Welcome to my first blog ever. I have always thought that my first blog would be in Chinese and never thought about it in English. As a student in the University of Houston, one of the assignments from a MIS course is to write about a cool gadget/technology and post it on a blog instead of submitting it directly to the professor.
In the first day of class, the professor introduced CoolIris (since her name is Iris) to us and this application is really "Cool" after I tried it at home. Then, the next coolest thing that I thought of was the tabletop computer from Microsoft, but then, I noticed it was on the powerpoint as recommended "reading" with a URL link to a video. Finally, I decided to write about Ultimate Wall-E, which is a $500 robot that based on the movie Wall-E with many features, such as voice commands and abstacle avoidance. While I was searching for extra stuff to put on the blog, I found the better "gadget" to write about, the uBot-5, the real life version of Wall-E, (or something close to it).
uBot-5 is a robot that is designed to be a home assistant that can be stationed at home 24/7. It cna help with ceratin house chores. Most importantly, it can help dial 911 if the robot detects an unconscious body. The uBot-5 can be controlled remotely over the internet (which I had done a similar project when I obtained my bachelor degree). This is the perfect assistant to any elderly that live alone and far away. Their children or anyone they choose can reach them and has a video conference. In case, no one picks up, the robot can help determine if there is an unconscious body laying around, then, the user at the other end can command the uBot-5 to contact the emergency people via 911. If the elderly is conscious, then, the uBot-5 can help perform basic medical examination. With the uBot-5 at home with an elderly, it can ease teh worry of the children who might have to go to work at a different town. The mininize the worry of leaving an elderly person alone at home. This is a great gadget that might make the difference in a life and death situation.
With the amazing help of youtube, the following links are the video demonstrations of Ultimate Wall-E and the Real Wall-E (uBot-5)
Ulitmate Wall-E: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNazyivhkUs
The Real Wall-E (uBot-5): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koc6xhPM420&feature=related
