Aldebaran Robotics has now released the latest generation of its programmable humanoid robots, intended for research, teaching and exploring the new area of service robotics.
Stemming from six years of research and dialogue with its community of researchers and users, NAO Next Gen is capable of a higher level of interaction, thanks to increased computing power, improved stability and higher accuracy.
One of the NAO Next Gen's features is that it is fitted with a new on-board computer, based on the 1.6GHz Intel® AtomTM processor, which is suitable for multi-tasking calculations. It also has two HD cameras that are attached to a field-programmable gate array (FPGA). This set-up allows the simultaneous reception of two video streams, increasing speed and performance in face-and-object recognition, even under poor-lighting conditions.
NAO Next Gen also features a faster and more reliable vocal-recognition programme called Nuance. This programme is coupled with a new functionality known as "word spotting," which is capable of isolating and recognizing a specific word within a sentence or a conversation.
