Top 10 Robots of the Past 10 Years Robots of

the Decade Awards

As we say goodbye to the 200xs and welcome the 201xs its good to pause a bit and think about the
world as it was ten years ago. There was no Wikipedia, no YouTube, internet access was still dialup for
a huge portion of the population, and we didnt have a whole heap of really cool robots. To highlight
some of the great inventions of the past ten years, weve selected 10 of the best robots fom the past
10 years.
With any sort of list like this, things are pretty arbitrary, but we tried to pick robots that have made an
impact in our culture or have impacted the hobby or science of robots in a major way. Below youll
find 10 amazing robots from the military, toy industry, consumer industry, and science community that
have had a lasting impact on robotics.
Take a look and tell us what you think. If you had to nominate 10 robots of the decade, who would they
be? Keep reading for our picks for robots of the decade.

KeepOn (2007 present)

KeepOn took the online world by storm in March of 2007 when Marek Michalowski, a graduate student
at Carnegie Mellon University, uploaded a film of KeepOn dancing to Spoons, I Turn My Camera On.
The catchy beat plus KeepOns utter adorableness prompted over 2 million people to watch the video.
KeepOn then went on to star in aWIRED sponsored music video featuring Spoons, Dont You Evah.
This video garnered another million plus views. KeepOn is hard to describe, other than incredibly
cute, and its still stunning how lifelike and emotive two squishy stacked balls with googly-eyes can
be.

Developed by Hideki Kozima, a researcher in cognitive science at Miyagi University in Japan, KeepOn
was designed to be an interactive toy to study, social development and interpersonal coordination as
well as in therapeutic practice for children with developmental disorders such as autism. He features
two cameras behind his eyes that allow a researcher or doctor to observe a patient interact with the
robot, without being directly involved. KeepOns disarming charm and personality allow a broad range
of interaction that might be impossible between a normal adult and a child with autism.

KeepOn makes the Top Robots of the past 10 Years list simply because of his amazing ability to
charm his way into mainstream culture.

PackBot (2001 present)

iRobots PackBot saw its first real action in the aftermath of the September 11th attacks, as it
searched through the rubble of the World Trade Center towers in New York City. The US Military also
used them shortly thereafter in Afghanistan to search caves and buildings for insurgents, and to
investigate anti-personnel mines. The military quickly realized the usefulness of such a tool and
the number of PackBots in use has grown to over 2,000(iRobots site says 2,500 currently in use).
Due to the huge number of road-side bomb attacks in Iraq, iRobot developed an Explosive Ordinance
Disposal (EOD) package for the PackBot and quickly became a strong competitor in the EOD arena,
competing against the much larger and older TALON robots by Foster-Miller. EOD soldiers tended to
prefer the PackBot to the TALON due to its more intuitive and responsive controls.

The PackBots distinctive design, fast speed, and ruggedness have made it a favorite of robot builders
and military personnel alike. Its unique flippers allow it to climb obstacles, right itself, and increase its
height to peer over small walls. It can also be carried in a backpack and can be submerged in water.
The PackBot has starred in a music video, beenrecreated with LEGO bricks, and featured in dramatic
intellectual property lawsuit.
iRobots PackBot makes the list of important robots from the past decade because of its extensive use
in the Iraq war, the number of lives it has saved, and the intense bond that soliders form with it while
performing operations.

Pleo (2007 present)

At the DEMO event in 2006 an amazing robot named Pleo was unveiled by Caleb Chung, the creator of
the Furby (actually, maybe Furby should be on this list too!). Chung promised a successor to the
unbelievably popular Furby, which sold 27 million units in one 12 month period. Pleo was supposed to
supersede Furbys ability to learn and interact with its users while adding the ability to move around by
walking.
Pleo was originally announced to cost $200 and be released around Christmas 2006. Both numbers
quickly slipped and Pleo was finally released in December of 2007 for a cost of over $300! Amidst all
the hype around Pleo, sales were sluggish and Pleo mainly appealed to the techno-savvy crowd.
Promises of a Pleo software development kit were delayed, and while Pleo owners were
overwhelmingly positive about Pleo, Ugobe (Pleos parent company) was never able to convince the
average consumer they needed one. In fact,Ugobe really didnt know how to market Pleo at all. By late
2008 the global economy effectively shut down the company and the IP was auctioned off in April of
2009. Amazingly enough, though, the IP to Pleo was purchased by Jetta Company Limited who
announced that they would continue to sell and develop Pleo.

