A smart, connected and funny domestic robot at your service…
Do you fancy chatting with a robot? South Korean company Futurerobot’s Furo-i is a robot suitable for this and a wide range of other uses: healthcare, mental care, entertainment, education…
Furo-i can accompany children as a companion and learning aid, serve the family as a multimedia center, and assist senior citizens as a means of communication. It can also be used in healthcare. Furo-i receives data by Bluetooth and W-LAN from connected blood pressure and blood glucose measuring devices, thermometers, scales, and pedometers. It analyzes the data and makes recommendations on how to stay fit and healthy under adverse medical events that might occur in your body. It can even relay diagnostic results to doctors who work at a distance from the patient.
Furo-i’s control center is a special tablet PC that is fitted to a holder on the sloping front of the mobile casing. Once fitted, it uses the camera, the microphone, and a positioning sensor to sense its surroundings. They enable the robot to recognize people in its vicinity, to interpret their intentions, and to offer services accordingly. It can initiate conversations, for example, simulate domestic animals, play music and films, access social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, or show the news and the weather forecast.
Three wheels on the base of the robot’s casing enable Furo-i to move around freely. In conversations it imitates human facial expressions and gestures by means of a stylized face and three movable LED luminaires. The robot, which weighs 5.6 kilograms, can also facilitate video telephony with other people. It costs USD 5,000.