Nao The Humanoid Robot Drives His Own (Mini) BMW

Some people are dog people, some like cats, some like Robots. If you fall into the category of humans who want nothing more than your own cute, autonomous, programmable humanoid robot, look no further than Nao, which has a whole range, including a car driving bot and a mustachioed creature who looks like the Pringles dude.

Developed by Aldebaran Robotics, a French robotics company headquartered in Paris, the Nao isn’t completely new, but has been a work in progress since 2004.

In 2007, the Nao even scored a decisive victory over Sony’s robot dog Aibo as the robot used in the RoboCup Standard Platform League (SPL), which is sort of like the robot world cup of soccer.

Many of the Nao robots are dedicated to academia, where they strut their robot stuff in universities and laboratories in the name of research and education.

Along with a pretty powerful CPU and some cutting edge software, the little bot also boasts a two-camera computer vision system (complete with HD cameras), a sonar distance sensor, two infrared emitters and receivers, nine tactile and eight pressure sensors.

Oh, and it can drive too. And not just any old clunker of a car. A specially made miniature electric BMW Z4 – because this robot is cooler than you, clearly.

The Nao can steer the car itself, based on human audio commands, while the vehicle itself sports an integrated laser range finder hooked up to an onboard Arduino computer, to relay steering commands back to the bot so it doesn’t hit any obstacles in its path.

Of course, that kind of cool doesn’t exactly come cheap. The robot/car combo come in at $9,990, though the company, which displayed its wares at TechCrunch Disrupt this week is currently offering a discount code (TechCrunchie2014) to make it just $7,990, the regular price of just the NAO robot.

Even without the car, the Nao is pretty adorable. It can look at a person and guesstimate their age, and whether they are happy or angry. It can select music and dance. It has a really cute way of getting up and sitting back down. And overall, it just makes one’s heart melt.

Seriously, who needs a dog and all that poop to pick up? Robot companions who can actually drive themselves around instead of you having to walk them are definitely the future!

Ubergizmo Team
Categories: Robots
Tags: TC Disrupt SF 2014