portable humanoid robot uses antenna eyebrows and light animations to express emotions

Meet sprout, a portable humanoid robot with antenna eyebrows

Sprout by Fauna Robotics is a portable humanoid companion and robot that uses its antenna eyebrows and light animations to express emotions. Already built to operate for its ‘Creator Edition,’ the device can move either indoors or outdoors without needing any restricted zones. Just like the other humanoid companions, it can walk, kneel, crawl, and sit. It can also wave, dance, and jump, as well as grip and place objects in different places.

The portable humanoid robot is flexible for developers too because they can carry out manipulation tasks on the device using the built-in mapping and localization support. It means that Sprout can be used to collect real-world data and advance AI research across locomotion, manipulation, and interactive behavior. The device also includes microphones for voice input and supports spoken commands for tasks and navigation. It talks to people using its antenna-looking eyebrows that move up and down as well as its LED facial displays with different light animations and body posture. In this way, the device doesn’t have the typical sterile-looking robot features but is, instead, a playful one that’s right for homes and for being a companion.

all images courtesy of Fauna Robotics

device that can move through indoor and outdoor spaces

Sprout’s design looks different from the typical industrial models of its kind. Instead of tall, rigid, and heavy machines optimized for factories, the portable humanoid robot is compact, lightweight, and built to operate at human scale. The robot stands 1.07 meters tall and weighs 22.7 kilograms, and its proportions allow it to sit on a chair, stand beside a desk, or move through indoor spaces. The Fauna Robotics team calls it the ‘deployment gap,’ which is the difficulty of placing a robot from a factory to a home, given its already assigned purpose. With Sprout, the device is flexible enough to swing between industries and go home when it’s done for the day.

The portable humanoid robot uses a soft exterior and minimizes exposed pinch points to reduce the risk of injury when it interacts closely with people. Its software even limits the force it exerts so that it doesn’t grip too hard and break objects, and its time-of-flight sensors continuously monitor its surroundings for obstacles and nearby people so it can avoid hurdles. The robot’s battery provides between three and three and a half hours of runtime and can be swapped to extend operation. Different LED light animations surround the face so it can tell people ‘how it feels,’ and when Sprout is joyful, to name one, the antenna eyebrows move. So far, Fauna Robotics says that the device is already available to ship as a Creator Edition, aimed at developers, researchers, and institutions.

Sprout by Fauna Robotics is a portable humanoid robot that uses its antenna eyebrows to express emotions

the device can move either indoor or outdoor without needing any restricted zones

it can walk, kneel, crawl, and sit, and the device can also wave, dance, and jump

view of the antenna eyebrows and facial displays

the device also includes microphones for voice input and supports spoken commands

project info:

name: Sprout

design: Fauna Robotics | @faunarobotics