Go fetch! El-E the laser pointer-controlled home helper robot

Charlie Kemp, director of the Healthcare Robotics Center at Georgia Tech and Emory University, accepts a towel from El-E Photo: Georgia Tech

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Article Summary

March 25, 2008 The nuances and imprecise nature of human language pose big challenges for developers looking to advance voice control technology of helper robots, but researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have found an effective way to circumvent verbal communication by instructing a robot to fetch items under direction of a laser pointer. The El-E (pronounced like the name Ellie) robot could provide help to users with mobility impairments by moving or retrieving items via its sophisticated combination of in-built omni-directional cameras, height and pressure sensors, laser range finders and face detection technology.

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