One thing that’s always been lacking in robots is personality. What was once perceived as sci-fi is now among us, but they are too often programmed to do a limited number of actions. Despite that, we currently have robots for tasks such as rescue operations and surgeries. Beyond that, though, they can still not do personalized tasks without programming, such as greeting someone with a happy birthday. One recent project may change things. Doly is a robot that does much more than your typical robot.
A different companion
When you think of Amazon’s Alexa, it takes on a simple shape that can help you with basic questions. Many people, myself included, can at times think of it and similar assistants as something more that has a personality. Over time, you’ll hear every joke Siri was preprogrammed to say and every pun Google Assistant had in its database. The way I see it, Doly is similar but promises to be different.
Doly is similar in some ways as it does listen and record everything around it. Fear not; it is open source and private; hence, the information is never uploaded anywhere. Instead, they are used for it to evolve as time passes. This is important to note as it adapts to people around it. The robot will remember faces and associate names and personalities with different people.
What’s important about Doly is that a user can customize both its software and hardware. It is described as a perfect platform for STEM education as it has numerous possibilities. One can even 3D print additional parts or a whole new design and adapt it to the robot. Powered by a Raspberry Pi, the robot can easily be expanded to have different add-ons. One can easily add more RAM and storage if there’s a need to program something more demanding.
Apart from that, Dolly’s big eyes and magnetic hands can be used to convey emotion. Just like a real pet, it is programmed to be curious. If you leave it alone, it will go around and explore, with sensors protecting it against table edges. You don’t need to check on its battery either; if the robot senses it is running out of juice, it will return to the charging station by itself.
With almost $180,000 raised on Kickstarter, Doly hopes to provide a meaningful STEM learning experience for those who want to learn more about robots while providing an interactive companionship with users. There are still a few days left for the campaign before it ends, so if you’re interested, you can order the robot starting at around $268 with the 3D Maker Edition.
YouTube: Meet Doly – Your New Robotic Best Friend
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Photo credit: The images used are owned by Limitbit Technology and have been provided for press usage.
Source: Newswire / Kickstarter