Pleos amazing firebird-like story and his continued popularity with owners, children, the elderly, and
robot builders put him on this list of top robots from the past 10 years. No one has successfuly
produced a consumer product that is so sophisticated, intricate and accessible to the average person.
Pleos future looks bright as long as Jetta can nail down a target market and successfully advertise
Pleo. Educational and hobbiest development looks promising too.

BigDog (2005 present)

Boston Dynamics calls BigDog, the most advanced rough-terrain robot on earth. If you asked someone
on the street about BigDog, theyd probably say, oh yeah! That really creepy looking walking robots.
Thats awesome! While Boston Dynamics claim may certainly be true, the incredible reaction from the
general public is the main reason youre seeing this robot on this list.
Released in 2005, BigDog was designed using funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects
Agency, or DARPA, and was created to serve as a pack mule for a solider in the battle field. The
robot is about the size of a large dog and can carry a load of up to 340 pounds (150 kg) at 4 miles/hr
while climbing over rough terrain and steep inclines. The success of the robot, and most of the creepy
charm, comes from its ability mimic the walking motion of real animals. Its design absorbs shock, and
recycles energy from one step to the next. It also has an onboard LIDAR and stereo vision system for
navigation.
Video of an updated version of BigDog was released in 2008 and has been watched by nearly 10 million
people. BigDogs ability to recover from a kick, and walking on icy surfaces is simply amazing.

BigDog makes this list of robots of the decade because its amazing engineering impresses not only robot
lovers, but the general public as well. It even inspired a very funny prody video, with nearly 3 million
views.

RoboSapien (2003 present)

RoboSapien was a unique robotic toy released in 2003. Produced by an obscure Hong Kong based toy
manufacturer named WowWee, the $100 walking, talking, robot was a smash hit. For those in the BEAM
Robotics community, perhaps the release wasnt such a surprise, as Mark Tilden, the father of the
BEAM field, had quit his job at Los Alamos National Laboratory and moved to Hong Kong to work on
robot toys. The RoboSapien quickly won a whole slew of awards and sold close to 2 million units.
WowWee released a RoboSapien V2 toy in 2005, and many more toys in the Robo lineup.
One of the most unique features of the RoboSapien, and a large portion in its continued popularity, is
the intentional hackability built into the toy. Tilden designed the toy so that it could be easy
modified, and was easy to understand once taken apart. Built on Tildens BEAM principles, the
RoboSapien was amazingly versatile with just a few motors and sensors.

RoboSapien makes the list of important robots over the past ten years because of its numerous awards,
large sales volume and immediate recognition by the average member of the public. WowWee proved
that advanced and innovative robots could also be cool and a viable consumer product.

ASIMO and Honda P-Series (2000 present)

Asimo is the 11th in a line of walking robots developed by Honda, called the P-Series. Unveiled in 2000,
Asimo could walk and run like a human, which was an amazing feat. ASIMO had a significant upgrade in
2005, that allowed him to run twice as fast (6 km/hr or 4.3mph), interact with humans, and perform
basic tasks like holding a platter and serving food. The current ASIMO models number about 100
worldwide, stand 4.2 feet tall, and weight about 120 lbs.

ASIMO, with his space-suit looking appearance, is cheerful and endearing. He has paved the way for
many subsequent walking, human-like robots, but still holds his own as an advanced and powerful
robot. ASIMO is a great boon to Hondas global branding, and helps the companys appearance of
innovation and technology. ASIMO has also appeared in commercials for Honda, like this one, has his
own website, and makes many celebrity appearances. A YouTube video showing ASIMOs 2005 upgrade
has had over 2.5 millions views.
ASIMO makes this list because of his winsome appearance, world-wide recognition, and advanced
technology.

