'Thinking' Robot Breaks Barriers but not Eggs

The Korean Ministry of Science and Technology’s Intelligent Robot taskforce has created the "T-Rot," which is scheduled to wait on world leaders in a Robot Café at the APEC summit venue. "T-Rot was developed as a service robot for the elderly and disabled,” says taskforce director Kim Mun-sang. "It has the ability to hold conversations with people and fetch items that they want, so we call it a 'thinking robot' or T-Rot.”

T-Rot’s fingers have a human-like sense of touch, so they can grab objects with adjusted strength depending on the materials.

The T-Rot is equipped with two cameras that recognize people and objects -- the face and stature of the people it lives with as well as refrigerators, glasses and other items in the area -- and interpret them in three dimensions. It also recognizes its own location, and sports features that allow it to understand human speech and carry on appropriate “conversations.”
The most important function is the robot’s capacity to recognize things by its sense of touch. Since helper robots live with humans all the time, security is crucial. For that reason, synthetic skin which detects the texture of things like human skin is essential. The skin developed by a team led by Gang Dae-im and Kim Jong-ho from the Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science has polyamide film and three-axis sensors that can detect vertical pressure and horizontal sliding. It is capable of recognizing the weight of objects with a less than 10 g margin of error when it holds a 100 g object.

Thanks to this attribute, T-Rot can use different amounts of strength when holding a can or a soft drink bottle. When it shakes hands with humans, it senses the person’s strength and adjusts its own accordingly. Previously introduced robots' movements were unnatural because they shook hands according to pre-installed programs.

“The T-Rot is able to pick up eggs without breaking them,” Kim said. “We have also developed sensate skin which can detect stimuli 1 mm away like human fingers, and the tests are underway." With the T-Rot as a foundation, the ministry’s taskforce plans to make helper robots that can assist the elderly in walking and accompany them on shopping expeditions within two or three years.

(englishnews@chosun.com )