The Waseda University Sugaya research has announced their “Twendy-One” Robot that could be the next Jeeves. This new humanoid has the capability of handling delicate items like straws and can pick them up without crushing them. They are being developed so that the robots can be used by the elderly and disabled to do small chores around the house. At a recent demonstration the researchers displayed its robotic antics. It carried a meal tray during the demo. Twendy-One is 146.7cm tall (5 feet) and weighs 111kg. It has omni-directional portable mechanisms based on the winch system. The upper body features 13 segments and the hands feature 4 fingers, which can move to a certain degree. The head comprises of a speaker and 2 eyes (that are actually CCD cameras) encased in LED rims. The robot also features some kind of pressure sensors throughout its body to combat external force. The shoulder and the elbow have 4 degree of freedom featuring a “passive soft joint mechanism”. It is equipped with 47 actuators. The shell of the hand has a “collision safe coating”. The upper body is capable of stooping to pick up objects from the ground.

The Twendy-One robot has a stable grip and can pick up things like a soft plastic glass with ease. In the demo the Robot helped an elderly person out of bed, fetched the ketchup out of the fridge, removed the toast from the toaster with tongs and placed it in a plate, thus helping out with breakfast. The researchers expect the first commercial bot to be ready by 2015 and will sell for 1000,0000 Yen – 2000,0000 Yen (approx $ 100,000 – $200,000).

Helping with toast bread