The mysterious debut of Luna the personal robot

ROBOTICS

The mysterious debut of Luna the personal robot

By Ben Coxworth

16:14 May 12, 2011

7 Comments

7 Pictures

Luna is a new personal robot that should reportedly sell for around US$1,000

Image Gallery (7 images)

Ah, the personal robot. While flying cars and jetpacks are now here – for some people – we still don't have robots that help us out around the house. However, maybe we soon could. This week, California's RoboDynamics introduced its Luna personal robot to the world. While the company currently isn't providing too much other information, her(?) makers are calling Luna "a breakthrough in robot design."

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Luna was designed for RoboDynamics by SchultzeWORKS, an industrial design studio also based out of California. The robot incorporates the hardware, firmware, and drive train already used in RoboDynamics' Telepresence internet-connected Low-cost Robot (TiLR).

According to the press release, Luna is the world's first personal robot to be expandable via expansion ports, fully programmable with open standards, and affordable. No further specifics are provided on hardware, software, or just what it is that she could do for you, although she does apparently have a carrying handle in the back, and unarticulated pipe-like arms that can swing up to carry a tray.

IEEE Spectrum, however, states that Luna has a Dual Core Atom 2 GHz processor, a Linux-based operating system, and up to 32 GB of storage. Interaction is possible via an 8-inch capacitive touchscreen, a three-microphone array with speakers, wireless and cellular communication, an 8-megapixel camera, and a 3D sensor. She runs on a 12-volt battery, for 4-8 hours per charge.

The IEEE website also reports a projected price of just US$1,000, although the first models (which should ship later this year) will go for $3,000.

We'll let you know when more information comes our way. In the meantime, you can see Luna in action, in the rather rustic video below.

Source: CrunchGear

About the Author

Ben Coxworth
An experienced freelance writer, videographer and television producer, Ben's interest in all forms of innovation is particularly fanatical when it comes to human-powered transportation, film-making gear, environmentally-friendly technologies and anything that's designed to go underwater. He lives in Edmonton, Alberta, where he spends a lot of time going over the handlebars of his mountain bike, hanging out in off-leash parks, and wishing the Pacific Ocean wasn't so far away.

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User Comments (7)

yes, nice arse, but if I ask her to get me a beer outta fridge and bring it to me, can she?

Bill Bennett - May 12, 2011 @ 08:38 pm PDT

Cool however I was building robots for MacDonald's in the 80's with more punch - seems like a toy....

Mark Hewitt - May 13, 2011 @ 06:46 am PDT

That video is truly sad.

Poor little robot, unloved and misunderstood, tries to discover its purpose in life.

Fails.

Tragically departs the scene.

The End.

splatman - May 13, 2011 @ 06:57 am PDT

SAD ROBOT

A flat foot, mono-ped robot in every bungalow by 2021

eecolii - May 13, 2011 @ 08:11 am PDT

It appears "her" primary ability is to navigate through a doorway.

It's hard to take seriously a company that thinks a cell phone video, that appears to have been taking by someone with the DTs, is marketing material.

bobmeyerweb - May 13, 2011 @ 12:15 pm PDT

Reminds me a bit of Minionbot from the webcomic Vexxarr.

Gregg Eshelman - May 13, 2011 @ 06:40 pm PDT

So it's a Linux computer on wheels with some software that makes it navigate a room without bumping into objects, but apart from that, it doesn't really do anything. Instead, the makers are pointing out that the OS is open source, so they're hoping "the community" will develop apps for it that will make it do really cool things, or even develop new hardware, like "real robot arms". In other words, they're hoping anybody else will develop the real robot parts, the real artificial intelligence. The company thinks, just because developers wrote a lot of software for the iPad, which apparently they consider useless out of the box without 3rd party apps, 3rd party developers will make this computer on wheels a real robot, and all the company itself has to do is sit back and wait and sell these devices for $3000.-? Honestly, I've read a lot of "reviews" of this thing, and nobody really knows what to do with it (but nobody asks this question, either). The answer is simple, you can't do anything with it, and if you hope some open source developers will turn this thing into a useful robot in their spare time, dream on.

Thomas Beck - August 23, 2011 @ 02:09 am PDT