Kiwibots coming to UBC Vancouver campus as a part of innovation partnership with Rogers Communications

Three robotic ambassadors have realized sufficient about UBC Vancouver’s bookstore and campus to assist human college students prepare for the brand new college time period.

Starting Sept. 2, the trio of Kiwibot robots dubbed Grey, Kelly and Robson (named after UBC’s core campus areas) are placing their data on show and to the take a look at on the UBC Bookstore. Made by Kiwibot, the robotics firm based mostly in San Francisco, Calif., the AI-powered robots are roughly the dimensions of a minifridge (and manner cooler within the figurative sense) and harking back to iconic Pixar character Wall-E, however with wheels as a substitute of treads.

With display screen “faces” that includes eyes, they’re like prodigy plug-in puppies.

If you wish to ask one a query, you possibly can merely push a button on the robotic’s lid and communicate to it.  Kiwibots are already getting used extensively worldwide, together with in Canada, for meals supply functions.

The robots navigate utilizing sensors that detect motion and obstacles, whereas cameras seize and analyze human interactions. The robots don’t “see” within the conventional sense and the photographs don’t comprise any recognizable human options, nor are they recorded.

Now, in a first-of-its-kind expertise pilot mission on a Canadian college campus, Grey, Kelly and Robson are deployed for 4 weeks on the UBC Bookstore. Kelly is answering scholar questions, whereas Grey and Robson are handing out treats serving to to make college students really feel welcome. Their skills and duties will evolve as they be taught extra over time.

“They’re fascinating machines, but there’s more to them than their looks. This is part of a broader innovation partnership between Rogers and UBC. Powered by the Rogers 5G testbed, the goal is to study how students interact with the robots, and build a dataset on human-robot interaction, emotion recognition and real-time AI learning for possible future and industry collaborations,” defined Raymond Chau, program supervisor of the Rogers UBC Collaborative Research and Innovation Partnership.

“In a way the robots are also students because in the weeks leading up to the deployment, they needed to be ‘educated’ about UBC so they can perform their function,” added Chau.

The Kiwibots use 5G and AI applied sciences resembling giant language fashions with retrieval-augmented technology to be taught and reply questions, and to navigate the structure of the UBC Bookstore. It took about two weeks to get Grey, Kelly and Robson up to the mark.

UBC’s analysis neighborhood can be engaged to discover potential analysis alternatives related to the pilot.

“Having an opportunity to be involved in this kind of project is exciting and demonstrates just how unique a living lab environment the campus can be,” mentioned Andrew Parr, affiliate vice-president, scholar housing and neighborhood providers. “The bookstore is a perfect laboratory to do the work in.”

“Importantly, we also recognize that a campus can be an intimidating place for new and returning students. It’s big and can be confusing. We work hard to make sure we provide a welcoming environment. Grey, Kelly and Robson add to those efforts in a unique way that we’re excited for everyone in our campus community to be part of.”

Students, school and workers are inspired to come back and meet the Kiwibots on the UBC Bookstore by means of September.