Clever Geek Handbook

Robot Pudding S - almost universal digital assistant for a child

image



All sorts of robots are getting bigger. And this is not only industrial systems, but also household robotic devices. Of course, we are still far away from the world of robots, described by the brilliant thinker Isaac Asimov, but there are still progress, and there are many of them. Various companies create domestic robots that can help answer a question, bring a thing or just entertain.



Such robots, however, cost a lot - thousands of dollars. Recently, less expensive options have appeared that are intended not only for adults. So, the Russian group of companies i-Free is now actively engaged in the development of robotic assistants for children. One of them is the Emelya robot, a localized and modified Pudding system from Roobo.















Designed Emelya for children aged 4 to 12 years. The system is able to understand the natural speech (few robots are able to do so far) and answer the child’s questions. If you imagine how many children ask questions, now imagine that a robot can answer some of them by taking the brunt. In addition, such a robot can sing or tell tales.



Singing songs and telling tales from a robot is better than answering questions. Communicates a robot as a Google translator, sometimes confusing accents and forcing to strain during an answer. He tells the weather perfectly well, but the answer to general education questions is similar to an excerpt from Wikipedia - too much information that is difficult for an adult to perceive, let alone a child.



The advantage is that during a conversation with the robot, he himself offers to ask him a question about, for example, who invented the phone, and tells the story. Above the voice and pronunciation, developers still work and work, well, that he reads fairy tales and songs and sings in a well-placed voice.











The robot is able to take on some of the reminders like "brush your teeth" or "wash your hands", it is enough to say to him: "Emelya, remind the child to brush their teeth in 10 minutes." In addition, Emelya can teach a child the basics of certain disciplines, including mathematics, Russian, geography and biology. Well, at the end of the day, the robot may ask the child if he wants to go to sleep (the answer can be guessed, but here, as lucky).







The robot is able to pronounce everything that you write in the dialog box and even express one of the emotions (emotions cannot be added yet, we use those that are by default).



The functions of the robot are fully activated after connecting it to Wi-Fi, preferably with access to the Internet.



The device may be useful to parents - for example, work as a baby monitor. For this "Emelya" is equipped with a camera. In order to manage it, you need a mobile application that is available for both the Adnroid OS and iOS. The quality of the picture leaves much to be desired, if the Nokia 3310 had a camera - it would shoot the same way, or even better.





Plus, the robot is that it is self-taught, so that when communicating with a child, it becomes all “smarter”, adapting to the preferences of his friend. True, self-study here works mainly only in relation to work with speech. As for the questions that need to be answered by the robot, they are analyzed by company employees, adding new answers. Base promise to constantly update. The more communication with the kids, the more often the base will be updated.



How to “get” a robot?





In order to turn it on, you need to connect the charger and hold the power button for 3 seconds. Then you need to install the application. To do this, you can simply scan the QR-code, which is located at the bottom of the robot (+ code is in the instructions for use). Next step by step connect the robot using the application. Finally, to fully wake the robot, you need to call it by name. That is, you need to clearly say "Emelya" or slap him twice on the head. In the screenshots you can observe the process of connecting the robot.



















If you want to communicate, then you can talk with the robot, ask "what is the weather today?", "How is the mood?". A child can get a fairy tale from a robot if he says the following: “I want to hear the tale of Snow White”. Well, or Repke, why not.



Emelya is equipped with an LED screen, a touch sensor, speakers (left and right), a camera. Behind is a slot for Micro SD memory cards, a reset button, a micro-usb port, and a power button.



What else can he do?



The robot, thanks to the cooperation of its creators and creators of cartoons about Smeshariki or Masha, can tell amazing stories about them. He can also tell tales, instructive stories and much more.















"Emelya" can sing and play music. A library of various songs, lullabies and even classical music (we teach the child to the beautiful) is loaded into his memory. You can use his knowledge if you ask for something like: “Emelya, sing me a song about a cat”. Well, probably not only children, but also adults will want to play in cities. Some kids love to play "Edible-Inedible", and the robot also knows how.





Need a weather forecast in various cities? No problem. Something needs to quickly count? He can do it. Turn on radio stations, remind of the birthday of the best friend or girlfriend of the child, wake up in the morning - “Emelya” is truly universal.















Adults can use Emelya as a security guard - in this case the motion sensor in the frame is activated. If something gets into the lens, the robot takes two photos and sends them to the parents on the smartphone. All videos and photos are sent to the phone's memory. In addition, the robot can recognize faces - if there are several children in the family, it will recognize everyone (after uploading a photo or taking it on the built-in camera).







Emelyu has a built-in battery that provides 6 hours of operation without connecting to the network. If the robot is not needed, it has false eyes that attach and close the camera, automatically putting it to sleep.







Specifications





In general, Emelya's robot is a great helper for both children and adults. The disadvantages include the lack of the ability to upload your content (they promise to add this opportunity), plus not always the correct recognition of commands, you have to repeat. Another drawback - the robot sometimes says the words incorrectly, I hope the developers will deal with this and release an update with a normal voice and pronunciation. But there are still more pluses than minuses.



In terms of price-quality ratio, it will easily compete with other robots for children, at least in its functionality. Otherwise, it remains to hope for the improvement of existing functions, regular library updates and the ability to upload your content.









More articles:


All Articles