Circuit Board Development for Communication Robot Projects

What led to the introduction of the service?

The client was looking into the development of a communication robot (dialogue robot) that could interact with elderly dementia patients. They thought they would use a form of stuffed toy as the casing and integrate functions such as dialogue, facial expression recognition, and reactive expressions into it. In addition, the robot needed the ability to communicate with the server, since the device was for a demonstration test. The client searched for a company to who they could outsource the entire process from design to assembly, spanning three areas: the hardware, including the creation and assembly of the casing; the electronics, including circuit design and system configuration studies; and the controls, including control software development and UI app development.

What is a dialogue robot?
Equipment for demonstration experiments to promote the improvement of the conversational ability of elderly people (dementia patients) using robots.
・Stuffed doll casing
・Dialogue, facial expression recognition, and response expression
・Communication with the server

Issues before introduction

The client did not have enough in-house development staff who could take on the entire task of developing robots. They also lacked knowledge in development and thus reached out to us as we have a proven performance history in robot control development.

Examples of use after introduction

We successfully developed a communication robot that met the client’s required specifications and they were able to conduct a demonstration test with elderly dementia patients.

Effectiveness and achieved results

Due to the fact that the client was able to outsource a wide range of processes, from board design (power supply boards and control boards) to system configuration and even harness production, we successfully resolved the client’s issue of insufficient development resources. In addition, the client was highly appreciative of the fact that after assembling the casing, we conducted operational checks, and as a result of verification and review, we were able to smoothly resolve issues such as heat generation problems.