The pioneer project of the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (AI Lab) of the University of Zurich started six months ago, with the target of developing one of the most modern humanoid robots within nine months. On March 9, 2013, Roboy was presented to the public at the “Robots on Tour” robotics exhibition held in Zurich on the Lab’s 25th anniversary.
Since the project started in the summer of 2012, Roboy's development progressed extremely well. The torso of the 1.30 m robot was assembled and the two arms were finished and able to move; then Roboy received a new face. This friendly face is projected onto the head of the robot with a miniature projector and gives him a wide range of facial expressions. Roboy is also able to recognize faces that he has learned beforehand. The humanoid is a so-called “soft robot” – a further development of “Ecce”, his famous counterpart. Roboy has been designed as a humanoid tendon-controlled robot (in “normal robots”, the motors are in the joints); this will enable him to move almost as elegantly as a human.
Since the project started in the summer of 2012, Roboy's development progressed extremely well. The torso of the 1.30 m robot was assembled and the two arms were finished and able to move; then Roboy received a new face. This friendly face is projected onto the head of the robot with a miniature projector and gives him a wide range of facial expressions. Roboy is also able to recognize faces that he has learned beforehand. The humanoid is a so-called “soft robot” – a further development of “Ecce”, his famous counterpart. Roboy has been designed as a humanoid tendon-controlled robot (in “normal robots”, the motors are in the joints); this will enable him to move almost as elegantly as a human.