Sony's Humanoid Robot QRIO to Visit Carnegie Mellon Jan. 28

Sony Electronics Inc. President and Chief Operating Officer Hideki "Dick" Komiyama will visit Carnegie Mellon at 10 a.m., Friday, Jan. 28, to introduce and demonstrate QRIO, the company's two-and-a-half-foot tall, autonomous, interactive humanoid robot, in the University Center's Rangos Hall.

QRIO, Sony's corporate ambassador, whose name is a play on the word curiosity, combines cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) and dynamics technologies. It can move on its own accord, gather information, recognize people's faces and voices and carry on conversations. It walks by moving its limbs in a smooth and natural way, and when it falls or is pushed over, it can get up on its own and continue its activities.

Introduced to the world in October 2003, QRIO has made a number of appearances in the United States, but this is the first time it will appear on an American college campus.

The event recognizes Sony's strong relationship with Carnegie Mellon AI and robotics researchers, in particular Computer Science Professor Manuela Veloso and her students, who have worked with Sony's famed AIBO four-legged entertainment robots since 1998, honing their soccer-playing skills to demonstrate teamwork and multi-agent learning.

Carnegie Mellon teams have participated in the International RoboCup Legged competition since its inception in 1998, winning two world championships in 1998, and 2002. They also were champions in the first two U.S. Opens in 2003 and 2004.

A second QRIO demonstration will take place in Rangos Hall at 12:30 p.m. Participants include Sony software developer John DeCuir, senior engineer Todd Kozuki, and sales and marketing manager Ken Orli. Kozuki earned his bachelor's (2000) and master's (2001) degrees from Carnegie Mellon's Electrical and Computer Engineering Department. At 3:30 p.m., DeCuir and Orii will give a robotics lecture for students and faculty in 3305 Newell Simon Hall.

For more information on QRIO see: http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/QRIO/.

Contact:
Anne Watzman
aw16@andrew.cmu.edu
(412)268-3830