Qrio

A silver humanoid with two big blue eyes on a rounded head. A small blue ball is being expelled from one of its hands and it stands in an active pitching pose. — Qrio demonstrates a baseball pitch. Photo: Itsuo Inouye/AP Photo

Qrio is a small entertainment humanoid that can hear, speak, sing, walk, run, dance, recognize faces, and grasp objects. It was exceptionally advanced for its time, and sadly it was canceled in 2006. Sigh.

Creator

Sony

Year

2003

Country

Japan 🇯🇵

Categories

Features

Did you know?

Qrio can perform a variety of dances, including the Para Para, a popular Japanese dance.

The robot is bent over at the neck, looking at its feet. Slightly in front of it is a green ball. — "Where did that ball go?" Photo: Sebastian John/AP Photo

The silver humanoid robot looks down as it puts one foot up on a smal step. — Qrio steps up. Photo: Junji Kurokawa/AP Photo

History

Qrio was the brainchild of Yoshihiro Kuroki, general manager of Sony Entertainment Robot Co., in Shinbashi, Japan. The project started in 2000 and was named SDR, for Sony Dream Robot. In 2001 Sony developed SDR-3X, and in 2003 it unveiled SDR-4X, a new version emphasizing human interaction. Sony developed new technologies specifically for Qrio, including a small actuator and software for motion creation. In 2006, Sony unveiled the fifth generation of the robot. On 26 January 2006, Sony announced that it would stop development of Qrio.

The robot is doing a backbend. — Robot yoga. Photo: Tina Fineberg/AP Photo

A man and the robot bow to each other. — Qrio bows to a friend. Photo: Sebastian John/AP Photo

Specs

Overview: Capable of recognizing speech and faces and picking itself up if it falls.
Status: Discontinued
Year: 2003
Website: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QRIO
Width: 260 cm
Height: 58 cm
Length: 19 cm
Weight: 6.5 kg
Speed: 1.08 km/h (walking)
Sensors: Two CCD cameras, seven microphones, three-axis accelerometer and gyro, two-axis accelerometer, and four force sensors in each foot.
Actuators: 38 motors
Degrees of Freedom (DoF): 38 (Head: 4 DoF; Trunk: 2 DoF; Arms: 5 DoF x 2; Fingers: 5 DoF x 2; Legs: 6 DoF x 2)
Compute: Three 64-bit RISC processors, 192 MB RAM.
Software: Sony Aperios real-time OS and OPEN-R software platform.
Power: Lithium batteries