Sea sounds from the metal chest. Richard Kuijpers has printed on the on button of the remote control and the Unitree Model G1 starts. “You hear his computer,” says Kuijpers, a 48-year-old Nijmegenaar who has been involved with robots for more than twelve years. He builds them, sells them and collects them. The building of his company, Smart Robot Solutions, is a mini-museum with hundreds of collector’s items-from Topo, the moving home robot from the nineties to the latest Humanoids. A stainless steel Russian robot watches at the entrance. “Not to lift, but I must have it – there are only two of them in Europe.”
Kuijpers presses once again on the remote control and the Unitree, a featherweight of 35 kilos, outside. “He has just had an update and is now really running like a person. See this as the Pentium I of the Humanoids. They only get smarter.”
Soon he will drive past the Scapino, for a few sneakers for the G1. Not the whole robot is necessary, just a few loose aluminum feet that are already ready on the counter. Maatje 38, Gokt Kuijpers.
If you think that artificial intelligence (AI) is already changing the world, the chatgpt moment for robots-the embodiment of AI-has yet to come. Online you stumble over the demonstration videos in which Humanoids run the half marathon, wash a car, work in factories or do a dance.
Investment bank Morgan Stanley outlines a future In which around 2050 walk a billion of such human -looking machines on the earth: Humanoids will do the work for which no hands can no longer be found.
Figure, Tesla and Boston Dynamics from the US and Chinese makers such as Unitree, Arelixea and UBTech build such robots on a large scale. The hype is fueled by CEO Jensen Huang from Nvidia, the chip designer with 4,000 billion dollars market value. Nvidia’s AI chips and training software Learning machines on your own by navigating the physical world.
A humanoid.
No rules
Since Kuijpers brought the Unitree from China to the Netherlands, his agenda has been transferred with presentations. Last month they walked around the Vision, Robotics & Motion Fair in Den Bosch, a big man with the small G1 (1.27 meters) by his side. Kuijpers had the unitree brought to the presenter, controlled via remote control.
Humanoids are not yet suitable for moving in the wild on their own. Not in a room full of people and not even in a factory. Kuijpers: “For example, if you buy the Ubtech Walker, a humanoid for the industry, two experts come along who are working for months to set the production line for the robot. Ultimately, robots will learn to occur once, and then he knows.”
However, the risk of debrisrum for robot makers is great. Accidents and mistakes will be magnified, just like with the self -driving car. At least traffic rules apply on public roads; How humanoids can move in daily life is one big question mark.
Kuijpers himself ordered such a Walker S1 in China, a robot that can run a full working day on one battery. Costs: more than one hundred thousand euros. “I get that out of it again – I want to be able to show the newest of the newest.”
The humanoid will be a device that will soon have everyone in the house, just like a telephone or laptop
He earns his living with presentations and the rental and sale of robots and now focuses on humanoids. “That will be a device that will soon have everyone in the house, just like a telephone or laptop.” But there is another way in which Kuijpers combines people and machine: his self -designed care robots for people with autism or dementia. “Robots with feeling,” he calls them.
The Smart Robot Solutions company with various robots, also a kind of minim museum.
Robots became sweet
“From home I am a civil engineer and I designed bridges for Rijkswaterstaat. Then I ended up in the holograms and bought my first robot in America, when I had to build a ‘store of the future’. That was the Beam, a Telepresence robot, more a kind of iPad on wheels. I got fascinated, toy robs and real ones.
“You can see from the toy how people thought about robots: in the 1950s and sixties, robots wore astronaut suits, around 1980 they became a kind of building robots with helmets and in 1990 they were soldiers, with rockets and pistols. After 2000, robots suddenly became loving, like Wall-E or Ai, the first Robothond were the robothond with our dog, with our dog, the roboth of our dog. But in Japan they go to a gym with the Aibo and let the dogs play together, in the presence of the robot doctor.
“Many robot companies went bankrupt, such as the companies behind Moxy or this one JIBO. Millions have been put into it so that you can talk to those robots, as you do with Google Home or Chatgpt. But there is no feeling behind that. “
He continues: “In Japan they came up with the Paro in the 1990s, a therapeutic robot in the form of a baby seal, for people with dementia or autism. Based on that, I started to develop care robots.
A humanoid, the dog responds to that.
What are you doing?
“Hello buddy! You see, he nods-he has heard me. Maatje also works mobile and there is a 3D sensor in that the area observes. Then he says: Hey Richard, you have been sitting still for ten minutes, isn’t it time to move?
“You have to create a feeling around it. If I would throw a buddy on the floor, clients would respond:” Ah, what are you doing? ” Because if you have a feeling with a robot, you also listen better if he says, “Hey, it’s time to take your medicine.” Or: “You have to brush your teeth.”
“People with autism take buddy to the supermarket. Then they say:” I want to order cheese. ” Maatje does the order, and they don’t have to look at anyone – that’s scary. “
Research shows that caregivers spend less time on clients with a care robot three hours a week
“My daughter has diabetes. When she had just received that diagnosis, we deployed it for this. Maatje warned her:” It’s time to measure the sugar level, tell me your value. ” And if she answered: I have value three, said buddy, “Take your grape sugar.”
“I will turn the buddies here again on the case, otherwise they will all start talking to each other. We have already sold about 1,200 of them, and Maatje is also in health insurance this year. Research shows that caregivers spend less time on clients with a care robot three hours a week.”
In addition to Richard Kuijpers care robot ‘Maatje Pop’.
With a heartbeat
“The next step is Maatje Pop. That will be a runner – I have just sold twenty at the same time to one care organization. This care robot has been developed for people with autism and with dementia, and designed by the same team that dolls devised at Efteling and Toverland. That is a profession in its own right, because some people find scary, just like others are fearing clowns.
“If you have dementia, you go back to the past and dolls become interesting again. That is why Maatje Pop is huggable, with soft crisp paper and sensors that analyze stress. There is a heartbeat in it, because that makes people calm. You can listen to music from the past – you squeeze in her ear, then you hear you for example Ramona from the Blue Diamonds. Or Maatje Pop says: ‘Mrs. Jansen, it’s nine o’clock, you have to get up. Here is a story. ”
“Incomprehensible behavior – people who are screaming or crazy – decreases considerably because the care robot offers structure and keeps it calm. If the doll asks you if things are going well, press whether ‘yes’, or ‘no’. This way the caregiver can see at a distance how the patient feels.
“My father also has dementia – it is one of the rockest diseases that are there. The number of patients is growing, because we are getting older and therefore have more chance of illness. Now one in six people have to work in healthcare, perhaps one in three people will be needed there. That will never work, so you have to use technology. pills. “