American design studio Fuseproject has designed a body for a robotic system by tech studio Kind Humanoid intended for various domestic and commercial environments.
Called Kind Humanoid, the robotic system is the latest contender in the race to bring mechanical systems up to par with increasingly sophisticated artificial intelligence systems.
With programming similar to the large language models popularised in text generators such as ChatGPT, the software for the robot will, if successful, allow it to perform a large number of tasks based on training via large data sets that would then trigger commands in its robotic systems.
This would allow it to function in “unstructured” environments, according to the team, such as in households or care facilities – as opposed to what the designers said was the current focus of AI-enabled robotics, single-focus industrial usages.
“AI has accelerated the speed at which we can build a robot that responds to multiple types of situations,” Fuseproject founder Yves Behar told Dezeen.
“If you build a generalized robot, it will be better for all these different types of tasks, rather than building a specialized factory robot.”
He said that the robot, in its current iteration, can act on subtle statements such as “I’m thirsty” by pouring a glass of water.
Behar and his firm were brought on by Kind Humanoid, which is currently building its robot in a garage in Palo Alto, to create an industrial design language that brings “friendliness and levity” to a topology Behar says is often “intimidating”.
“Maybe even a sense of humor”
“So looking at the advances and how quickly these robots are learning through AI, we saw an opportunity, especially for a robot that will be in our everyday setting, to build a model to bit softer in terms of its expression,” said Behar
“A robot that has sort of a sense of personality and levity in the sense that it doesn’t jolt our senses. A robot that gives a sense of approachability and familiarity – and maybe even a sense of humor.”
To achieve this, Fuseprojects has developed a design with a soft, bronze colour and rounded edges, especially in the “head” of the robot, which is more oval shape.
Behar also said that the language of surrealism informed the design, and the renderings show the digital screen where the robot’s “eyes” would be backed by a cloudy sky informed by the paintings of Belgium artist René Magritte.
“This is an attempt to give it a personality, and form that isn’t human, but that is friendly and, in a sense, at our service.”
He said that the design is anticipated to go into production in between a year and a year and a half’s time. The team also said that the design will be “capital efficient”.
Fuseproject has carried robotic projects through production before. In 2020 it provided the industrial design for Technology company Embodied’s Moxie, a robot designed as a child’s companion.
Back in 2017, the studio designed a “non-threatening” security robot, a product comparable in form to the largely criticised police robots trialled in the New York subway system.
