Aldebaran Robotics Nao Next Gen Fully Programmable Humanoid Robot Review

Aldebaran Robotics' Nao robot has already received a few upgrades from both the company itself and other developers, but it now has a proper successor and now they look the wraps off its new and improved Nao Next Gen robot, touting features like a 1.6GHz Atom processor and dual HD cameras that promise to allow for better face and object recognition even in poor lighting conditions. The Nao Next Gen launches three years after the original Nao's debut and continues to target the same markets: research and educational institutions, personal wellbeing nd individual developers, who may apply to join the Nao Developer Program and Aldebaran Robotics says it has sold 2,000 units of Nao so far, though the goal for Nao Next Gen will surely be exponentially higher.

Aldebaran Robotics, the world leader in humanoid robotics has released its latest version of the NAO robot - NAO Next Gen. The power of NAO Next Gen, the new fully programmable humanoid robot that has the most extensive worldwide use, is opening up new perspectives and fields of application for its users. "The inception of this new generation of NAO robots means a lot to our company. We are proud to be in a position to provide our customers with endless options, whatever their sector. With NAO Next Gen coming of age, we shall be able to make it serve organizations that care for autistic children and those losing their autonomy. I created Aldebaran Robotics in 2005 with this aim: to contribute to humankind‟s well-being." Three years after it started selling its first NAO models, the company has sold 2,000 robots worldwide. Aldebaran Robotics has now released the latest generation of its programmable humanoid robots, which is intended for research, teaching and, more generally, for exploring the new area of service robotics. Stemming from six years of research and dialogue with its community of researchers and users, NAO Next Gen is capable of a higher level of interaction, thanks to increased computing power, improved stability and higher accuracy. Therefore, the latest version of the NAO robot widens considerably the range of research, teaching and application possibilities made available to specific user groups.

One of the NAO Next Gen's novel and most remarkable features is the fact that it is fitted with a new on-board computer, based on the powerful 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor, which is suitable for multi-tasking calculations. It also has two HD cameras that are attached to a field-programmable gate array (FPGA). This set-up allows the simultaneous reception of two video streams, significantly increasing speed and performance in face-and-object recognition, even under poor-lighting conditions. As well as its innovative features with respect to hardware, NAO Next Gen boasts a new, faster and more reliable vocal-recognition program called Nuance. This program is coupled with a new functionality known as word spotting, which is capable of isolating and recognizing a specific word within a sentence or a conversation. "On top of this new hardware version, we shall be delivering new software functionalities like smart torque control, a system to prevent limb/body collisions, an improved walking algorithm, and more. We have capitalized upon our experience and customer feedback in order to deliver the most suitable and efficient platform. In terms of applications especially at high-school level, we are focused on educational content, while, when it comes to improvements in personal well-being, we are working on developing specialized applications," explains Bruno Maisonnier. "We are also pursuing our goal to provide a NAO intended for individuals through the Developer Program - a community of programmers who are working with us today to invent tomorrow‟s personal robotics," adds the chairman of Aldebaran Robotics.

Hardware Platform

NAO is a programmable, 57-cm tall humanoid robot with the following key components:

• Body with 25 degrees of freedom (DOF) whose key elements are electric motors and actuators
• Sensor network, including 2 cameras, 4 microphones, sonar rangefinder, 2 IR emitters and receivers, 1 inertial board, 9 tactile sensors, and 8 pressure sensors
• Various communication devices, including voice synthesizer, LED lights, and 2 high-fidelity speakers
• Intel ATOM 1,6ghz CPU (located in the head) that runs a Linux kernel and supports Aldebaran’s proprietary middleware (NAOqi)
• Second CPU (located in the torso)
• 27,6-watt-hour battery that provides NAO with 1.5 or more hours of autonomy, depending on usage

