Intel’s Robot, Jimmy, Powered by Edison Development Board


IntelJimmyRobotIntel futurist Brian David Johnson believes in robots. That's why he and Trossen Robotics decided to build Jimmy, an open sourced, “fiercely social” robot who Johnson hopes will soon be in homes everywhere. Jimmy's arrival comes shortly after Japanese telecommunications firm SoftBank's unveiling of Pepper, an emotional robot expected to be sold commercially as early as 2015. Pepper is gentle looking and bred to understand people's feelings. Like Pepper, Johnson has a similar vision for Jimmy in developing a domestic robot that people find approachable, helpful, and customizable.

IntelJimmyRobot1Jimmy, also codenamed the HR-OS1, is actually the second version Trossen has created. He was originally made using an Intel Core i5 chip, with a whopping price of $16,000. Now powered by Intel's brand new Edison board, Jimmy only costs a fraction of that price. The Edison (system-on-chip) uses “an Atom dual core processor and a single core microcontroller, together with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth LE, the required memory, and storage” (Slashgear). Jimmy is a 42cm tall, and 3D printed with an aluminum frame. He is powered by a 2,000 mAh battery, contains 20 actuators, a gyroscope, and an accelerometer.

IntelJimmyRobot2Because he was made open sourced, makers can come up with their own designs and apps for Jimmy. Don't worry if you didn't put the 'pro' in programming, “Intel's goal is to do the same thing with apps for robotics that software did for smartphones, with simple programs that can be strung together by the tech-naive”.

IntelJimmyRobot3Intel first told us about their plan to open source 3D printed robots last year, saying it would “bridge the gap between technology and humanity”. So far we have Intel's Jimmy, SoftBank's Pepper, and not to mention Google, who announced its acquisition of robot design company, Boston Dynamics, back in 2013. “Domesticating” robots is the next up-and-coming goal for tech companies. It's also key to getting them into more homes (or getting them into homes at all). In order for consumers to feel comfortable with robots like Jimmy, they need to be affordable, personable, and customizable- kind of like a smartphone or tablet. Additionally, if owning Jimmy meant knowing you could make your own apps to control him, would you be open to that possibility? Jimmy, priced around $1,600, is in production now and should be available by the end of this year.

Topics: Technology News Battery & Power Technology Gadgets & Peripherals Intel Inventions & Innovations

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