Technology: the magic under the skin
Pleo's development took several years and for good reasons.
No less than 14 motors, 37 sensors and several microprocessors are simultaneously at work inside his body.
All that at a price nearly 5x cheaper than previous concurrent attempts.
Ugobe's goal was to reproduce the kind of sensors array found in living animals coupled with natural movements and a real-time intelligent software powering an autonomous behaviour.
The 37 sensors
There's a large number of sensors in the head:
a colour camera with a white light detector sits in the nose: it's Pleo's navigation center, detects object movements, colours, movements and is used for some kind of objects recognition.
IR receiver and transmitter: used when two Pleo's communicate with each other.
IR interruptor: detects when an object is in the mouth.
chin touch sensor: allows Pleo to feel when is being touched on the chin.
stories/pleo/bullet.jpg" alt="bullet.jpg" style="margin: 5px; float: left; width: 5px; height: 5px" title="bullet.jpg" class="jce_tooltip" height="5" width="5" /> binaural microphone: stereo audio sensors are used for hearing and spatial detection of sounds.The other sensors in the body:
shoulder touch sensor: detects when Pleo's shoulder are touched.
rear touch sensor: detects when the back of Pleo is touched.
leg touch sensors: detect touch on each of the upper legs.
ground sensors: tell Pleo if he's on the ground or being lifted, one sensor per foot.
14 force feedback sensors: each motor can sense resistance to movement, detects when a limb is blocked.
tilt sensor: detects position in space.
The 14 motors
These are responsible for Pleo's highly natural movements.
Individual motors power the four legs but also the middle of the body, the tail, the neck, the mouth and even the eyes!
The processors and data exchanges
Several CPU's are used:
a 32 bit processor is in charge of central processing. This is Pleo's brain. The operating system runs there, it coordinates data's from all the sensors and determines an adapted behaviour such as choosing a direction, producing sounds, or setting a mood.
a 32 bit processor is also used to process navigational data's from the camera and the microphone.
8 bit microcontrollers (sub processors) are used to control the motors.
An SD cards reader is accessible on Pleo's belly: used to flash the firmware and exchange files such as customs behaviours and sounds.
mini-USB port: next to the SD port: used to connect Pleo to a computer and communicate with the Pleo utility software, the developer kit or the online diagnostic tool.
IR: when Pleo meets another Pleo they use IR to talk to each other and display a group behaviour.
Finally, two speakers are present: one in the back and one in the mouth.
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