Aibo (1999 2006)

2006 was the year that robot dogs died, when Sony shut down its popular and sophisticated robotics
divsion. Started in 1999, Sony produced the very popular Aibo robot dog, which quickly became a
favorite robot of dog lovers and high-rolling robot builders alike. Sony developed the robots through
three generations and garnered a large following of devoted developers.

Aibo was also the star of the RoboCups robot dog soccer category, where teams of Aibos would
compete in a soccer match. With the demise of the Aibo, RoboCup searched for a replacement
and selected Aldebaran Robotics Nao platform. Estimated sales for Aibo were somewhere around
150,000 units.
Aibo makes the list of robots of the decade because of its continued popularity, numerous uses in
research, and tearful story of corporate robo-execution.

Predator Drone (1996 present)

The Predator drone has been in existence since 1996, but has risen to prominence thanks to the events
of September 11, 2001 and consequent wars. Prior to 2001 the unmanned vehicle was strictly for
reconnaissance, when it was retrofitted to be armed with hellfire missiles. The Predator Drone has
since then been used in countless operations, like this one, and has logged nearly one million hours of
flight time. The number of drones used by the Department of Defense has grown from 300 in 2002 to
7,000 in 2009.
The drone, which was developed by the secretive General Atomics company, has flown combat
missions in several foreign countries, and is extensively used by the US military in the war in
Afghanistan. The Predators low airspeed makes it nearly invisible to ground troops, and advanced
cameras and optics allow the ground-based operator to obtain high-resolution images of the ground
below.

Most of the Predators are controlled via ground-based troops stationed in Southern California, and the
drones are controlled via military satellite links. The video downlink feeds can be access by troops in
the field, or by insurgents themselves, as the video feeds arent encrypted.
The Predators make this list because they have been instrumental in saving hundreds of soldiers lives
over the course of the past 10 years. It can only be left to the imagination how difficult the operations
in Iraq and Afghanistan would have been without powerful air-based surveillance by these robots.

LEGO Mindstorms (1998 present)

If you were a robot builder or a LEGO fan in 1998, the biggest news of the year was the release of
LEGOs LEGO Mindstorms RIS product. It was revolutionary for a strictly toy company to unveil an
advanced robotics platform that appealed to hobbyists, educators, and children alike. The first set, the
RIS 1.0 sold well and LEGO released a RIS 2.0 kit shortly thereafter. The RIS set was wildly successful
(LEGOs best selling product) and spawned a huge variety of projects, books, and various compilers.
The RIS also had its own competition, the FIRST Lego League competition.
For eight years the set remained substantially the same, while the rest of the world made huge
progress in computing power and robotics technology. Then, in early 2006, LEGO announced the
creation of a brand new and completely re-imaged Mindstorms kit called LEGO Mindstorms NXT. The
new kit featured a powerful processor, bluetooth connectivity, a LABView-based programming
environment, and several new sensors. The motors in the kit were also significantly upgraded to allow
for speed control or position control a major difficulty in designing robots for the RIS. The kit was
released to the public in July of 2006 and was praised as a great addition to the Mindstorms lineup.
Amazingly enough, LEGO had designed the new set in a mere eleven months, with the close help from a
team of its biggest Mindstorms fans. Mindstorms NXT 2.0 was released in the summer of 2009 and
continues to sell well.

LEGO Mindstorms NXT (and RIS) make this list because it has introduced millions of children to the
world of robotics. While RIS was relased over 12 years ago, the NXT release in 2006 once again kicked
off a flurry of books and innovative creations that excite and inspire. I firmly believe that the world
will be a better place 20 or 30 years from now because so many were inspired by the Mindstorms kits
and went on to do great things.

Roomba (2002 present)

Its awful hard to remember back to 2001 when the dream of floor cleaning robots was still just that a
dream of housewives and robo-fanboys everywhere. iRobot took the household cleaning market by
storm when it released its first commercial floor cleaning robot, called the Roomba, in 2002. By 2004

the Roomba had sold 1 million units, when a second generation model was released, the Roomba
Discovery series. iRobot has since gone on to release a 3rd generation model in 2007, and a floor
scrubbing robot, Scooba. To date 2.5 million Roombas have been sold.