Robot wants to be in charge of the remote

March 28, 2008

At a weight of 5 lbs (2.3 kg) and a height of 11 in (27 cm), ApriPoko is about the size of a small lapdog. And, like a dog, it can be trained - not to fetch the paper, but to change the TV channel for you.

Toshiba researchers are designing ApriPoko as a voice-operated remote control robot that can operate multiple home appliances. If you want to pre-heat the oven, for example, but you're in the living room, you could simply ask ApriPoko to do it.

ApriPoko learns how to operate different appliances by asking questions. It has sensors that can detect infrared rays emitted by a remote control. The first time you push a button on a remote control, the robot senses the signal, and asks, "What did you just do?"

You say what you did, such as "I changed to channel 4," and ApriPoko associates your words with the infrared signal. Next time you want to watch channel 4, you tell the robot, and it transmits the matching infrared signal to the device. By learning to associate words/sounds and infrared signals, ApriPoko can be taught to operate nearly anything that has remote control capabilities.

Toshiba is still testing the robot, which is just a prototype. But the company hopes to have a consumer product ready in the near future.

via: Pink Tentacle

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