**3.4.2 Service robots (service in buildings)**

Especially in Japan, a multitude of so called Entertainment Robots and Service Robots are developed and sold. Entertainment robots are designed to amuse, communicate, and perform simple tasks in the household. Mitsubishi's Wakamaru and Sony's Aibo for example had primarily been designed to communicate with household members and play music, not for providing care or household services. Yet, as the upkeep of social interaction increasingly becomes an integral part of care strategies, the taking over of entertainment and communication tasks by robots is envisioned by researchers and developers. Furthermore,

Exoskeleton and Humanoid Robotic Technology in Construction and Built Environment 137

Application in Construction/Building: Service Robots can assist to carry out or can (partly) autonomously carry out household tasks and care tasks in an ageing society. Transfer of technologies (which some entertainment robots already have) towards humanoid robots thus gaining communication and cooperation ability. Further service robots can be used to maintain buildings, inspect nuclear power plants [24] and assist in homes for the elderly.

Fig. 14. *Left:* Wakamaru acting as edutainment and communication robot in a home environment. *Right:* Robot for guiding and helping blinded and disabled people at home

Urban robotics is a research field situated between smart/sensible city research and robotics research. Its goal is to develop cutting-edge technologies as well as application scenarios for urban life supported by robotic devices. The research field is pioneered by T. Hasegawa and his Town Management System enabling robots to outsource complexity to sensors and vision systems distributed in the city environment [4]. Other interesting impulses in this research field are coming from research on smart cars and e-government. Furthermore, NASA accounts controlled traffic systems and smart grid energy systems as so called

PBDR: Prof. Thomas Bock

**PBDR: Partner Ballroom Dance Robot** 

**Developer** Tohoku University

**Height** 1650 mm **Width** 1000 mm **Length** 1000 mm **Weight** 100 kg

**Drive System** Servo Motor **Power Supply** Battery

**Degree of Freedom** 

Copyright T. Bock

**3.5 Distributed robot systems** 

"Immobile Robots" [25].

TroisO **Business Model** Dance Partner Robot

15 DOF

NOMURA UNISON

homemaking robots are robots which take over simple tasks as cleaning, transport of objects or informing about intruders or the pet's well-being. Often, the robot's performing tasks in the household contain elements of both entertainment and homemaking.


Wakamaru: Prof. Thomas Bock

#### **RIDC-01**


RIDC-01: Prof. Thomas Bock


Application in Construction/Building: Service Robots can assist to carry out or can (partly) autonomously carry out household tasks and care tasks in an ageing society. Transfer of technologies (which some entertainment robots already have) towards humanoid robots thus gaining communication and cooperation ability. Further service robots can be used to maintain buildings, inspect nuclear power plants [24] and assist in homes for the elderly.

Copyright T. Bock

136 The Future of Humanoid Robots – Research and Applications

homemaking robots are robots which take over simple tasks as cleaning, transport of objects or informing about intruders or the pet's well-being. Often, the robot's performing tasks in

Wakamaru: Prof. Thomas Bock

RIDC-01: Prof. Thomas Bock

the household contain elements of both entertainment and homemaking.

**Developer** MITSUBISHI HEAVY

**Business Model** Home Service Robot

**Height** 1000 mm **Width** 450 mm **Length** 470 mm **Weight** 30 kg

**Total DOF** 13 DOF

**Operation Time** 2 hours

**Developer** Tmsuk

**Height** 1300 mm **Width** 700 mm **Length** 960 mm **Weight** 100 kg

**Total DOF** 10 DOF

**Operation time** 2 hours

**Drive System** DC Servo Motor **Power Supply** Lithium-ion Battery

INDUSTRIES

1 km/h

**Communication** Human detection, Individual

**Business Model** Guidance & Cleaning Robot

3.0 km/h

**Power Supply** DC-24V Lithium-ion Battery

Speech synthesis

recognition, Voice Recognition,

Wakamaru

**Maximum Moving speed** 

**RIDC-01** 

**Maximum Moving speed**  Fig. 14. *Left:* Wakamaru acting as edutainment and communication robot in a home environment. *Right:* Robot for guiding and helping blinded and disabled people at home
