Fig.1 Conceptual idea of SNU Service Robot

The change in the society to be an information-oriented and aging society has increased the necessity of service robots during the past few years. It is predicted that in the near future one family will at least possess and use more than one service robot. For this reason, many universities, institutes and industries are showing interests in service robot technology and its market.

Not only engineering technology but also business mind and aesthetic appreciation will be converted into the development of this service robot. The conceptual idea of the SNU service robot is shown in Fig.1. Bio-technology, robot technology and information technology are required for the technology aspects. Also broad experience in marketing will be necessary for the aesthetic aspects. (refer to Fig. 1).

The SSR (SNU Smart Robot) will be a modularized robot. It consists of a common platform and several application parts. The common platform will have a PC based on a locomotive part and will be the core part which can be used regardless of users or environments. The application parts will be changeable according to the needs of the users, its purpose and environments. The modularized robot concept will enlarge the (global) market, application range and customer satisfaction.

Designing, manufacturing and various test procedures will be performed during the development of this project. An innovative service robot which has many high technologies fused into will be proposed from this project.
 

1. Previous work

The home service robot should be able to move around everywhere at home. It means that it should be able to travel indoor circumstances including stairs. Therefore, it is necessary to develop an optimized travel mechanism of the home service robot. There are many mechanisms to climb stairs. However, the home service robot needs an optimized travel mechanism to climb stairs faster and more efficiently. The optimized travel system for the home service robot platform is on researching.
 

2. Present work

A new team to research the SNU Service Robot is organized with various disciplines. The team is composed of social sciences (communication), arts (design), business school, liberal arts (philosophy) and engineering (computer science, mechanical engineering, convergence science and technology, technology management). This project is supported by the SNU Brain Fusion Program, which is set up a fund to invigorate the convergence of multi-disciplines, from the Seoul National University