NOW Then and KOREAN ROBOTICS

by Tom Carroll

orea has ambitious plans to novelty makers built wind-up as the main thrust of Korean Kimplement robotics in education, automatons similar to ones built in industries, with personal/service medicine, and in the military. Growth Japan and China. Korea was truly a robots and robotic appliances a main in robotics research and sales in Korea Third World country a century ago part of that industrial sector. is predicted to increase from $1 billion and struggled to feed and clothe (US) in 2007 to $10 billion (US) in its citizens. More Robot 2010, though the international After the Korean War (which recession may cut that back a bit. technically is not over), Korea was Vacuum Cleaners Scientific breakthroughs abound determined to become an industrial Korean companies have as Korean universities and high-tech force and rid itself of “Third World” developed some interesting robotic companies continue to develop status. Since this war, Korean devices to assist the homemaker. amazing products for the world, industries have been grouped into Korean electronics giant, Samsung has including robots. The Hubo-Einstein “chaebols,” or what we might call manufactured several robot vacuum robot developed by the Korea conglomerates or monopolies, cleaners that have been sold in Asian Advanced Institute of Science all sanctioned by the Korean countries, but very few in the US. (KAIST) back in 2004 has astounded government. Grouping was frequently Samsung took into account some of audiences around the world. under ‘semiconductors,’ ‘heavy the issues with the world’s best One of South Korea’s major goals machinery,’ and similar classifications. selling Roomba and introduced the is to have a robot in every South Samsung, Hyundai, Lucky VC-RP30W at the end of 2003. Figure Korean home by the year 2020, and Goldstar (now called LG), Hanjin, 1 shows this unit which is quite a bit they just might accomplish this goal. Daewoo, and other large industries taller than a Roomba. form the core of Korea’s industrial Touted as having a “3-D mapping Korea Reinvents Itself capability. Unfortunately, to achieve capability,” it supposedly could map a their lofty status, most of these specific room and determine the Let’s step back a few years and companies have suffered disgraces location of furniture and other see how Korea became the center of from bribery and money mismanage- obstacles, then accurately cover the industry that it is today. Prior to World ment charges. floor area in one pass. It did not use War II and even back into the 19th Spot welding robots imported the random ‘grazing sheep’ pattern century, Korean ‘experimenters’ and from Japan were first used in a adopted by others. Hyundai automobile plant in 1978. As with all high-end robotic In 1986, Daewoo Heavy Industries cleaners, the VC-RP30W could be produced the Yaskawa NOVA-10 robot programmed manually, but this unit in Korea — a series of manufacturing could also be remotely programmed robots that were shipped world-wide. through a computer. It could cross During the Asian financial crisis of thresholds to enter and clean a 1997-98, a shift was made away separate room. It could also from the industrial robot sector automatically dock and recharge itself to the development of service and after 50 minutes of operation. intelligent robots. It included some of the features Robotics follows automobiles, of iRobot’s Connect-R in that it had a FIGURE 1. consumer electronics, and computers camera attached for remote viewing, 76 SERVO 05.2009 FIGURE 3. FIGURE 2. in that it vacuums, sweeps, and mops and as a final touch, it released hard floors in one pass. It also applies negative ions to purify the air as it an antibacterial agent in the process. cleaned the floors. Another unique feature is that it In mid 2006, Samsung can read invisible barcodes pre-printed FIGURE 4. announced two new robot vacuum on specially designed floorboards cleaners: the VC-RS60 and the to align its sweeping passes — a ETRI also developed a strange- VC-RS60H ‘premium model’ priced at technique Microrobot calls their “2-D looking ‘penguin’ robot called $945 and $1050, respectively. Though Barcode Navigation System.” The POMI (Figure 5) that uses artificial only available in Korea at that time, it UBOT’s larger battery allows it to intelligence and ‘five-senses-mounted has since spread to other distributors sweep continuously for four hours emotional expression.’ Developed for sale in other countries. before following the barcodes back to by Korea’s Electronics and These newer units use UV lighting its station for recharging. Like the Telecommunications Research to detect dirt and debris not seen by Roomba, it talks to its users with a Institute, POMI can emit two human eyes. A remote control can synthesized voice. The vacuum boasts ‘unspecified’ odors (I’m not sure allow the user to override the robot’s a 60 watt motor and is quite a bit what that implies), can create operation to re-clean an area that an taller than the Roomba series. different facial expressions according operator feels needs more attention. There are several other Korean to its moods, and should be on Having the same connectivity as the robot vacuum cleaners such as the sale now. previous models, a person can call ‘Steamer’ that sounds a bit like the their home and direct the robot to UBOT in that it also vacuums and clean a specific room using speech then mops, but one that caught my recognition. All of these robot eye back in late 2006 was a cute- vacuum cleaners are better suited to looking robot vacuum marketed by hardwood and non-carpeted floors. the Korean company, ETRI. Called the The latest (2008) Samsung ROMI, it has endeared many people robot vacuum cleaner model is the because it seems to look more like a VC-RE70V from their line of Hauzen robot than the flat saucer-shaped ‘premium home appliances.’ Figure 2 discs of all the others. shows the VC-RE70 with two sets Reportedly, not only does the of revolving brushes (similar to ROMI shown in Figure 4 do a good Roombas). This new offering from job of cleaning floors, its camera eyes Samsung also uses a camera to and a microphone allow a remote visually look where it has already user to see and communicate by Wi-Fi vacuumed and where to avoid on the or through a CDMA computer link. next pass. Though it has a hand-held remote Samsung is not the only Korean control like most of the better robot company to produce consumer robot floor cleaners, the ROMI can also be floor cleaners. Microrobot (not to controlled by voice commands. I feel be confused with the old US that its robot-like appearance will experimental robot arm company, appeal to more people as time goes Microbot) brought out the UBOT on, despite the inability of the ROMI robot vacuum cleaner shown in Figure to clean beneath any furniture due 3. It bests the offerings from Samsung to its large size. FIGURE 5. SERVO 05.2009 77 manufacturing mechatronic by two CPUs, a 32-bit RISC processor, components for robotic systems and an eight-bit microcontroller. and small assembly robots. The decision to build a service robot Humanoid Robots like Genibo was a departure from their standard business. Humanoids have long been the Priced between $1,700 to rage in Asian countries and Korea has $2,200, Genibo certainly has built some of the world’s best. The more features than the i-Cybie of Korean-designed Hubo and its Einstein several years ago. Figure 6 shows version have been on all the blogs, the earlier proto-type version, YouTube videos, and technical news courtesy of iiRobotics.com and agencies since 2004, but that was just Figure 7 illustrates its features. one of many humanoid robots to have The robot stands about a foot been designed and built there. high and weighs in at 1.5 kg. It Starting at robots for the home can respond to 100 different and especially for children, there are word commands, including the the two robots from Yujin Robotics. standard “come here” and “sit.” The iRobi prototype is shown in Figure FIGURE 6. The newer models have a 8 and its twin, Jupiter, is shown in translucent face that shows Figure 9. Both are intended to be the individual ‘eye’ LEDs in several household robots and tutors for Genibo, a follow-on different patterns, according to the children. Using Evolution Robotics’ to Aibo and i-Cybie mood of the pup. NorthStar robot navigation system The robot can emit a loud bark, sensor mounted on top and NorthStar As with most Asian countries, has a camera in the snout, and can projectors to fit a home environment, all types of robots appeal to the interact with others of its species (just the robot can move autonomously consumers, especially robots that like Aibo and i-Cybie). Like the others, about the home. Yujin cooperated resemble other animate objects like the robot can sense when petted, with the Korean Ministry of people and pets. DasaTech based in can avoid obstacles, and can take a Information and Communication Korea developed an Aibo/i-Cybie picture with its camera and transmit it to develop this $1,000 US robot lookalike robot dog back in 2006 via Bluetooth to a computer. When companion. called Genibo for ‘genius’ and ‘robot. left alone, the robot will wander The original intent was to have DasaTech has long been in the about like any live dog. The 17 motors the educational robot read stories to industrial robot business driving individual joints are controlled children and possibly sing and dance to keep their attention. Multiple robots in a school situation could FIGURE 7. be interconnected through a broadband server network to minimize the robot’s onboard functions and overall cost. Initially, 64 prototype units were placed in households for testing. The NorthStar system projected IR spots on the ceiling for the robot to locate and orientate itself within the home. Each IR light spot was coded so the robot could know its exact location. The same NorthStar system is being investigated for use in robot vacuum cleaner navigation. Service Robot Platform Initiative (SeRoPi)

