Gamma Two Robotics

209 Kalamath Street
Unit 13
Denver, CO, USA 80223
303.778.7400

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Gamma Two Robotics

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Basil?
What is Wilma?
Real Robots now? What do you mean now?
What is your funding?
Who are Jim and Louise?
Why do you refer to the robots as him/her?
What can your product do for me?
How much for one of these robots?
When is Basil going to be available for sale?
Can I rent Basil?
Why doesn't it have vision?
Why does it not have hands?
Why doesn't Basil have arms?

Does it have front wheel drive?
What are the different wheels for?
Can it climb stairs?
What is that sound? The motors?
Do I have to know how to code in order to program the Robots?
Why is there a monitor then?
Can the robot do the dishes for me or some other cleaning project?
Can I marry Basil?
Is Basil a good dancer?
How fast do they travel at top speed?
When you ask the robots to turn, what are the units?
Do the robots have personality?
What are the personalities?
The skins are different on Basil and Wilma, can I customize my own?
Can the robots play with my pets?
Feed my pets?
Can the robot play with my kids?

Will the robot run into my pets/people?
Can I put refrigerator magnets on Basil?
Will it mess with his Cybernetic Brain?
Can Basil be used to spy on other people?
What can Basil do for security?
How is it better then a security camera?
Does he have a Taser?
How long can they run without recharging?
What languages do the robots speak and understand?
How does the robot work?
What kind of sensors do the robots use?
What operating system do you use?
What is your coding environments?
What are the dimensions of the robots?
How does the voice input and output work?

What is Basil?

Basil (the Basic Service Level) is an autonomous robot. It is not remotely controlled and can navigate through dynamic environments.

What is Wilma?

Wilma (the Wheelchair Level Mobility Assistant) is a robot with the same software as Basil, but built to be at a convenient height for a person in a wheelchair.

Real Robots now? What do you mean now?

The robots from Gamma Two have been designed to be autonomous from the start. They have never been designed for teleoperation. While this has posed some interesting problems in development, only autonomous robots can be considered real robots. While very useful, teleoperated or virtual presence systems are extensions of the human presence, and not truly robotic.

What is your funding?

Our funding has been supplied by a small group of investors. In 2010, we will be seeking qualified investors for seed capital to fund the commercialization of the robots.

Who are Jim and Louise?
What is their education, background, and credentials?

Jim Gunderson has been interested in robots since he was a child. He has a PhD. in Computer Science from the University of Virginia. Louise Gunderson started as a biologist (with a Masters in Environmental Science from the University of Colorado), and became interested in robotics when developing computer models of human behavior. She has a PhD. in Systems Engineering from the University of Virginia.

Why do you refer to the robots as him/her?

We all know that people assign human characteristics to inanimate objects such as cars, weather, and plants. We assume that people will anthropomorphise the robots as well. So we have arbitrarily assigned personalities and gender in such a way as to facilitate working with the robots. In addition, it makes talking about them easier.

What can your product do for me?

Because it can recognize people it can find them to serve them drinks and food at parties. It can remember dates and times, navigate houses, and transport items within the house. It remembers the position of objects in the house, so it can also be used for security.

How much for one of these robots?

$12,000 - $20,000

When is Basil going to be available for sale?

Early 2011

Can I rent Basil?

Yes, BSL series robots will be available in Early 2010 for parties or events you may be holding. We will send the robots out with wranglers to accompany the robot and to answer any questions you may have.

Why doesn't it have vision?

Vision will be added in the near future, but it will need to be carefully integrated into the perception system. For the current set of tasks, vision is not needed.

Why does it not have hands?

Hands require a significant increase in complexity, and add to the cost of the robots. Since many useful applications do not need hands (reminding people to take medicines, carrying objects around) hands will be an optional component.

Why doesn't Basil have arms?

Because he doesn't have hands yet.

Does it have front wheel drive?
What are the different wheels for?

It does not use front or rear wheel drive because the drive motors are in the center of the robot. Two wheel are the drive motors, the other two wheels are for support.

Can it climb stairs?

Not at the moment, but it is in a future installment. The Drs. Gunderson have developed an all terrain wheel that will be implemented on the robots at a later date.

What is that sound? The motors?

The motors are very quiet. So quiet that the robots can be in motion without the people hearong much sound at all. That sound is a generated tone that indicates the robot is in motion.

Do I have to know how to code in order to program the Robots?
Why is there a monitor then?

The robots are completely operated by vocal commands through a microphone. The monitor is there for our own diagnostic purposes, in the final model there will be no monitor attached.

