Hello everyone! This is SHIOZAWA from ATL.
On a certain day of December 2014, the robot Pepper arrived at the office of ATL.
Then, finally on a certain day of February, the first job for Pepper was given! Since he is still a new face, he starts his job by doing announcements. All he has to do is make the various kinds of announcement for 30 minutes until the thank-you party starts. We had to do some preparation in advance because we needed to handle Pepper with care. For example, we had to input the introduction speech and to set up the movement as well. In addition, we had to think about onsite networking and about transportation of Pepper, etc.
Pepper: transportation to the location
We transported Pepper on a wagon typed car to the location. Somehow we kept him standing in the car.
Unfortunately, he was so unstable, and bent at a joint which caused him to be locked, and so on. There is a lot of room for improvement for next time.
Pepper: transportation outside
We transported him on a hand cart outside. Using a special TRUSCO hand cart to prevent any impact as much as possible.
To keep his legs stable, we prepared something solid made of rubber, and we fastened him with Omni wheels.
Pepper: on microphone
The location accommodates about 1500 people. In such a large place, as Pepper’s voice will be hard to hear, so we put a pinhole microphone on him.
Pepper: remote-control
We had it in our minds that we want to operate him by remote control, so we made a control test on a carpet in advance. This turned out to work better than we expected.
Pepper: performance
Finally, Pepper started making announcements. He emitted a voice without any problem, but his motion looked small due to the lighting in the place. In Pepper’s case, he detected the strong lightening from tungsten and natural light as a cross obstruction. It seemed that the lightning from the stage and the ceiling activated the safety function.
Pepper: return by himself
After Pepper’s performance finished, by turning off the tungsten light, he was able to return to the side of the stage by himself without any help other than the remote control. We never gave thought that the lighting influenced Pepper’s motion this much.
This was his debut, and he completed his required objectives, which gave us a feel of relief.
This time, the performance did not require voice recognition, so we did not need to care about the noise there (people talking, etc.) We think this situation was easy. For the next event, we think we should care more about the lighting, network matters, and the ways of the transportation.