i-SOBOTMoves Using Servo Motors, Gyro Sensor, Voice Activation

The i-SOBOT, a new 6.5-inch-tall android from Japanese toy manufacturer Tomy Co. can perform martial arts, talk and sing using a series of servo motors and responsive circuits. “It’s a fully bipedal robot,” says Matthew Wendorf, project manager for the i-SOBOT.

“The real goal was making the whole bipedal robot a lot more accessible to an entry-level person that doesn’t have the inclination or the desire or interest to build a robot,” says Wendorf. “The cool thing about it is you can take it home and right out of the box it’s ready to go.”

The android consists of a servo unit with 17 degrees of freedom made up of 17 servo motors. Each motor measures 0.85 x 0.33 x 1 inch and features a maximum of 220 degrees of movement and built-in clutches and metal gears. The android also features a built-in gyro sensor for balance, a speaker unit, a microphone and a voice recognition chip.

According to Wendorf, one advantage with the configuration of the voice recognition chip is the i-SOBOT is able to recognize anyone’s voice without requiring pre-programming. “Right out of the box it’s able to understand a command from anybody really,” he says.

The i-SOBOT comes with a remote control, which uses infrared to transmit commands. The user can choose from set commands or string together sequences for the robot to perform. “In addition to some of the basic actions it has built-in actions for doing pushups, it can do somersaults, but even more complicated stuff too,” says Wendorf.

The i-SOBOT has a high-power draw, according to Wendorf, which is why Tomy teamed up with Sanyo to provide three rechargeable AAA NiMH batteries to provide approx. 40 minutes of constant use.

The SRP of the i-SOBOT is $350. The closest competitor to the i-SOBOT based on price and function is the RS Media robot from Wow Wee Robotics.