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Olivia

Olivia

Olivia from A*STAR is a humanoid social robot receptionist with advanced speech recognition, facial tracking, 26 DOF arms, and natural interaction capabilities for office and research use.
Discontinued
Singapore
Humanoid
2009
Specifications
Dev Doc
Website
Made by
Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) – Social Robotics Lab (ASORO)
Software Type
Closed Source
Software Package
Runs Windows XP and Linux with integrated speech recognition, synthesis, vision processing, and robotic control software. Supports development of attention-directed dialogue and human-robot interaction algorithms.
Actuators
Uses harmonic drive servo actuators providing smooth and precise movement across 26 degrees of freedom in neck, arms, wrists, and hands.
Compiute
Powered by an Intel Core i7 2.8 GHz processor and a 1.2 GHz Atom processor for handling perception, speech, and control tasks.
Sensors
Equipped with Point Grey Bumblebee stereo camera, DVN1501 mono camera, eight microphones for sound localization, four microphones for speech detection, Hokuyo laser range finder, and sonar sensors.
Max Op. time
mins

Robot Brief

Olivia is a pioneering humanoid social robot developed by A*STAR’s Social Robotics Programme (ASoRo) in Singapore, launched in 2009 as an experimental platform for advancing social robotics technologies. Designed primarily as an office receptionist, Olivia can greet visitors, provide information, and engage in natural human-robot interaction. It features advanced perception capabilities including facial feature detection and tracking, lip motion recognition, and 3D sound localization using an array of microphones. Olivia integrates speech recognition with a vocabulary of 50,000 common English words and speech synthesis capable of producing various voice tones. Its expressive capabilities include displaying emotions such as happiness and sadness, supported by light rings indicating the robot’s status or mood. The robot’s hardware includes a mobile base for navigation, articulated arms and hands with 26 degrees of freedom for natural gestures, and multiple sensors for environment awareness. Olivia serves as a research platform for testing dialogue systems, human-robot interaction, and attention-directed communication, contributing to advancements in robotic perception, cognition, and social behavior.

Use Cases

Olivia autonomously navigates office environments to welcome and assist visitors, providing directions, answering common questions, and facilitating communication with human staff. It detects and tracks human faces and lips to engage in natural dialogue, recognizes speech, and responds with synthesized voice. Olivia can perform gestures with its articulated arms and hands to enhance communication and express emotions. It also supports tasks like taking visitor information, controlling electronic appliances via voice commands, and providing interactive guidance.

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Industries

  • Research & Development: Experimental platform for social robotics and human-robot interaction studies.
  • Corporate & Office Environments: Receptionist and visitor assistance.
  • Education: Demonstrates social robotics technologies and interaction models.
  • Healthcare (suggested): Potential for patient greeting and information delivery.
  • Public Spaces: Interactive kiosks and guides.

Specifications

Length
850
mm
Width
650
mm
Height (ResT)
1600
mm
Height (Stand)
1600
mm
Height (Min)
1600
mm
Height (Max)
1600
mm
Weight (With Batt.)
kg
Weight (NO Batt.)
152
kg
Max Step Height
mm
Max Slope
+/-
°
Op. Temp (min)
°C
Op. Temp (Max)
°C
Ingress Rating
No items found.

Intro

Olivia stands 160 cm tall, weighs 152 kg, and measures 85 cm in length and 65 cm in width. It features a mobile base equipped with a Hokuyo URG-04LX laser range finder and sonar sensors for obstacle detection and navigation. The robot’s head includes stereoscopic cameras with a 70-degree field of view and a mono camera for zooming on speakers’ faces. Olivia’s arms have 26 degrees of freedom distributed as follows: neck (2 DOF), shoulders (3 DOF each), elbows (1 DOF each), wrists (2 DOF each), and hands (6 DOF each), enabling natural human-like gestures. The exterior is made of ABS plastic, and the head appears to float over a ring of light that indicates status or mood. Olivia is powered by an Intel Core i7 and Atom processors and runs on Windows XP and Linux.

Connectivity

  • WiFi (not explicitly stated but inferred for communication)
  • Laser range finder (Hokuyo URG-04LX)
  • Multiple microphones (eight on head, four on chest)
  • RGB stereo and mono cameras
  • USB and Ethernet ports (inferred)

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Capabilities

Olivia can:

  • Detect and track human faces and lip movements for natural interaction
  • Localize sound sources in 3D using eight head-mounted microphones
  • Recognize speech with a vocabulary of 50,000 English words
  • Synthesize speech with customizable voice tones
  • Navigate autonomously using laser and sonar sensors
  • Perform expressive gestures with 26 DOF arms and hands
  • Display emotional states via light rings
  • Take visitor information and connect visitors to staff
  • Control electronic appliances via voice commands

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