Keepon is a robot used to study children’s social behavior with an special focus on developmental disorders such as autism. The robot was design by Dr. Hideki Kozima, an expert in artificial intelligence and robotics, around 2003 while he was working at National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT).
At a glance, Keepon looks like a yellow snowman with eyes and nose. The robot’s body is made of soft rubber, and it has cameras in its eyes and a microphone in its nose. Also, it has four motors that let it perform a series of movements like turn to left or right, nod, or lean to one side. Indeed, these movements are the way in which Keepon communicates with kids. Keepon is controlled wirelessly by a researcher or therapist, usually located in a different room. By the cameras and microphones in Keepon’s face, they observe how children interact with the robot, and according to the flow of this interaction, they decide the way in which the robot should respond.
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| Keepon exterior and interior look |
Around 2006, Dr. Marek Michalowski, a Ph.D. student of Carnegie Mellon University
In the same year, WIRED magazine got interested in Kozima and Michalowski’s work, and contacted them to produced another video showing Keepon dancing and traveling around Tokio accompanied by Dr. Kozima to the rhythm of the Spoon’s song “Don’t you evah”. The members of the rock band can also be seen in the video. In September, Keepon and Spoon were reunited at WIRED NextFest in Los Angeles
Despite of its simple appearance and language, Keepon has shown positive results in research and therapy being recognized by scientific community and won several prices such as Robots at Play Price, and ICRA Human-Robot Interaction Challenge.
But, Keepon has gotten a positive reception not only from the scientific community but also from along the general public, who for years have express the desire to get one of these robots. Actually, Keepon is only available for institutional use in research and education at a cost of $30,000. However, due to its popularity Wow! Stuff, aUK
Although, it was a big challenge to design a version of the robot keeping its essence at an affordable price, a few weeks ago was announced that the commercial version named My Keepon was ready to be sold in this fall.
But, Keepon has gotten a positive reception not only from the scientific community but also from along the general public, who for years have express the desire to get one of these robots. Actually, Keepon is only available for institutional use in research and education at a cost of $30,000. However, due to its popularity Wow! Stuff, a
Although, it was a big challenge to design a version of the robot keeping its essence at an affordable price, a few weeks ago was announced that the commercial version named My Keepon was ready to be sold in this fall.
My Keepon looks very similar to Keepon Pro, as it is formally know as. But unlike the latter, it doesn’t have cameras, and can’t be controlled wirelessly. My Keepon has two buttons in its base that allow users select between two predefined modes: touch and dance. In touch mode, My Keepon, helped by an array of sensors under its skin, responds to physical contact like pokes, pats, or tickles. This response could be just a movement or a mix of sounds and movements. On dance mode, it used the built in microphone in its nose as a sound sensor, and based on internal algorithms it will choose how to move according to the beat or rhythm of the music, clapping, or the sound sensed.
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My Keepon will be available in late October, and it will cost about $50.00. Part of the profits collected will be used to support Keepon Pro research. In the
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