Niro Max 服务机器人 by Baidu Ai Cloud Hci Lab

Niro Max 服务机器人 by Baidu Ai Cloud Hci Lab is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2020 A' Design Award 金奖 in 机器人、自动装置与自动化设计 Competition Category.

金机器人· 2020

Niro Max 服务机器人

by Baidu Ai Cloud Hci Lab

Client: Baidu

A' Design Award 金奖 Winner in 机器人 Category

66,849

Verified Award Winner

Verify Award Status for #100909

View at A' Design Award Press Release Award Badge

Colors

The Design

About Niro Max 服务机器人

Niro Max 是一款专为机场环境打造的服务机器人。借助人脸识别与自然语言交互技术，机器人可协助旅客完成值机、退票、航班信息查询等各类咨询服务。SLAM 技术使 Niro Max 能够在航站楼内自由移动，并可自主返回充电。机身后部设有储物舱，内置除颤仪与急救箱。外壳采用注塑成型的 PC 与 ABS 材料，内部框架由铝材与钣金构成。设计目标在于以更低的人力成本，提供主动式服务。

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award 金奖

Niro Max 服务机器人是 A' Design Award 金奖得主，这是授予一流、绝妙而杰出设计的极为崇高的认可。金奖得主是极具创新、极富远见且璀璨夺目的创作，反映出其设计师的天才、智慧与才干。预计Niro Max 服务机器人将成为一项备受赞誉、引领潮流、气势恢宏的发明，带来前所未有的价值。这件赢得 A' Design Award 金奖的设计是一个壮观而受人敬重的项目，极大地造福并拓展艺术、科学、设计和技术的边界。Niro Max 服务机器人激起强烈的渴望，唤起激情，鼓励创造力，令我们着迷。

Behind the Design

Press Kit

Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.

Unique Properties: NIRO-Max is an airport service robot can perform face recognition and natural language interaction. The SLAM technology enables it “walk” freely and charge itself autonomously to assist passengers with check-in, ticket return, flight info, and other inquiries while patrol airports. The back box of it is equipped with an AED and first aid kit. It can reach out to more passengers in need and proactively provide services with a less businesses system labor costs and a higher operational efficiency.
Dimensions & Packaging: 530mm x 500mm x 1500mm
Tags: Artificial Intelligence, Mobile, Service, Robot, Robotic
Production Technology: The shell of NIRO Max is adopted with PC and ABS injection molding, and its internal skeleton is realized with aluminum and sheet metal processes. The case is secured with buckles and screws and multiple rounds of optimization have been done to achieve rapid disassembly of it. Max presents many Baidu AI technologies including the NLP, computer vision, cloud computing, and Easy Talk. The integration of ultrasonic, infrared wave sensors and SLAM technology provides a safe guarantee for the robot.
Design Challenge: Based on our research, proper mimic of human and cute appearance can enhance users' willingness to interact: Instead of using black screen, we applied a white light-transmitting material and displayed digital expressions through projection on the robot face. After rounds of optimization in the areas of acoustic and mechanical design for its structure, the final design has no screw on the surface achieved an easy assemble and disassemble reducing the difficulty and cost of its maintenance.
Research: Quantitative and qualitative, user interview, case study
Research content: user preferences of robot appearance, human-robot interaction in public, robot height, Uncanny Valley.
Key finding: lack of interaction willingness, unfriendly experience
Solution: arms increase users' perception of it being intelligent for higher willingness to interact, and eyes bring a more human like feeling.
Taller than users will pose a pressure to users and cute appearance increases users’ willingness to interact.
Inspiration: Baidu, the world's largest Chinese search engine company, also a technology company of artificial intelligence represented by robots like Max launched in business scenarios. Max is a perfect combination of high technology and supreme user experience. In 5G eras, compared to human services, service robots can assist passengers in need accurately and flexibly to provide proactive services with a less businesses system labor costs and a higher operational efficiency.
Project Duration: The project was launched in Beijing in January 2019 and officially released at the Baidu Yunzhi Summit in September 2019.
At present, hundreds of Taiwan-level cooperation agreements have been signed in the government affairs scenes such as China Customs and Vehicle Administration, and part of the delivery has been completed. In addition, there are a lot of cooperation in negotiation in airports and shopping malls.
Operation Flow: The recessed screen helps protect user privacy. The depth camera can find the user and calculate user's distance to adjust speaker volume accordingly for better privacy. Digital facial expressions increase the humanity of interacting with the robot.
Max can move, watch, listen, think and speak like a human. It can identify the main speaker in a group conversation under noisy airport environment. When a user touches it, touch sensors can sense user touch's position and direction to give feedback.
Team Members: Fan Yang
Shiyan Li
Daiyan Liu
Hongtao Zhang
Bingkang Luo
Zhun Wu
Shiyu Wu
Yanyan Sun
Xiaowen Cheng
Yang Li
Libo Zhi
Yuhong Zhai
Fangfei Li
Mingfa Zhu
Daisong Guan