NAOqi

Building robotics applications is challenging

• The building blocks of robotics applications include state-of-the-art, complex technologies, such as speech recognition, object recognition, and object mapping.
• Applications must be secure and able to run in constrained environments that have limited resources.
• NAOqi, the embedded NAO software, includes a fast, secure and reliable, cross-platform, distributed robotics framework that provides a solid foundation on which developers can leverage and improve NAO's functionality.
• NAOqi allows algorithms to share their APIs with others and helps prepare modules to run on NAO or remote PCs.
• Code development can take place in Windows, Mac OS, or Linux and be called from many languages, including C++, Python, Urbi, and .Net. Modules built on top of this framework offer rich APIs for interacting with NAO.
• NAOqi meets common robotics needs: parallelism, resources, synchronization, and events.
• n NAOqi, as in other frameworks, there are generic layers, but they are created especially for NAO. NAOqi allows homogeneous communication between different modules (motion, audio, and video), homogeneous programming, and homogeneous information sharing with ALMemory.

Motion

Omnidirectional walking:

NAO's walking uses a simple dynamic model (linear inverse pendulum) and quadratic programming. It is stabilized using feedback from joint sensors. This makes walking robust and resistant to small disturbances, and torso oscillations in the frontal and lateral planes are absorbed. NAO can walk on a variety of floor surfaces, such as carpeted, tiled, and wooden floors. NAO can transition between these surfaces while walking.

Whole body motion:


NAO's motion module is based on generalized inverse kinematics, which handles Cartesian coordinates, joint control, balance, redundancy, and task priority. This means that when asking NAO to extend its arm, it bends over because its arms and leg joints are taken into account. NAO will stop its movement to maintain balance.

Fall Manager:

The Fall Manager protects NAO when it falls. Its main function is to detect when NAO's center of mass (CoM) shifts outside the support polygon. The support polygon is determined by the position of the foot or feet in contact with the ground. When a fall is detected, all motion tasks are killed and, depending on the direction, NAO's arms assume protective positioning, the CoM is lowered, and robot stiffness is reduced to zero.

Vision

NAO has two cameras and can track, learn, and recognize images and faces.

• NAO sees using two 920p cameras, which can capture up to 30 images per second.
• The first camera, located on NAO’s forehead, scans the horizon, while the second located at mouth level scans the immediate surroundings.
• The software lets you recover photos and video streams of what NAO sees. But eyes are only useful if you can interpret what you see.
• That’s why NAO contains a set of algorithms for detecting and recognizing faces and shapes. NAO can recognize who is talking to it or find a ball or, eventually, more complex objects.
• These algorithms have been specially developed, with constant attention to using a minimum of processor resources.
• Furthermore, NAO’s SDK lets you develop your own modules to interface with OpenCV (the Open Source Computer Vision library originally developed by Intel).
• Since you can execute modules on NAO or transfer them to a PC connected to NAO, you can easily use the OpenCV display functions to develop and test your algorithms with image feedback.

Audio

NAO uses four microphones to track sounds, and its voice recognition and text-to-speech capabilities allow it to communicate in 8 languages.
Sound Source Localization:
Sound Source Localization:

One of the main purposes of humanoid robots is to interact with people. Sound localization allows a robot to identify the direction of sounds. To produce robust and useful outputs while meeting CPU and memory requirements, NAO sound source localization is based on an approach known as “Time Difference of Arrival.”
When a nearby source emits a sound, each of NAO’s four microphones receives the sound wave at slightly different times.
For example, if someone talks to NAO on its left side, the corresponding sound wave first hits the left microphones, then the front and rear microphones a few milliseconds later, and finally the right microphone.
These differences, known as interaural time difference (ITD), can then be mathematically processed to determine the current location of the emitting source.
By solving the equation every time it hears a sound, NAO can determine the direction of the emitting source (azimuthal and elevation angles) from ITDs between the four microphones.
This feature is available as a NAOqi module called ALAudioSourceLocalization; it provides a C++ and Python API that allows precise interactions with a Python script or NAOqi module.

