Roilo

Beatbots LLC / Case Study / Lead Industrial Designer / 2013

ABOUT

During his time at Carnegie Mellon, Dr. Marek Michalowski dreamed up a robot that would use an antenna as its primary means of communication, similar to dogs emoting with their tails. This idea was eventually reintroduced at Beatbots, where it was prototyped by Katz and Dr. Michalowksi.

Roilo leverages Keepon Pro’s existing mechatronics for roll, tilt and “pon” (up-down motion). The 2-DOF antenna can articulate forward, backward and side-to-side. Its mechanism is driven by two small servo motors, which pull cables along a flexible central shaft. The cable runs through inflection points which give the antenna naturalistic movement.

The name “Roilo” is derived from Dr. Michalowski’s earlier character concept, which was shaped as stacked Reuleaux tetrahedrons.

Greg helped re-conceptualize and build Roilo. His contributions included character design, fabrication of the molded silicone body, as well as design of the 2-DOF antenna and retrofitted structures.