Service Robotics
Nesbot™ (patent pending)
© Nestlé Nespresso SA
Nesbot™ is a fully autonomous and completely embedded mobile coffee machine with user interfaces for professional services.
The robot has been developed by BlueBotics SA and Nestlé Nespresso SA to investigate future applications in the coffee service market. Nespresso is the fastest growing company of the Nestlé group and has a strong commitment to offering state of the art machines, technology and services constantly renewing and reinventing the coffee drinking moments.
The motivation behind this project is the development of independent serving platforms for beverages and food, reinventing the art of beverage and food ordering, preparation and consuming. Nesbot™ is the first representative of this new generation. It is composed of two main parts: The fully autonomous mobile base and the automatic self-contained coffee machine. Nesbot™'s mobile base is a BlueBotics custom designed solution running ANT®. The coffee machine is composed of three subassemblies, allowing a fully automatic coffee preparation process onboard.
The user interface is one of the key elements of the system. There are two different interfaces, one permitting the ordering from any web browser in a secured intranet network, and the second via a PocketPC, which is placed on Nesbot™. The PocketPC can be used directly on Nesbot™ (onboard) to choose the coffee blends or it can be used off-board allowing the users choosing their blends for example around a conference table.
The market potential can be spotted in high-tech companies; design, architects, fashion, and advertising companies; high-end, in luxury-goods and/or premium products or services. The main reason for purchase would be twofold: employees' reward to get the state-of-the-art equipment at work, and image given to visitors as ambassador of the corporate values.
Expo.02
In 2002, 11 of our tour guides have served the Robotics exhibition at Expo.02 (Swiss National Exhibition) from May 15 to October 20. This project has been conjointly conducted by BlueBotics SA and the Autonomous Systems Lab, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL). BlueBotics has produced the robots and taken the responsibility for the exploitation. The goal for the development of RoboX was to maximize the autonomy and mobility of the robot while ensuring high performance, robustness and security with minimal maintenance. Over the five months, the robots have served more than 680.000 visitors with a total of 13.313 hours of work and 3.316 km. To our knowledge, this is still the world largest autonomous mobile robotics event.
Theater play
Two actors and three autonomous robots. This is the unusual casting of the
theatre play "Robots: Roses for Jusinka",
a drama in three acts supported by eight musicians.
BlueBotics has designed (technical design, the aesthetical design has been
done by ECAL) and produced
the three actor robots.
RoboX
Our entertainment products are used in different applications. In Dundee, Scotland, Sensation is a science center, where the exhibition proposes to the visitors a didactic view of the technology. RoboX is one of the permanent staff, welcoming people and guiding them through "Roborealm", the world of robots. Following our last maintenance intervention Sandy Colville claimed "Once again your customer service is second to none."
The RTSI, a Swiss public service company covering the Italian speaking part of Switzerland, has chosen RoboX to build Etabeta, a robot presenting a show dedicated to science. The show was broadcasted once a week from September 2005 to April 2006.
Space Robotics
Shrimp III
The John H. Glenn Research Center of NASA ordered Shrimp III to evaluate the locomotion performance of its structure for future planetary explorations. Glenn develops and transfers critical technologies that address national priorities through research, technology development, and systems development
ExoMars
ExoMars is the first mission of the Aurora Flagship Program of the European Space Agency (ESA). Its aim is to better characterize the biological environment on Mars for future robotic missions and human exploration. BlueBotics has designed and produced most of the components of the first rover prototypes.
Research
BIBA
BIBA stands for Bayesian Inspired Brain and Artifacts. The project adopts Bayesian reasoning to understand the behavior of animals. The same logic is then applied to create artifacts for the "real world". BlueBotics has designed and produced the platforms for the project: The BIBA Bot.
TUW research platform
The Technische Universität Wien has mandated BlueBotics for the design and production of a mobile platform based on wheelchair components, for research in the field of rehabilitation technologies.