Can the robot do the dishes for me or some other cleaning project?

No because they do not have hands yet. When they have vision and therefore hands, we will start that project.

Can I marry Basil?

No, but he is delighted to have heard your proposal. He has gotten a few proposals from his Facebook page already.

Is Basil a good dancer?

Yes, but he expects to get better when he has arms.

How fast do they travel at top speed?

About 6 miles per hour, but they slow down when they sense obstacles. When they are told to go at a specific speed, the units are approximately cm/sec.

>When you ask the robots to turn, what are the units?

They calculate angles in binary radians (brads), 256 brads to a full circle..

Do the robots have personality?
What are the personalities?
Can I make my own custom personality?

The robots do have personality, we currently offer two personalities: Basil has a deeper voice, slower speech and motions while Wilma has a higher pitch voice and moves more assertiviely. At this point, the personality can be customized to say different things, change the pitch and volume of the voice, change the speed with which they turn, and how close they approach objects.

The skins are different on Basil and Wilma, can I customize my own?

Yes. The robots skins are very customizable. We work with a group of artists to design skins in a wide range of materials to fit your home or office decor. Skins and chassis can be re-designed to display your company advertisements, product placement and promotional needs.

Can the robots play with my pets?
Feed my pets?

The robots at this time cannot feed pets because it does not have hands to manipulate objects. Most pets are not interested in playing with the robot.

Can the robot play with my kids?

Many children like to play with the robot. The robot reacts to the movement and presence of the children, which gives the appearance that they are playing with the children. Children learn to control the robot by selectively covering the sensors. We have watched games of robot/kid tag in our lab.

Will the robot run into my pets/people?

The robots sonar system has been designed such that even at high speeds the robot is able to sense the object and stop on a dime.

Can I put refrigerator magnets on Basil?
Will it mess with his Cybernetic Brain?

Magnets only mess with Basil's compass orientation, otherwise it will have no effect on Basil. He will still know where he is in a room and how to traverse it.

Can Basil be used to spy on other people?

Absolutely not, his system is not designed to record anything that he hears. He only records operations he is performing for diagnostic purposes.

What can Basil do for security?
How is it better then a security camera?
Does he have a Taser?

Basil can patrol areas and can detect that an area has been disturbed. A security camera requires a person behind it to monitor it. Since Basil is an autonomous robot it can alert a person when something in the environment has changed. We are uncomfortable with autonomous robots having weapons, so Basil does not have a taser.

How long can they run without recharging?

The battery life on the final model will last 6 hours. If Basil is performing a task he will tell the person he is getting hungry and is low on power and will request to be plugged in. In the future, Basil will return to his power station and recharge himself.

What languages do the robots speak and understand?

The verbal input/output of the robot is currently in English. Because the robot is using a restricted set of command words, translating this to other languages should not be difficult.

How does the robot work?

Gamma Two's robots use the Cybernetic Brain - a hierarchical system with multiple processors, including PCs and microcontrollers. Basil's base has a perception action system that allows him to move about in the world. This system uses sonars to perceive the world, a motor system to move around, an encoder system to estimate position, and a reactive system to avoid obstacles. The main problem with purely reactive systems is that they can not reason about the world. Reasoning is a symbolic task, and therefore there must be a way to translate the raw data coming from the sensors into symbolic information. Basil's designers created a new module, a reification engine that does this translation. This is analogous to the associative cortex in the animal brain. The robot can identify and differentiate common objects such as chairs, tables, corners, and (most importantly for service) people and place them in a mental map. Basil has a planning system that uses this mental map to plan sequences of actions. If Basil is commanded to get tea, he can break this action into a set of steps, such as: go to the kitchen, ask for tea, return to the table, deliver the tea. He knows where the kitchen is, and can recognize its specific sonar signature. If he gets lost he can ask for assistance or keep looking until he finds his destination, all the while safely navigating in a crowded space

What did you base your AI on?

The probabilistic planning system was developed by Jim Gunderson for his dissertation. The reification model based on the perception theory of Egon Brunswick, which was used by Louise Gunderson in her dissertation. However, in order to use these models we needed to develop a model of the rest of the brain. This model is based on the brain archetype of vertebrates, in particular the tiger salamander. This model became the Cybernetic Brain.

Gamma Two Robotics

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I put refrigerator magnets on Basil? Will it mess with his Cybernetic Brain?

Can I put refrigerator magnets on Basil?
Will it mess with his Cybernetic Brain?