Size matters
He said robots had to be big, not 15 cm tall, to carry out domestic chores such as cleaning, mowing the lawn and tidying that people dream of escaping.The RS-01 is made of kevlar and carbon fibre, materials used for racing cars which are light, strong, but very hard to work with. It has sophisticated motor and balancing capabilities.
He weighs only 12 kg, about a third as much as it would using traditional technologies. That makes the dog safer and, crucially, far less power-hungry, so it can play or work for 90 minutes between feedings from the mains supply.
The robot has taken the form of a dog because many people are used to having one round the house. "We didn't want to intimidate people," Wirth said.
Robodog can be put on "autonomous" mode or controlled remotely via the Internet.
It is 82 cm long, 67 cm tall and 37 cm wide and looks too mean to be a cutie like pint-sized Aibo, whose doting owners even take them to play in the office.
Aibo was launched two years ago, costing initially some US$2,500. Nearly 100,000 have been sold and hounds like Poo-chi and Max have jumped on the bandwagon.
Robodogs will be custom-made and may soon also learn to recognise their master's face and speak in a more pleasant voice than their father's gruff robotic tones. Roboscience plans to develop new robots - with a second project to be unveiled this year - and license technologies to others.
"Potential applications are in domestic robots, special effects, industrial robotics and high risk commercial and military environments," it said - adding that dogs in space were also on the cards.
"Comparable robots have taken several years, dozens of development engineers and tens (even hundreds) of millions of dollars to develop with no commercial product yet available."
Robodog may have tough work ahead of him and his bite is far worse than his bark, though that's not saying much.
"He can't bark yet, it hasn't been one of our priorities, though we can program that into the next ones easily if it's required," said Wirth. "But he can say woof."
