Emiew 3

A friendly looking red and white humanoid robot with a cartoonish appearance. It has a glowing red heart shape on it's chest and moves on wheeled feet. — Hi, I'm Emiew! Photo: Hitachi

Emiew 3 is a friendly robot that rolls along at human speed to help people. It can assist lost tourists at airports, give workers a hand at the office, or greet customers at retail stores.

Creator

Hitachi

Year

2016

Country

Japan 🇯🇵

Categories

Features

Emiew helps passengers at Tokyo International Airport. Video: Hitachi

Did you know?

Emiew, pronounced "emu," stands for "Excellent Mobility and Interactive Existence as Workmate."

The robot lies prone on the ground, but has raised it's head, chest and legs to get up. — Emiew can get up by itself if it falls down. Photo: Hitachi

History

Hitachi designed EMIEW3 with the goal of creating "human symbiotic robots that can safely co-exist with humans, providing robot-based services with advanced communication capabilities." EMIEW3 looks almost identical to its predecessor model, EMIEW2, but there are some significant differences: While EMIEW2 had single wheels for feet, EMIEW3 uses a wheel plus a smaller caster on each foot, a design that appears to make balancing easier for the robot while moving or standing still.

A person with a backpack addresses Emiew, who is half the size of the human. — Emiew will help you if you are lost. Photo: Hitachi

Red and white child sized robot rolls through an office, while three office workers look at it. — Emiew 2, an earlier model of the robot, greets coworkers. Photo: Yoshikazu Tsuno/AFP/Getty Images

Specs

Overview: Compact, lightweight design. Able to travel at the same speed as humans. Recognizes and responds to human voice. Connected to a cloud-based system for processing voice and images.
Status: Ongoing
Year: 2016
Website: hitachi.com/rd/research/mechanical/robotics/index.html
Width: 50 cm
Height: 90 cm
Length: 35 cm
Weight: 15 kg
Speed: 6 km/h
Sensors: HD camera, laser range finder, 14-channel microphone array.
Actuators: 21 DC motors
Degrees of Freedom (DoF): 23 (Head: 3 DoF; Arm: 5 DoF x 2; Hand: 1 DoF x 2; Leg: 3 DoF x 2; Wheel: 2 DoF)
Materials: Hard plastic and soft rubber exterior; metal and plastic interior frame.
Compute: On-board computer for control and network communication. External computer for navigation, voice recognition, image recognition, and object search.
Software: Custom control software
Power: Lithium-iron-phosphate battery, 3 hours of operation