Our team was in charge of designing a way for the robot to display emotions. They would be displayed either through lights or movement. It soon became clear that the LED lights would be the perfect way for the robot to display emotions by assigning a color for each specific emotion, such as celebratory or angry.

The next challenge was how to attach the LED light. We had the idea of placing LEDs inside the robot rather than having them outside and exposed to the human eye. Then we had to design and 3-D print holder for the LED lights. The final product turned out perfectly.

After we finished designing how the LEDs would be held, we had worked on making them actually show emotions. We went through a lot of trial and error with the code, but came up with some basic light changes and configurations. After that, we started making them fade and blink which was a lot harder. Then we had to make the LEDS change by using the serial monitor. So when we were done making it work using the serial monitor we had about 7 emotions that could change by putting in numbers in the serial monitor.

Next, we collaborated with the user interface team, and turned the emotions into buttons you could click on the screen. The final product was 7 buttons, that changed the robot’s emotions. If you wanted to show anger then the colors would fade between red and orange. Celebratory would have the LEDs fade between red and green similar to christmas colors.

What is Telepresence?

Telepresence uses technology to allow a person to feel as if they were present, to give the appearance of being present, or to have an effect, via telerobotics, at a place other than their true location. Generally Telepresence is at least partially bi-directional, with both the operator and people on the other end able to interact in a fairly natural manor.

Telepresence essentially transmits sensory information (sound, video etc) to allow the operator to interact with a situation that is at some distance from them as if they were there. Think about it like transportation or teleportation…  without all the messy bits of actually needing to leave your desk.

Virtual Reality can be a special case of telepresence where multiple people shift their senses to a shared space that does not actually exist.

Telepresence in the Future

Generally, as of now we have been able to shift our eyesight and hearing anyplace on earth (and beyond!). What’s Next?

With new sensor technology like the Kinect and Leap Motion, we have new, more natural ways of getting our physical body’s movement into the computer. Once digitized, that information can be sent over the internet, world wide and used to control robots, which can send data back to us.

Slowly our ability to transport ourselves becomes more and more immersive.

What do you think some of the next possibilities are that will open up with these new technologies?What are we still missing?

WE HAVE A FREAKING ROBOT ARM THAT CAN ATTACH TO STUFF
Ahem.

We started working on the mounting of the arm. We 3d printed a little servo mount (we had to print it 3 times!), and added a swivel to it. We also attached it to a prototype robot top. 

Another thing we started doing was designing the top of the robot. It better be done by tomorrow, and then we'll have a chance to present our awesome work.