The Robots are Coming...You Rang, Master?

Science-Fiction Flick of yesteryear filled our imagination with mechanical monsters snatching unsuspecting earthlings off to the wind-swept seas of Venus. Elsewhere, armies of androids assumed the guise of our neighbors and slowly infiltrated our ranks with the hope of enslaving the human race. There are, indeed, armies of robots out there, but they're not quite so menacing...at least, not yet. They're the inventions of anything-but-mad scientists who believe that incorporating today's high technology into robots for the home may relieve us of some of the physical drudgery that devours our free moments. Other robots are designed in a lighter vein, behaving more like entertainers at parties and capable of scooting around a corner to scare the hell out of a guest. They're just toys now, but they are doing things that may revolutionize the way housework is done in the future. Let's see just who--or what--is gently rapping, so mechanically tapping at our chamber door.

After talking with several personal-robot designers, we find one thing very clear: Hardly any of them agree on what a home robot's role should be. One school of thought looks upon a robot as a personal convenience that will become a perceived necessity, just as the automatic dishwasher has revolutionized the work flow in the kitchen over the past 20 years. In contrast, other designers don't envision home robots as slaves or utility machines at all. Instead, they prefer them to have a kind of intellectual utility, behaving like a well-trained pet or a carefully selected friend whose personality complements its owner's.

In the meantime, personal robots (as distinguished from the industrial kind that assemble automobiles) have become roughly stratified into three categories: (1) education and hobbies; (2) personal automation; and (3) entertainment and toys. In a way, this segmentation is similar to what happened in the early days of personal computers, when we had hobby kits, consumer-oriented computers, such as the Apple II, and low-cost computer-videogame systems, such as the Odyssey, Atari VCS and Bally Arcade.

One robot that has already walked into a lot of people's lives is Robot's RB5X, a model whose shape closely resembles that of the whistling, smart-aleck R2-D2 of Star Wars. The top of RB5X's clear-plastic domed head reaches 23 inches from the floor, while its cylindrical body is 13 inches in diameter. Readily visible under its dome is a circuit board containing nine red and green lights. Surrounding the blue body is a belt of eight white touch-sensitive bumper panels. These panels are sometimes used as a way of communicating with RB5X--touching one or more of its bumpers sends programming signals to the internal brain. They can also be used as sensors to help RB5X maneuver its way around a room. When it bumps into a piece of furniture, pressure on the sensor tells it to stop, say "Excuse me" and turn away.

Getting RB5X to speak--or do just about anything, for that matter--takes a bit of programming expertise and a personal computer with serial-communications capability. After connecting the computer to the robot, you use the computer to type in a series of commands in a language that closely resembles BASIC. Once the program is written, you sever the umbilical cord and RB5X goes on about the series of tasks you've set for it.

Optional plug-in modules with prewritten programs are also available for special purposes, though most are for educational and children's-entertainment environments. One module is dual purpose. Not only does it enable RB5X to sing On a Bicycle Built for Two (though not as well as Hal does it in 2001: A Space Odyssey) but it also programs the robot's sonar motion-detection system to alert you, with alarm and voice, to any intruders moving within 35 feet of it. RB5X sells for $2295.

If you care to learn the programming language Forth, you can sit at the keyboard of your Apple IIe or Commodore 64 computer and command Androbot's Topo II ($1595) through infrared wireless remote control. The three-foot-high robot can remember a string of instructions, including orders to talk or sing, and execute them even out of range of your computer.

For those with a knowledge of electronics, the Heathkit Hero I robot will give you plenty of practice in understanding the fundamentals of robot design and programming. Available either as a kit ($1200) or fully assembled ($2200), Hero I comes with a five-axis arm that can grip up to one pound. Programming Hero I to use its sonar and voice systems takes some patience, but a companion home-study robotics course provides a number of experiments in those areas. Hero I also has a wired remote control that you can use to put the robot's arm and body movements through their paces, while all the time the robot remembers the movements so it can repeat them.

But Heath also offers a home robot-- one that can be used right out of the box without the slightest bit of electronic or programming knowledge. Called Hero Jr., the $1000 fully assembled robot looks a lot like its bigger brother but without the arm. When you turn on Hero Jr., its behavior displays one of what Heath calls "personality traits." Actually, they are more like individual tasks that have been preprogrammed into the robot at the factory. It will sing a song, speak some English phrases, play games, roam around the room (trying to avoid obstacles), yammer unrecognizable sounds in its own language or spout a nursery rhyme. Each of those tasks can be called up specifically from Hero Jr.'s keypad, on its head. Press one button and Hero Jr. follows you around like a slow but well-trained dog. Heath and other companies are planning to produce preprogrammed plug-in cartridges to equip Hero Jr. with a variety of other talents. And if you have a home computer, you can also program Hero Jr. with its own version of Basic by linking the robot and your computer together.

On a more practical side, you can program Hero Jr. to wake you up in the morning. Its sound sensor then listens for evidence of activity. If there is none after ten minutes, it rousts you out of bed again. Programmed as a security guard, Hero Jr. senses sound and motion. Not only does it sound an alarm when it detects an intruder but it can even send a radio signal to activate one of Heath's home-alarm systems.

