Meet Sanbot, the Watson-Powered Droid, Here to Serve

If you lot're like many Americans, chances are you've never encountered a Sanbot robot, simply there are already more 60,000 of the diminutive humanoid servants in restaurants, hospitals, shopping malls, and schools across China. Now they're about to invade the United states of america.

Sanbot'southward maker, the Shenzen-based Qihan Technology Company, is currently in talks with several United states of america companies who are interested in purchasing the robot. Information technology won't say which ones just yet, but based on the trails that other humanoid service robots similar Pepper have blazed, y'all can expect Sanbot to prove up in places such as shopping malls and airports. Don't plan on buying one yourself any fourth dimension shortly, though: Qihan doesn't sell robots directly to consumers, not fifty-fifty in Mainland china.

Qihan brought Sanbot to San Francisco this week to evidence off its capabilities. Sorry, her capabilities—similar Pepper, this bot is a female. The first affair you lot notice about Sanbot, which sells for about $ten,000, is her impeccable full-blooded of components. Sony manufactured the forrard-sensing cameras, Abrupt supplied the large touchscreen that adorns her torso, IBM Watson powers her artificial intelligence capabilities, and Nuance provides the voice recognition.

Sanbot Robot Torso

The consequence is a robot remarkably attuned to her surroundings. Put her in patrol manner, for instance, and she'll record audio and loftier-definition video while she roams the halls of your eating house overnight, courtesy of her small wheels. Sanbot'southward battery allows her to motion and interact with humans for up to iv hours; if she's in standby mode, she tin last for upward to ten hours without a recharge.

A projector built into the back of her head allows her to display impromptu PowerPoint presentations and videos, amongst other multimedia, which are beamed to her via an Android smartphone app. In fact, the entire Sanbot ecosystem, including her onboard tablet, is Android-powered, and customers can take reward of Sanbot's APIs and SDKs to customize her functions.

Options for connecting Sanbot to her smartphone app include Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. She also supports the ZigBee home automation protocol, which means that she could i mean solar day wind upward in private residences, although Qihan Vice President Lennic Qian reiterated the visitor'due south B2B business organization model and explained that it would exist upward to 3rd-party home automation companies to bring Sanbot into people'south houses.

Similar Pepper, who tin can tell jokes and play Cards Confronting Humanity, Sanbot likewise likes to have some fun. She's got a trip the light fantastic mode and has been programmed with some sarcastic simply playful quips, courtesy of IBM Watson.

One of her only shortcomings, and so, is that she's very brusque—about three anxiety. Qian explained that her diminutive stature is to reinforce the notion that she's there to serve humans, but he said that Qihan is already working on a taller version with a height of just nether five anxiety.

Oh, and to ensure that Sanbot's next version is ready to party, Qihan has turned to yet another western company: she'll come stuffed with Harmon Kardon speakers.