Another remarkable humanoid robot built by researchers at the Korea 78 SERVO 05.2009 Institute of Industrial Technology bears little resemblance to the Hubo bipedal humanoid developed by KAIST. SeRoPi uses a far more stable wheeled mobile base than Hubo and Asimo’s bipedal structure. SeRoPi’s wheels allow it to move about at a fairly fast 4.5 mph — a fast walk for humans. What distinguishes SeRoPi from the others is its dexterous arms and ‘hands’ that allow it to reach down to the floor to pick up objects. Using dual stereoscopic camera eyes to recognize objects, SeRoPi can use both hands to manipulate these objects using computer vision. The 132 pound, 50 inch tall robot maneuvers itself around on two differentially-driven wheels FIGURE 8. FIGURE 9. with a passive castor wheel for balance. actuator has its own serial ID over a buzzer, as well as the network ‘Robotis TTL multi-drop digital packet interface to communicate with the The Robotis communications network’ and actuators and controller. It can also because of this, a single set of three detect small internal temperature Dynamixel Actuators wires — data, 9.6V VDC, and ground changes, the system’s voltage, and Robotis Bioloid Dynamixel servos — runs to all actuators in series. Or convey all readings into a range of are different from all the other they can be daisy chained together 1,024 increments at up to 1 Mbps. model-aircraft types of servos because as shown in Figures 11A and 11B It utilizes the same daisy chain of their onboard intelligence. In fact, (courtesy of CrustCrawler). interconnections as the series they’re referred to as actuators There are two identical Molex of actuators. instead of servos. type connectors on the sides to allow As with the AX-12, the The basic AX-12 Dynamixel each successive actuator to be recommended operating voltage actuators (see Figure 10) have the connected with a jumper cable. for the AX-S1 is 9.6 volts; not the usual motor and associated geartrain Typical PWM model aircraft servos 4.8 to 6 volts with model aircraft that we are all familiar with, but the usually require three leads to each servos. The sensor module shown in similarity ends there. Each AX-12 individual servo, or at least an Figure 12 looks a lot like the AX-12 individual 1.0-2.0 ms PWM signal and is mounted in a similar manner, lead to each, and shared power and but the round flange is just a ground leads. mounting area, not a rotating disc. Digital packet communication is The Robotis CM-5 main controller possible with all Dynamixel actuators is based on the popular Atmel to control direction, speed, and ATMega 128 (128K of Flash memory) torque with actual feedback of these running at 17 MHz. Also configured parameters and — depending on for 9.6 VDC, it can communicate with the model — outputs of internal the AX series of Dynamixels, their temperature, voltage, light, and sound two-axis gyro module, the AX-S1, the detection. The individual user manuals Zigbee ZIG-100 standard, RS-232 or are very well written. The higher-end RS-485 serial, and by six command models — DX-117, EX-106, RX-10, buttons on the panel. The controller RX-28, and RX-64 — use RS-485 also has an LCD display for data network communication and have display and control. There is a metal gears. stand-alone CM-2+ evaluation The Dynamixel AX-S1 smart board with the same Atmel controller sensor module integrates a three- and similar functions that is fully directional infrared distance sensor, an compatible with the Bioloid infrared remote control receiver, a components for dedicated control FIGURE 10. sound sensor, a light sensor, and a systems. SERVO 05.2009 79 Kit priced at $349 is a great start in learning this new type of servo technology but many experimenters begin with the $899 Bioloid Comprehensive Kit shown in Figure 13. The Comprehensive Kit comes with 18 AX-12 Dynamixel actuator servos, a CM-5 controller, an AX-S1 sensor module, and over 100 plastic FIGURE 11A. structural brackets with associated fasteners from which you can create over 12 different robots. These include the popular bipedal humanoid robot, a quadruped puppy, robot dinosaurs, six-legged insect robots, and an autonomous exploratory robot. Unlike dedicated kits, these kits can be configured in any fashion you desire in developing a robotic, computer-controlled mechanism. The top end “Expert Kit” at $2,999 is a bit FIGURE 11B. FIGURE 12. beyond most experimenter’s budgets but has found uses in university and interesting creatures, wheeled industrial applications. Robotis is Robotis Bioloid Kits robots, commercial proof-of-concept proud that it furnished 50 kits to the mechanisms, or anything that you can US Naval Academy. The Bioloid system components think of that needs intelligent motion You can go to robotis.com to are similar to the LEGO NXT kits in control. The Robotis Ollo kits are also look over their line of products or to that the actuators and supporting very similar to the LEGO system in crustcrawler.com or robotshop.com members can be assembled in that they use plastic snap-together to buy a kit. As mentioned earlier, ‘building block’ fashion to create parts to assemble simple kits for their downloadable manuals are easy bipedal robots, multi-axis arms (like younger robotics experimenters from to understand with few translation CrustCrawler’s AX-12 Smart Arm), ages 7 to 10. The Robotis Beginner’s problems. Final Thoughts There are many amazing robotic products made in Korea. The EveR-1 and EveR-3 female humanoids from KITECH that first made the scene back in 2006 will evolve into the EveR-4, which is expected to debut in 2010, as well as a male version. Newer versions of the HUBO are seen on TV and in the news around the world. Robot home appliances from Korea are first rate and very functional. It appears Korea will be in the forefront of robotics for years to come, both in industrial and domestic applications. SV

Tom Carroll can be reached at [email protected]. FIGURE 13.

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