In 2008, ETRI of South Korea released a penguin-like robot called POMI to follow in the footsteps of its previous releases of robotic animals. This time, the penguin-like robot was designed to assist in the performance of household tasks, making it a household robot.
POMI was developed under the supervision of Dr. Jo Young Jo, a robotics expert who worked on many other robots. During its development, this robotic animal served as a platform for facial recognition, speech recognition, detecting sound direction, and the operation of user-position tracking software.
To make POMI a friendly robot, it was designed to mimic a range of expressions through the moving parts in its head, such as eyes, eyelids, eyebrows, and lips, perfectly matching the colorful LEDs in its face. It has a touch screen on its chest, and can be used for educational and entertainment purposes.
To make POMI stand out from similar robots, it was designed to communicate happiness and sadness. This is possible through the use of two fragrances that it emits from a nozzle. Its arms are soft and pliable, and would be harmless if they accidentally hit a person.
Features:
Electric and Telecom Research Inst. (ETRI)
