HAWK: The Future Domestic Robot Butler

Wow! It has been a while since I last posted here. I have been working on different projects and ideas during this time. I do not want to leave all you domestic robot fans out in the cold! Here is a nice one I found from the geniuses at Dr Robot from Canada. Dr Robot was founded back in 2001 by a group of Scientist and Engineers that previously designed robotic systems for different space agencies. Their goal is to make cost-effective and high performance robots for industrial, commercial and academia use. One such robot that I found interesting is HAWK. HAWK is wireless/networked/autonomous/humanoid/mobile robot. He may look ugly and crude but definitely functional and moving to the correct path of future domestic robots. If you are a robot geek, like I am, you will want to get your hands on this guy! Here is a list of what is available with HAWK:

• Dual arms with 6 joints (DOF) + 2DOF gripper, reaching 60cm (2ft), with max lifting weight of 800g (optional 1kg)
• 6DOF animated head with dual 640x480 color cameras
• 3.5 inch color display on chest, playing video (.wmv), audio and displaying images
• Overall height of 1.4m; Dimension: 43cm(L) x 38cm(W) x 140cm(H)
• Navigation and localization providing collision-free point-to-point autonomous navigation
• Vision-landmark base indoor localization (indoor GPS, position/orientation) sensor and the landmarks together provide precise position and direction information covering every inch of the floor
• Auto-docking and recharging station
• Fully wireless networked 802.11g
• OS independent application development tools
• Navigation sensors including 6 sonar and 10 IR range sensors
• Max speed 0.5m/sec.
• Comprehensive circuit protection
• High resolution pan-tilt-zoom (10X) camera
• Max payload of 10kg (optional 40kg) with body weight of 21kg
• Tele-operation and remote monitoring
• Extended operating time. 2 hour nominal operation time for each recharging
• Upgrade options: Laser Scanner; Power and battery systems for 4, 8 hours operation time are available

If that list of goodies still does not convince you then take a look at some of these videos:





You may ask: "Hey Nikolai, we have seen similar robots like this one (Reem-B, ARMAR, MDS, ASIMO, etc.). What is so special about HAWK?" Come on! You don't see it? All other similar domestic humanoid robots are not reachable to the general public but HAWK is! Don't get me wrong, the other robots are great but our chances to see them in our house this year are slim. HAWK can provide the platform for you to improve on him or have him help you with your robotic projects. HAWK may prove too much for some of us but the nice thing is that Dr Robot has other smaller robotic platforms that may suit your needs and budget. Let me know if any of you get this guy; if so send me a picture! Enjoy.