In the days after Colin introduced the AVA “concept robot” (as defined by Gerry Caron, director of product management for iRobot), the buzz on the AVA has been superb. Since announcement, the traffic on iRobot and the iRobot AVA has been phenomenal.
But, as reported by MSNBC, Caron states:
“We want to show people a vision of what they can have” at some point with a home robot that’s designed for several uses, Caron said. (Tell them, AVA: “No, I don’t do toilets.”)
And, while the features discussed are quite impressive (as I mention in this post on the AVA), I see some serious design concerns on the device as an effective “presence system”. In this post, let me discuss them further.
UPDATE (1/13): just found BotJunkie’s video on the AVA and a conversation with Mark from iRobot where he clearly states that the AVA is a “technology demonstrator” not a telepresence robot. The idea (from what I gather) is that AVA is showing what is possible from iRobot for discussion sake – and did not want to handicap discussions with constraints for telepresence.
CONCERN 1: Drive Mechanism / Clearance
In all of the videos I’ve seen of the AVA, she moves quite gracefully from one end of the pen to the other.
Ready for the LA Streets
And with its
holonomic base (read: can move in any direction equally), she moves quite fluidly. But, my concern is with AVA’s
omnidirectional wheels that are in the tripod base.
While omnidirectional wheels provide excellent movement, movement on non-flat surfaces (like a shag carpet) or any form of incline will be quite a challenge. And, as seen in the BotJunkie video below (about the 3:40 mark), the shaky nature of the mecanum-wheels as the AVA moves may cause pilot concerns as the cameras shake with the high-frequency of the wheels vibration.
Floor clearance is another concern (see the distance from the edge of the bottom bumper to the floor); for if there is anything in the way of the AVA, it may have difficulty moving over it. Continue reading →
