Aido was developed by Ingen Dynamics in Palo Alto to be the next generation of home robots. The company launched the robot earlier this year using an Indiegogo campaign and is hoping to ship units before the end of 2016.
Aido uses a ball design where a solitary ball in the base and an algorithm balancing forces between the base of the unit and the ball. If a sudden force is applied that will move the robot more than eight degrees out of center small stabilizer legs extend from the body to stabilize the unit. The legs also extend when Aido is in one place for longer periods of time and during charging.
The programming for Aido uses wifi strength, infrared scans and object recognition to navigate around the house. Wifi strength is used as the main locating factor, while object recognition builds a database of walls, furniture and structure for navigation. A frame-by-frame evaluation of the room is done before Aido moves, and the navigation database updates itself periodically to account for new obstacles in the room. The unit cannot climb steps but has an edge detector to move away when it comes to a step or a falling hazard.
The app that controls Aido runs on both iPhones and Andriod, and the software development kit uses Python and C as the base for the user to program additional features into Aido. Using wifi, Bluetooth, ZigBee and Z-Wave users can control any smart objects around the home and function as a central control module for any internet-of-things devices. A multimedia projector is an add-on option for the robot to project onto a wall or screen, and a smart charger is another option beyond the basic charging set up.
Aido gives the impression that it’s ready to go but there aren’t a lot of technical details on the campaign page or the company’s website. One of the hype snippets says that this is Siri brought to life and able to follow you around the house, but we might need to ask for more out of our home robots in 2016.
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