ASRA-C1

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  • This robot's customizable OS doesn't make it any better at soccer

    by 
    Mat Smith
    Mat Smith
    06.18.2014

    Softbank's Pepper robot is hard not to love, even if we haven't quite grasped the point of the adorable thing. We're having much the same issue with the Asratec bot shown above, also part of Softbank's broad robot business. As you can tell, it isn't very responsive right now, and in fact it can't even walk, but it possesses an OS that is claimed to be customizable enough for healthcare, entertainment or even construction robots. Asratec is hoping to make money from this software, rather than the 1.2-meter ASRA-C1 prototype hardware, but the robot still has a couple of notable features, including an extra pair of arms on the front, with which users can "drive" the robot around, or possibly teach it physical tasks by showing how it's done. Though ASRA-C1 probably won't be scoring any goals at the next Robot World Cup (it's a thing), you can see its current skillset demonstrated in the videos below.