While Hero Jr.'s first job is to entertain, ComRo Inc.'s Tot seems to arrive on your doorstep ready for housework. The standard 50-pound, three-foot-high droid ($2992) comes with several accessories that may make it useful around the house, provided you take the time to train it properly (programming experience is helpful). A manual carpet-sweeper attachment may not get the corners, but it can do a once over in open spaces before guests arrive. We especially like the tray that you can place in one of Tot's movable arms to take drinks or snacks to your guests. Tot is also the only robot we know of that is practically made to order, including your choice of six colors.

If there is one robot company determined to make a home robot a practical companion and easy to use at the same time, it is Hubotics, Inc., with its Wunderkind Hubot ($3495). Measuring 44 inches high, its standard-equipment list reads like the sticker of a stretch limo's rear compartment--a fully featured 64K personal computer with one disk drive; a 12-inch black-and-white television/computer monitor; an AM/FM stereo auto-reverse cassette player with four-band equalizer and dual two-way speakers; and an Atari 2600 video-game system.

As you might guess, Hubot is a rolling home electronics center, complete with an ability to remember a pathway through the house. The good news is that programming Hubot doesn't require any knowledge of computer languages. Essential commands have been reduced to onscreen lists controlled by the on-board computer. By pressing only two keys on the keyboard, you can select an intricate sequence of commands--including ordering it to move and to turn on or off any of its entertainment features. So, if you like, you can instruct Hubot to wheel itself into your bedroom in the morning, say a few gentle (concluded on page 275)Robots Are Coming(continued from page 198) words of encouragement and then blast you out of bed with a hard-rock station.

The on-board computer is a real CP/M--format model on which you can run business applications such as WordStar (and print with an optional printer). When you're done with that, you can send Hubot on its way across the house to meet you later for a game of Pac-Man in the living room. Its electronic voice can announce it, and the robot's sonar sensor prevents it from running into an unforeseen obstacle.

Like many other robot manufacturers, Hubotics talks a lot about the future of its creation. Soon to come are a voice-command module (which lets Hubot respond to voice commands), navigation software (so it can work its way around obstacles instead of simply stopping), an automatic charging circuit that sends Hubot back to its wall charger when the battery needs juice, and a cordless telephone, so Hubot can bring the phone to you when you call for it.

But if you're not quite sure you're ready for a full-scale, do-everything robot, yet you still want to own a mechanical Jeeves, then you may be better off in the toy category of home robots. In this area, Tomy has filled every niche with your choice of three models.

The most advanced of the trio is Omnibot. It not only operates via radio remote control but, as you command it to move forward or backward or turn, it remembers the steps it has taken, storing the movements on cassette tape on the built-in tape player. You can even record a voice message onto the tape from the remote-control unit. Therefore, you can preprogram Omnibot to greet a guest at the door in a real human voice and then lead her into the living room or wherever that mischievous droid may choose. You can also store up to seven programs on tape and have them performed up to seven days later. Omnibot also comes with one gripper hand and a clever serving tray to carry pretzels out to the crowd in the video room. At only $250, this little robot is priced like a toy but has some grown-up features built in.

The second of Tomy's new robots is the voice-activated Verbot. First, you train Verbot to accept your words for its eight built-in functions: move forward, stop, move backward, turn left, turn right, pick up an object, drop an object and flash all its lights. Once it knows your voice and individual commands, you can order it to perform any of those functions in any order. At about $60, Verbot is one of the first truly voice-activated home robots to hit the market.

Finally, there's Dingbot. It's not too bright, but it could easily become the get Rock of the 1984 Christmas season. It's only five inches tall, and as it zooms around, it's bound to run into something sooner or later. When it does, it stops, turns its head from side to side, lets out some cybernetic expletive, turns and heads off again. Dingbot may not be state of the art in robot technology, but for ten dollars, it's a real party stopper.

Of course, our expectations of personal robots have been heightened by the Star Wars kinds of mechanical marvels you see on the big screen. In truth, a stair-climbing, talking, understanding, humanlike robot is decades away. But robots that do the kinds of things for which R2-D2 is known aren't all that far off.

The challenge for the future is not so much the hardware--the physical pieces that make up the trash-can-looking body. Where the serious work is being done is in the software--the programs that bring all those pieces together and make the hunk of parts appear to have intelligent characteristics. You don't necessarily need or want a robot with human characteristics, of course. If a robot could successfully imitate a loyal pet, that would be well received--especially since you wouldn't have to walk it at midnight in the rain.

In our exploration of this barely nascent consumer-product area, we encountered many future-thinking companies, such as the one in Northern California's Silicon Valley that is planning a small, inexpensive, dancing home robot that has a modifiable personality. Using a combination of sonar and light-sensing technologies, this lovable companion will probably play a 21st Century version of cops and robbers with light pistols.

In Berkeley, California, the owner of a pioneering robot retail store, Amarobot, plans not only to offer franchises but also to manufacture home robots with personalities. One will be a male, the other a female, and they will be named George and Martha, after our first President and First Lady.

It's quite likely that tomorrow's home robots will also evolve into information gofers for their owners. Why not command your robot to go to the computer room and fetch the latest financial news from the Dow Jones News/Retrieval data base? That's not much different from R2-D2's plugging into the Death Star's computer to extract a map of its vulnerabilities. Eventually, instead of fearing the invasion of the robots, we'll probably depend on a little mechanical creature to take care of time-consuming chores while we attend to activities for which humans were originally intended--such as watching the Steelers on a satellite TV set.

"If you're not sure you're ready for a full-scale robot, then you may be better off with a toy Jeeves."