14 DAY TRIAL // The market for home robots that can act as companions or even pets keeps growing, the constant leaps ahead in the field of robotics allowing these devices to reach very high levels of complexity. And that's exactly the case with the latest product introduced by Japanese company G-Robots, dubbed G-Dog, which should replicate the movement and behavior of a real dog (but doesn't really manage to).
Practically, this remote-controlled device is a fairly simple toy robot, which can be set to jump around, move, "play dead," "roll over," as well as carry out other custom commands, since the movement editor included in the sales package allows users to develop their own, custom movements.
As far as the manufacturing and assembly process of the G-Dog is concerned, we can tell you that it's a pretty difficult one, requiring quite a lot of technical expertise in order to match all the components correctly. And even if the translation from Japanese can be a fairly difficult operation, here are the main components that make this robotic canine "tick."
On the outside, the robot features a frame made from nylon resin, which covers the internal assembly, formed of several servo motors, which grant it up to 9 degrees of freedom. The "brain" of the G-Dog is the "RPU-11" processing unit, which includes the ATmega128 CPU, whose main function is to interpret all the information sent by the sensors installed in the servo motors and the acceleration sensors. Practically, this unit receivers the command from the remote control, processes it and then transmits the corresponding signals to all of the moving parts of the device. Then, in return, it analyzes the feedback from each sensor and manages the movement accordingly.
Last, but certainly not least, it's worth mentioning that the robot is powered by a 7.2V nickel hydrogen battery, which, nevertheless, is powered by a proprietary charger.
While the chance of this gadget becoming intelligent and attacking its human masters is very close to zero (especially since it only measures 375 x 135 x 190 mm and weighs around 570 grams), one might want to think twice before coughing up around 550 Euros (710 US dollars) for this thing. Remember "I, Robot" or, better yet, "Terminator"?
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