Applications in Entertainment

Our robots are designed to suit interdisciplinary research by people who are not necessarily familiar with robotics (our users demonstrate the wide range of use of our products). This also opens up possibilities for other non-research domains (e.g. Internet, arts, advertising) to use our robots for other creative purposes.

Entertainment is a new growing domain for mobile robotics. This domain ranges from domestic toys to public installations or performances. K-Team has been very active in this domain and participated in several international collaborations.

Entertainment Applications and User Examples

Our robots have already been used in several entertainment projects, due to the show that a robot can perform:

• Display Animation
  Khepera has already been used to animate a display at the train station in Lausanne:

  

  KoreBot is used as the core controller for the flying robots in the SAILS (formerly Mascarillons) project. The project stands at the crossroad between art and science.

  

• Animation of Exhibitions
  Khepera acting with the correct behaviour and the good environment can bring the attention of the visitors. For instance look to the RoBoser project, where Khepera is installed in an environement that creates music based on the experiences and “emotions” of the robot as it explores its environment.

  K-Team and FABRICATORS received an honorary mention for interactive arts in Prix Ars Electronica 99 for the project Robots+Avatars, dreaming with Virtual Illusions.

• Moving Sculptures
  The “pot” is a good example of sculpture moving on the roof of a school. This creation has a Kameleon board as core.

     

• Humans vs. Robots
  Humans vs. Robots interaction developed by the HE-ARC engineering school in Switzerland: where an autonomous robot fights a remote controlled robot by a human with a gripper, catapult and blocks.

  

Advantages of K-Robots

Why are K-Team products unsurpassed for use in education?

• Our robots are simple to use. Built to be used by those who may not necessarily have extensive robotics expertise, our robots are simple to use, simple to program (see the long list of compatible software) and well documented.
• Our robots are high-performance and very small, requiring very little area for use. A normal table for a Khepera is the same as a tennis court for a robot 50 cm in diameter! Koala is one of the smallest full terrain robots available!
• Our robots are reliable and can be used by people with little experience in electronics and mechanics.

Each K-Team Product has its own Strengths

• The Khepera is the smallest of our robots and can be used on an ordinary desktop. Its compact size and equally compact price make it a fantastic educational tool.
• The Koala is larger, more powerful, and a better platform if students have to implement their own electronics on the robot, perform on-board video processing, or traverse rough terrain.
• The KoreBot board is a modular hardware controller which allows the creation of custom robots. The software, hardware and mechanical modularity leave all options open for virtually any student project.