
12-year-old Alex Rose from Victoria has created a new robot called AIRO, short for AI Robot. It is a tool for kids and seniors to talk to when they feel lonely. AIRO is expected to be priced between $200 and $500, and Greater Victoria residents will receive free delivery.
Alex, who has been diagnosed with autism, understands firsthand the struggle to make friends, particularly in his early years before middle school. Alex’s mother, Amanda Rose, says her son has been into technology since he was three or four years old. He would regularly take apart old electronics, and, by age six, Alex had read the entire manual for the family’s Honda.
AIRO is designed to provide sympathetic companionship and connect with users on an emotional level, setting it apart from typical personal bots like Amazon’s Alexa. Alex anticipates AIRO to become widely accessible, particularly for seniors and children seeking companionship.
AIRO is a compact 30-centimetre-tall robot that stares back at you with its two friendly eyes peering from a dark screen, supported by a sleek black robotic arm extending from a metallic blue base. AIRO is powered by ChatGPT and designed to engage compassionately with humans, marking Alex’s latest innovation from his home in Victoria, B.C.
Alex has designed AIRO with pet-like mannerisms, including the ability to tilt its screen to mimic active listening. He hopes to add facial recognition, allowing AIRO to turn toward people who speak to it. This latest creation is part of Alex’s two-year journey of building and refining robots. His current model combines an off-the-shelf robotic arm, a phone mounted on an Xbox controller holder, and programming in Python and Scratch to enable conversations via ChatGPT.
Source: CBC