October 19, 2023

Mobile manipulation faces the challenge of market readiness and costly in-house production of AMRs, robot arms and software for end users. Startups like IAM Robotics and other major companies have shifted their focus towards readily available, market-ready robotics use cases that offer the quickest returns on investment.

This talk will assess the current state of Autonomous Mobile Manipulation (AMM), emphasizing the identification of effective strategies for enabling fully autonomous navigation, missions, and arm manipulation. Combining AMRs and perception-driven autonomous manipulation is the Holy Grail, creating a versatile robotics platform for countless applications.

Socially and emotionally intelligent robots pose an incredible opportunity not only for the market, but for our loved ones young and old. Embodied has built an advanced social interface that enables human-like interaction: changes in the intonation of voice, smiling, reading body language and eye contact, and more without long, awkward pauses or the need for the use of constant wake words.

Moxie the robot has helped neurodivergent and neurotypical children with social, emotional and cognitive development. This includes specific content modules and conversations around making mistakes, reading, emotional regulation and recognition, making friends, and more. It has the ability to recognize progress and understanding of topics, and can prompt children when it detects the child could benefit from further development in an area. Moxie is also able to respond with eye contact and gesticulate with its arms, making for a more believable, personal experience.

This framework is being applied to service additional populations, including senior citizens, adults with mental illnesses, neurodivergent adults, people experiencing loneliness, and more. Dr. Pirjanian will explain the considerations and developments going into this new iteration and offer an onstage demonstration.