SBIR Phase I: Design, deployment, and algorithmic optimization of zoomorphic, interactive robot companions

该项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力涵盖了近期和未来多年的发展。在这两个阶段，该提案涵盖了研发（R D），以创造一个机器人宠物伴侣，有可能在美国玩具行业销售数百万台。该提案还支持研发基础设施的发展，这将是未来几年向美国宠物行业（作为机器人伴侣）扩张的关键组成部分，该行业规模更大，对机器人进入者的直接竞争较少。第一代机器人产品是第一阶段项目的结果，将通过促进其硬件和软件的用户友好修改以及用户的创建来支持科学，技术，工程和数学（STEM）教育和所有年龄段的机器人爱好者。自己的机器人和行为程序。考虑到这些可修改机器人的交互性，它们可能对女性有很强的吸引力，因为女性在STEM领域的代表性不足。项目？的最终目标是开发和销售互动机器人，可以提高生活质量的任何人通过陪伴。这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目提出开发第一代机器人宠物，将准备放置在成千上万的客户？帮助获奖公司发展壮大，向世界各地提供数百万只复杂的机器人宠物，包括向许多无法养宠物的人提供。为了实现这些成果，第一阶段将进行以下创新：一个无线控制机器人角色的木偶平台;通过机器学习规范移动的社交机器人角色;感知机器人及其环境;可靠的自主充电;以及一个简单的基于云的基础设施，用于收集使用数据并对机器人角色的版本进行现场实验。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this project spans the near-term and many years of future development. Over both phases, this proposal covers research and development (R&D) to create a robot pet companions with the potential to sell millions of units in the U.S. toy industry. The proposal also supports the development of R&D infrastructure that will be a critical component of the expansion in subsequent years to the U.S. pet industry (as a robot companion), which is larger and has less direct competition for robotic entrants. The first-generation robot product, a result of the Phase I project, will support science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education and robot hobbyists of all ages by facilitating user-friendly modification of its hardware and software as well as the creation of users? own robots and behavioral programs. Given the interactive nature of these modifiable robots, they are likely to have a strong appeal to females, who are underrepresented in STEM fields. The project?s ultimate goal is to develop and market interactive robots that can improve the quality of life for anyone through companionship.This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project proposes to develop first-generation robot pets that will be ready to place in thousands of customers? hands and to situate the awarded company to grow to deliver millions of sophisticated robot pets across the world, including to the many people who cannot have pets. Towards these outcomes, the following innovations will be pursued in Phase I: a puppeteer platform that wirelessly controls robot characters; specification of a mobile, social robot character through machine learning; perception of robots and their environment; reliable autonomous recharging; and a simple cloud-based infrastructure for gathering usage data and conducting field experiments on versions of robot characters.