The robot from the Zorabots company can stand "two meters away, you don't need to touch it, it can be manipulated by voice, like a Google Home or an Alexa", explains Raphael Tassart for Zorabots. A bot like Alexa, but on two legs. Or two wheels. The Flemish company specializes in the production of humanoid robots. Today it is one of the leaders at the global level.
Zora and company
The company has developed several programs. The most common is called Zora. The small humanoid measures 27cm. She understands the space around her very well, in particular thanks to numerous sensors installed in her feet, hands and head. Its view is precise: it is equipped with two high resolution cameras. For listening and speaking, Zora relies on four microphones and speakers.
For the reception of customers in particular, there is Pepper the butler. He moves on three wheels and presents a screen on his chest. Pepper can find his bearings: he finds his way around a given place and can recognize products. It can accompany customers to a given point, at a rate of 3km / h.
Robots for everyone
These robots are very useful in stores. The robot "can guide visitors through space, to the right place, in the right radius, in the right space", explains Raphael Tassart. With facial recognition, the program can recognize a customer who participates in a loyalty program (with his prior agreement) and tell him if he can take advantage of a promotion for example.
Robots can also run "physiotherapy, gym, physical exercise" sessions in nursing homes. Raphael Tassart explains "that with a robot sometimes the judgment, the fear, the apprehension that you have is not at all the same, it can free speech and that's what happens, very well". The company also made its robots available during confinement. With a simplified program, several copies of Zora have notably enabled isolated people to make video calls.
Zora and Pepper will not steal your work. "The robot is there to animate, bring another experience, support, support, help in repetitive tasks", explains Raphael Tassart. In some cases, he will still take on tasks assigned to a human being. In this case, Raphael Tassart specifies that it is with the aim of "freeing up time and devoting more time to a task where the human being has added value".
A body and a head
Zorabots creates robots but does not manufacture them. "If we have to be intellectually honest at the base it is a robot called Nao and which is made by a Japanese man", explains Raphael Tassart. A robot is made up of two things, a plastic envelope and a program that serves as its brain. Zorabots develops the brains of its robots.
The two co-founders Fabrice Goffin and Tommy Deblieck are fans of the Star Wars saga . “They had a great desire, it was to create their own R2D2, their own robots,” explains Raphael Tassart. They discovered little Nao, manufactured at the time by the French company Aldebaran Robotics (today, Soft Bank Robotics).
Zorabots is developing software that allows everyone to take control of the robot, "and do lots of things with it," explains Raphael Tassart. Fabrice Goffin and Tommy Deblieck wanted robots "that are not just gadgets", that is to say "create robots that do service". Zora is therefore software integrated into the Nao robot, from the Japanese company Softbank Robotics.
The software developed is intuitive, Raphael Tassart explains that "you just have boxes and boxes to move on a timeline, it's super easy". He believes that "an hour shows in hand you are able to do whatever you want with the robot". At the start, the robots were intended for physiotherapy rehabilitation. The company quickly expanded its activities: "little by little we opened up to other types of robot, other types of hardware," explains Raphael Tassart.
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