NAO6: the Aldebaran’s robot equipped with NAOqi 2.8

Thanks to the progress made on Pepper, NAO6 is more powerful than the last version. This version of NAO has different areas of improvement, like the power, the vision, the audio, the movement, the resistance et the security. The humanoid robot’s new motherboard paired up with the new version of NAOqi 2.8 give it better performance (initialization time, update time, Ethernet, and WiFi).

NAO6: improved functionalities

Various hardware and software improvements have been made on the NAO robot to make it more powerful.

System features:

• The boot loader UEFI and kernel linux 4,4 64 bits allow a boot more secure, faster and more safe. However, developers who use external libraries in C++ or Linux will have to recompile them in 64 bits.
• A new software architecture has been set up for more safety for the robot.
• Yocto, the new build system allows to separate the embedded OS Linux and the applications building. There is no change for developers in Python but users of external libraries will have to recompile their applications.
• The transition from open CV2 to open CV3 improves the vision performances and picture quality.
• LoLA (Low Level Abstraction) is embedded on the robot and replaces DCM. All DCM dependent applications won’t work anymore but with LoLA, the software is modular and can be removed by developers.

Since de 2.1 version, the Choregraphe software evolved a lot in terms of functionalities and ergonomy:

New panels were added:

• Project objects panel shows the complete boxes tree of the current behavior and navigation between boxes is easier.
• Active content panel lists running behaviors, services and dialog topics that you can stop and restart. Active panel keeps a brief history of the last active contents.
• Inspector panel gives a quicker access to all object’s properties with a 3D preview in case of an animation box.

Panels were improved:

• Box library has been completely reorganized to be more efficient.
• Robot applications now better displays Behaviors, Dialogs and Services.
• Languages: Dialog supports now the 22 languages: Arabic, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Mandarin Taiwan, Norwegian, Polish, Brazilian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish.
• Choice box: simpler, this box is easier to use due to an important optimization.

New tools were added:

• Memory back up is a tool to save robots data. As the factory reset used to remove all APIs, memory back up allows now to restore them.
• Localized text: a new workflow to translate applications that is easier and faster. The method is simplified with a new property in the “SAY” box and a tool provided with the framework that will gather all sentences you need to translate in a ts. File.
• Auto save and recovery allows to recover your modifications in case of crash thanks to a temporary file that where modifications are written automatically.

Autonomy features:

• NAO6 will benefit from Pepper autonomous features like the diagnosis effects, the sleep mode and other autonomous abilities that make it look alive.
• The feature “qicli info” is activated and interesting for people who want to test things very quickly on the head of the robot without having to code an application or a script.

New elements also improve the audio and vision of the NAO robot:

• NAO6 takes advantage of all the Dialog and QiChat enhancements including semantic engine (knowledgeAPI + sentence structure) that allows the robot to give clearer and more coherent answers. Interaction with the robot are much improved.
• New cameras improve tracking and people detection performances. The dual stream of the top and bottom cameras is supported.

Content of the programmable humanoid NAO6:

• 1 programmable humanoid NAO6
• 1 Software Suite Licenses (including Choregraphe, Monitor and SDK)
• 2 years warranty

The programmable humanoid NAO6 robot is available in only one colour : dark grey.

Programmable humanoid NAO6 specifications:

• Dimensions: 574x 311x 275 mm (22.6 x 10.8 x 12.2 inches)
• Weight: 5.48 Kg (12,08 lb)
• Autonomy: 60 minutes in active use et 90 minutes in normal use
• Degrees of freedom: 25
• Processor: Intel Atom E3845
• Built-in OS: Linux (Gentoo)
• Compatible OS: Windows, Mac OS, Linux
• Programming languages:
• Embedded: C++, Python
• Remote: Java
• Vision: 2 OV5640 2592x1944 cameras
• Connectivity: Ethernet, Wi-Fi