Keepon

A robot that looks like two yellow balls squished together, with googly eyes and a button nose, on a black stand. — Keepon wants to dance for you. Photo: BeatBots/Wow! Stuff

Keepon is a social robot that interacts with people and dances when music is playing. It's used to engage with children in autism research. A toy version, My Keepon, is designed for general audiences.

Creator

BeatBots

Year

2003

Country

United States 🇺🇸

Categories

Features

A robot that looks like two yellow balls squished together, with googly eyes and a button nose, bops around on a black stand. — See Keepon move. Photos: Randi Klett

Did you know?

Some of the proceeds from My Keepon sales will go towards furthering autism research.

A robot that looks like two yellow balls squished together, with googly eyes and a button nose. — Keepon may not look like it, but he's got some real moves! Photo: BeatBots/Wow! Stuff

Keepon dancing to Spoon's "Don't You Evah." Video: Beatbots/Wired

History

Keepon was created by robotics researchers Hideki Kozima and Marek Michalowski, who founded BeatBots in 2007. One of the goals was to develop a robot for autism research: The robot would be teleoperated in a playroom by therapists at a remote computer, letting them engage with children in the guise of a simpler body. Keepon (the research model is known as Keepon Pro) has gone through four mechanical design revisions over the years. In 2011, BeatBots and toy maker Wow! Stuff made Keepon available to the mass market as My Keepon, a toy version that responds to touch and dances to music.

Specs

Overview: Keepon Pro: Equipped with camera, touch sensors, and autonomous and teleoperation modes. My Keepon: Touch sensors and autonomous mode.
Status: Inactive
Year: 2003
Website: beatbots.net
Width: 11.5 cm
Height: 27.5 cm (including base)
Weight: 1.5 kg (Keepon Pro); 1 kg | 2.2 lb (My Keepon)
Sensors: Keepon Pro: Cameras (in the eyes) and microphone (nose). My Keepon: Array of touch sensors (body) and microphone (nose).
Actuators: Keepon Pro: Four DC motors with gearing and encoders. My Keepon: Three toy-grade DC motors
Degrees of Freedom (DoF): 4 (pan, tilt, lean, and bounce); In My Keepon, the last two are coupled on a single motor.
Materials: Keepon Pro: Custom-machined aluminum and silicone rubber skin. My Keepon: Injection-molded plastic and elastomer skin.
Compute: Keepon Pro: On-board microcontrollers for low-level motor control and an external computer for high-level behavioral control. My Keepon: On-board microcontrollers.
Software: Keepon Pro: Custom software, written in C and Max. My Keepon: custom audio processing and behavioral state machine.
Power: Keepon Pro: 12-V DC power. My Keepon: 8 AA batteries.
Cost: $30,000 Keepon Pro; $40 My Keepon (launch price; current price may vary)