Building where Survivor Buddy 2.0 was featured at in the Spark! Lab

During April 4-16, 2011 Survivor Buddy 2.0 was featured at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in the Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation’s Spark!Lab. The event began with a press conference and demonstration of Survivor Buddy by team members Aaron Rice & Vasant Srinivasan. Survivor Buddy remained on display throughout the remainder of the week and for the duration of National Robotics Week (April 9-16). A final demonstration of Survivor Buddy was conducted by team members Zachary Henkel, Jessica Gonzales and Professor Cliff Nass.

Survivor Buddy 2.0 joined DARPA’s ARM robot for two weeks of interactive exhibiting at the Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation in the National Museum of American History during National Robotics Awareness Week. The exhibit in the Spark!Lab attracted 1000-1200 people per day.

Survivor Buddy was setup on counter at about 4 ft level and used its autonomous gaze generation software. The software caused SB to scan the crowd when not interacting. When someone came over to engage the robots, the operator would initiate conversation by asking the person’s name. The software would generate the appropriate conversational head gestures as the operator typed in responses that let the robot speak in a distinctive robot-y voice.

Throughout the time spent at the Smithsonian, Survivor Buddy proved to be well-favored by children and adults alike and is a much anticipated use in the field of search and rescue robot in the future! Overall it provided the team an honorary opportunity to introduce Survivor Buddy to many and assisted in educating and informing the public of new and novel robotic technology.

Survivor Buddy 2.0 being demonstrated by Aaron Rice to a family during the first demonstration

Survivor Buddy 2.0 interacting with a group of youth at the Spark! Lab during the first demonstration

Zachary Henkel, Dr. C. Nass and Jessica Gonzales during the second demonstration of Survivor Buddy 2.0