Hi, guys! Philip English from RoboPhil.com and today we have an interview with the guys from Mira Robotics, who are telling us about Ugo.

Philip English – All right guys, it’s Philip English, IRX 2019. We’re at another stand and we’ve got a gentleman here who’s gonna introduce himself and tell us a little bit more about his robot called Ugo. Is that right, Ugo?

Kim – Ugo.

Philip English – Ugo, okay. Okay, and so what’s your name, sir?

Kim – I am Kim.

Philip English – Kim.

Kim – CEO of Mira Robotics.

Philip English – So, the CEO?

Kim – Yes.

Philip English – Wow, okay, and Ugo is the first product from the company?

Kim – Yes, exactly.

Philip English – All right, perfect. And then, so, what, well I can see we have two different robots here. So we have one that folds up laundry and that’s more of a manual robot, is that right?

Kim – Yes, but basically, same robot, same avatar robot. Avatar robot is a tele-operating robot. So you can control by this kind of VR controller.

Philip English – Okay.

Kim – And you can control arm and also you can move the robot and also you can change the height.

Philip English – Ah, right, okay.

Kim – Body.

Philip English – And then, and is it a 3-D printed robot, is that right?

Kim – Yes, actually, we pro-typing, doing pro-typing, so, not in mass production.

Philip English – Right, okay, so in mass production you use more of a harder material.

Kim – Yes, yes.

Philip English – But for prototypes. Okay, okay. So this one, so this one is obviously for folding and this one’s for security.

Kim – Yes.

Philip English – And is the whole, is the idea to create a veritable amount of robots that basically do a different amount of tasks, is that right?

Kim – Yes, exactly.

Philip English – Oh, okay. So what did you see, so like what’s the sort of problems that the robots fix? Is it because there’s not enough labor?

Kim – Yes, yes.

Philip English – So this is for security?

Kim – As you know, Japanese population is very decreased. And also, for, especially in service market, like middle men and us, like a security person and also clean staff, is very limited resource. So we provide such a partner robot for working with human.

Philip English – Yeah.

Kim – So we want to serve such a human resource issues.

Philip English – I see, so, so, the main problem is, is that, obviously there’s a lack of a work force, so the idea is to create, add these robots that can do a whole mixture of different tasks and then they, one could be security, what one could be fold cleaning. But then it’s just more and more and more tasks.

Kim – Yes, exactly.

Philip English – Right, I see. So that’s the solution of the actual robots. And are they autonomous or is it just manual right at the moment?

Kim – Actually, we use hybrid motor. Like autonomous and also there are remote control.

Philip English – Okay, yeah, so like the teleportation thing.

Kim – Yes, exactly.

Philip English – You, yeah, okay, okay. And then for the, I guess the idea is that to become more and more autonomous as?

Kim – Yes, exactly.

Philip English – As the product goes.

Kim – So robot can learn from every day they doing task.

Philip English – Okay, okay. And then, I quite like the height thing. So that’s very smart, so it can pick up something from the floor and it can go up to quite high, yeah.

Kim – Yes, exactly.

Philip English – I really, really like that. So, so, so, how far are you away from like a mass-produced product?

Kim – So we plan to sell this robot next year.

Philip English – Next year, yeah?

Kim – So yeah, during this year we will produce in mass production.

Philip English -Right, right, so 2020. Okay, and then, so, if, do you think in five year’s time that you’ll start selling or see your stuff, you start next year, but in five years, you’ll have more applications, more things.

Kim – Yes, exactly.

Philip English – What about the grippers, are you gonna stick with that gripper, are you gonna change those, or?

Kim – Yes, actually, this hand, robot can exchange by themselves.

Philip English – Oh, right, okay, yeah.

Kim – So maybe some hand is changed for such a task, specially tasks.

Philip English – Do you think that they’ll be able to, you know, if you change the hand, then do you think they’ll be able to cook food as well? Like one day?

Kim – Maybe, it’s possible, I think.

Philip English – Okay, okay. That’s a great, and obviously, it’s mobile as well, so it can move around.

Kim – Yes.

Philip English – Is the idea to have like an autonomous mobile thing as well?

Kim – Yes, autonomous.

Philip English – Right, okay.

Kim – Using slam.

Philip English – Slam technology, yeah, okay. And you guys are based in Tokyo?

Kim – Based in Kanagawa, Kawasaki.

Philip English – Oh it’s just from there, right, it’s.

Kim – Yes, next to Tokyo.

Philip English – Next to Tokyo. Right, it’s a great, yeah, I think it’s a great product.

Kim – Thank you.

Philip English – It’s got a lot of potential. I especially know what you know in all the different fields.

Kim – Thank you so much.

Philip English – Right, so thanks guys. Yeah, so that’s obviously a very good overview of the Ugo robot. So, like, thank you very much for your time.

Kim – Thank you so much.

Philip English – Thank you!

Mira Robotics: https://mirarobotics.io

Mira Robotics YouTube: https://youtu.be/nFMdg0V9EAU

Philip English: https://philipenglish.com

Sponsor – Robot Center: https://www.robotcenter.co.uk