Possible applications include::

• Human Detection, Tracking, and Recognition
• Noisy Object Detection, Tracking, and Recognition
• Speech Recognition in a specific direction
• Speaker Recognition in a specific direction
• Remote Monitoring/Security applications
• Entertainment applications

Audio Signal Processing:

n robotics, embedded processors have limited computational power, making it useful to perform some calculations remotely on a desktop computer or server.
This is especially true for audio signal processing; for example, speech recognition often takes place more efficiently, faster, and more accurately on a remote processor. Most modern smartphones process voice recognition remotely.
Users may want to use their own signal processing algorithms directly in the robot.
The NAOqi framework uses Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) to send and receive audio signals over the Web.
Sound is produced and recorded in NAO using the Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (ALSA) library.
The ALAudioDevice module manages audio inputs and outputs.
Using NAO’s audio capabilities, a wide range of experiments and research can take place in the fields of communications and human-robot interaction.
For example, users can employ NAO as a communication device, interacting with NAO (talk and hear) as if it were a human being.
Signal processing is of course an interesting example. Thanks to the audio module, you can get the raw audio data from the microphones in real time and process it with your own code.

Tactile Sensors

Besides cameras and microphones, NAO is fitted with capacitive sensors positioned on top of its head in three sections and on its hands.
You can therefore give NAO information through touch: pressing once to tell it shut down, for example, or using the sensors as a series of buttons to trigger an associated action.
The system comes with LED lights that indicate the type of contact. You can also program complex sequences.

Sonar Rangefinders

NAO is equipped with two sonar channels: two transmitters and two receivers.
They allow NAO to estimate the distances to obstacles in its environment. The detection range is 0–70 cm.
Less than 15 cm, there is no distance information; NAO only knows that an object is present.

Connectivity

1. Ethernet and Wi-Fi:
NAO currently supports Wi-Fi (a, b, and g) and Ethernet, the most widespread network communication protocols. In addition, infrared transceivers in the eyes allow connection to objects in the environment. NAO is compatible with the IEE 802.11g Wi-Fi standard and can be used on both WPA and WEP networks, making it possible to connect to most home and office networks. NAO's OS supports both Ethernet and Wi-Fi connections and requires no Wi-Fi setup other than entering the password.
NAO's ability to connect to networks offers a wide range of possibilities. You can pilot and program NAO using any computer on the network.
Here are a few examples of applications NAO users have already created:

• Based on NAO's IP address, NAO can figure out its location and give you a personalized weather report.
• Ask NAO about a topic and it connects to Wikipedia and read you the relevant entry.
• Connect NAO to an audio stream and it plays an Internet radio station for you.

Using XMPP technology (like in the Google Chat system), you can control NAO remotely and stream video from its cameras.


2. Infrared:

Using infrared, NAO can communicate with other NAOs and other devices that support infrared. You can configure NAO to use infrared to control other devices (“NAO, please turn on the TV”). In addition, NAO can also receive instructions from infrared emitters, such as remote controls. And of course, two NAOs can communicate with each other directly.
Infrared is already the most common method of controlling appliances, making NAO easily adaptable to domotics applications. NAO can also detect whether an infrared signal received is coming from the left or right.

Open Source

With over five years of experience in developing embedded systems for robotics platforms, Aldebaran Robotics is sharing its cross-platform build tools, the core communication library, and other essential modules with researchers, developers, and emerging projects in humanoid robotics.
By capitalizing on Aldebaran Robotics's extensive experience, users can concentrate their efforts on creating innovative and exciting applications.
In addition, users benefit from the strong innovation that characterizes the growing NAO community.
Robotics and its associated applications are still emerging fields of research.
Collaboration in exploring future applications and ongoing exchange within our user community are essential.

Nao Next Gen For Education:

Robotics is one of the latest technological innovations, and a humanoid robot is an ideal learning tool for classes at all levels.

Robots allow students to connect theory with practice and discover a wide range of robotics-related fields, such as computer science, engineering, and mathematics.

