Companion for the Apartment of the Future": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t87agABeNkI&feature=youtu.be