Robotics expert to visit WMU for Engineers Week

At Aldebaran Robotics in France they have developed a personal humanoid robot called Nao (pronounced now) that talks, walks and even picks itself up when it falls down. 

 

The 23-inch bot is fitted with an on-board computer with a 1.6GHz Intel processor that allows it to make multi-tasking calculations. Its two HD cameras allows the simultaneous reception of two video streams, which led to significantly increased speed and performance in face-and-object recognition, even under poor-lighting conditions, compared to earlier versions of the robot.

 

Rodolphe Gelin, director of research for Aldebaran Robotics, the maker of Nao, will speak at the Engineers Week Dinner Tuesday, Feb. 19, in the Fetzer Center at Western Michigan University.

 

He has worked on the development of robots for more than 30 years and is the leader of the French project ROMEO, which aims to develop a full-size humanoid robot.

 

Nao sells for $4,000 to $16,000 and goes only to educational and research institutions as it continues to be developed. For about $4,000 developers can obtain a robot to work on. About 2,600 are in use. Aldebaran, with locations in Boston, Paris and Shanghai, is building a community of programmers who are working with the company to invent tomorrow's personal robotics.

 

In his presentation, Gelen is expected to share his passion for robotics and goal of making robots everyday companions for humans.

 

 

• The Engineer Week dinner is at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 19, in the Fetzer Center and begins with a social hour at 5:30 p.m. The presentation begins at 7:30 p.m. For more information, and reservation forms, please visit the school's website or contact Jorge Rodriguez of the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences at (269) 276-3374.