Jumbo is a semi-autonomous humanoid which uses Microsoft’s Dynamic CRM (Customer Relationship Management) to connect to service and database and therefore is an excellent amalgamation of hardware and software to create business value. Jumbo talks to people, shakes hand and listens to their comments and feedbacks. ADFS (Active Directory Federation Services) authentication module plugged into his heart makes him recognize Microsoft employees and surprize them by his wit. Based on Windows-8 tablet as processor Jumbo is an exemplar platform to showcase power of windows-8.
Growing up is always a special phase of life and Jumbo is learning new skills too. Using Kinect as its primary sensor it would listen to voice commands, understand them and act accordingly. It recognizes hand gestures and uses skeleton tracking to follow the user. In a very short span of time Jumbo has become favourite of all the FTEs in Hyderabad.
The robot was completed designed and developed at home and without any access to mechnical or technical lab. Hence, we call it a ‘jugaad’ innovation. The Robot was unveiled at Microsoft All Hands Meeting.
Technologies/Platform Used: Software [Dynamics CRM, Windows Store app, SQL Server, Windows Communication Foundation, WCF, Kinect for Windows SDK], Hardware [ARM Cortex M3 microcontroller based custom development board, High Torque Servo Motors, Acceleometer based custom remote control, Kinect]
Vision: The technology world is envisioning a new era where devices and services are going to play a key role in defining how the world is going to see the coming years. Perhaps we are in the stage of cusp where we are transitioning from a self-owned/maintained software systems to cloud based partner/enterprise hosted services. Now with, Internet of Things, a similar migration is taking place on the devices front as well. This effort is to envision this era where algorithms/ machine learning, hardware attachments/add-ons would be used as a service with Robots. Imagine, that you can download the dishwasher app or house cleaning app from the robot market place and your Robot is ready to do the required task. In a nutshell, we envision a Robot eco-system where Robots would be sold with some basic functions in-built and then people can download the program from Robot marketplace for the tasks where they want the Robots to assist them. In addition to it, a user can also buy hardware add-ons for robots.
Collaborators: Amit Kumar, Aditya MSK, Rolly Seth, Jatin Sharma, Manasvi Sihag
Timeline: Sep’12-Jan’12