Students gain hands-on experience using NAO, and, when used in the lab, they discover exciting topics such as locomotion, grasping, audio and video signal processing, voice recognition, and much more.

NAO also allows teachers to integrate team work, project management, problem solving, and communication skills in a stimulating setting. NAO offers the flexibility for developing interdisciplinary projects.

Nao Next Gen For Research:

NAO is a research platform used by more than 350 prestigious universities and research labs around the world. It is a versatile platform used to explore a wide variety of research topics in robotics as well as computer science, human-machine interaction, and the social sciences. This fully programmable robot comes with a programming environment suitable even for researchers with no programming experience. NAO’s many sensors and actuators, convenient size, and attractive appearance, combined with sophisticated embedded software, makes it a unique humanoid robot ideal for many research fields. NAO boasts, for example, face and object recognition, automatic speech recognition, text-to-speech in seven languages, and whole body motion.

Nao Next Gen For Development:

What do you get out of it?

The Developer Program is a privileged place for exchange between Aldebaran Robotics developers and you!

Each participant receives:

Aldebaran Robotics's

latest innovations and developments

Aldebaran Robotics includes you in a special team with access to the latest innovations and developments in the cutting-edge field of humanoid robotics.

You have access to code, the SDK, and prototypes from Aldebaran Robotics thanks to the dedicated Developer Program website.

NAO: humanoid robot

NAO, a state-of-the-art, fully programmable, 58 cm, humanoid robot is your platform for developing behaviors and apps and bringing the robot to life in collaboration with the community.

Today, there are more than 1500 NAOs used by laboratories and universities worldwide for research and education in the fields of robotics, computer sciences, cognitive sciences, mathematics, vision, sensors, motion, and more. NAO is also famous in the research community. The robot is not yet available to the general public, but together we are going to prepare for this adventure.

Each NAO Developer Program Member receives the best Aldebaran Robotics technology, a NAO H25, version 3.3.

You have access to code, the SDK, and prototypes from Aldebaran Robotics thanks to the dedicated Developer Program website.

Complete software suite

You have immediate access to a complete software suite for your NAO, which comes ready to be programmed. What NAO can do is up to your imagination and skills!

NAO contains an open framework called NAOqi. It can be programmed in different ways thanks to Choregraphe, our user-friendly behavior editor. Program by creating sequences of predefined behavior boxes, or code your own behavior boxes.

With Choregraphe, program with Python or Urbi Script (.Net and Visual Studio or C# are compatible). You can also program NAO with our SDK to use C++ and directly access the NAOqi application programming interface (API). NAOqi APIs are well documented and introspective and allow you to take advantage of:

• High Level Modules: Walking engine, whole-body motion, speech recognition, voice synthesis, face detection, face recognition, sound localization, and much more
• Low-level access to NAO’s sensors and actuators

With the SDK, it is easy to get the image and sound streams from the robot. You can do this locally or remotely. We also provide a program called Telepathe designed to collect data from the sensors. Use NAOsim, a 3D simulator, to quickly test and debug NAO’s behavior and applications.

You have access to code, the SDK, and prototypes from Aldebaran Robotics thanks to the dedicated Developer Program website.

Be part of a strong and active community

The Developer Program website gives you access to an international community of 200 top developers.

A forum allows you to interact with Aldebaran Robotics specialists and Developer Program community members and includes:

• Code versioning tools, wiki, and bug tracker for each project
• Collaborative workspace
• Project development workspace
• Data repository and wiki

Special access to Aldebaran Robotics source code

You have access to important source code, the SDK, and projects developed by teams of engineers at Aldebaran Robotics.

The website allows you to create and share your project with the Developer Program Community and Aldebaran Robotics R&D.

You can also join existing projects or create new common tasks with other community members.

Even better: you can propose your own developments for integration into NAO’s official distribution or in the online NAOstore. You will be considered a high representative user.

Go To NAO's official Site

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