XYZbot's Fritz.

• Author: Peterson, Eric
• Position: COLORADO COOL STUFF

Electrical engineer Kerwin Lumpkins and Steven Gentner of machine-vision software provider RoboRealm decided to go into consumer robotics last year after observing a disconnect between robots in movies and the real world.

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"When kids see a real robot, "It doesn't look like C3-PO--there's a letdown," says Lumpkins. "Fritz is meant to be something kids and adults can easily relate to." To this end, Fritz is a puppet controlled robot with a user-friendly software interface, moving his eyes and mouth with a click of a mouse. The duo raised more than $40,000 to launch XYZbot...