Let's watch a video first:

This is a "robot" for teenagers in the field of hands-on teaching. It is called Alpha, and it was built by Shenzhen Venture Company Youbi. It is not so tall and can neither understand people's instructions nor speak like people, but it can do a lot of customized actions, such as dancing a dance with a pattern.

We are both familiar and unfamiliar with robots. We are familiar with robots because we have seen too many robots in movies and TV plays. The most impressive thing in the last two years is TARS in Star Trek; Strangeness is due to the fact that intelligent and obedient robots are a little far away from daily life.

In fact, it is very narrow , the real appearance party - humanoid robot.

Characteristics of Alpha Robot

Alpha has built-in ARM controller, and there are 16 steering gears (joints) that can be controlled from top to bottom of the body, which is the basis of its dancing like a human being - the main joints of the human body are covered.

When its eyes are powered on, they emit blue light, which reminds people of Altman. In addition, the body is equipped with LED lights at many places, making it more dynamic and cute when dancing.

Below the back of its head are some slots, including power interface, reset key, robot switch and USB interface. Programmers can save all the program actions and background music they have written through the MicroSD expansion card.

We didn't test the battery life and charging time of Alpha in detail. When we use it, we charge it 2 hours in advance and can dance for about half an hour.

How to choreograph?

In fact, Alpha Robot has more than 20 movements and songs built in, including the popular Jiangnan Style and Little Apple. However, as the saying goes, we should start our "programming" journey by ourselves.

Through the supporting PC software, Alpha can be choreographed on the computer to make it do various actions continuously. Software name Game Robot Editor can be found on the official website or the attached CD. To install, just click Next. After several minutes of waiting, the driver installation is completed.

Plug in the data cable, turn on the robot switch, wait a few seconds and hear a "ding" sound. The light is on and the connection is successful. Enter the 3D visual action editing background. The left side of the software interface is the function action bar and 16 controllable joint actuators, and the right side is the dynamic diagram of the robot. When we rotate the steering gear joint, the robot on the right will also change - visualization. When editing dance, all actions are intuitively reflected in the software interface, and some basic actions such as forward and backward are stored in advance.

What's more interesting is the "read back" function. We play an action with Alpha, and then click the "read back" button. The software will automatically save the action. After repeating the same operation, a personalized robot dance will be completed, which is very easy and does not require a programming foundation. In addition, 16 controllable joint actuators can calculate the deviation and fine adjustment action values through action frames.

Its programming software is not difficult and easy to use, but I'm afraid it is still difficult for primary school students.

How to control?

Alpha robot comes with a wireless handle. Turn on the robot switch and long press the UBT key on the handle for 5 seconds to complete the connection. There are also many operation keys on the handle. You can edit your favorite actions from keys 5 to 16 (except 13 and 17), while 1-4 are regular buttons, such as the reset of key 4.

Official operation demonstration video:

There is also a wireless module like a USB flash disk in the accessories that come with the machine. You can install the driver on the computer Use keyboard to control remote wireless control alpha. However, in our use, the stability of the wireless module was poor, so that we almost crashed the robot on impulse. p.s.  The version we got does not support voice operation yet, but the new version already supports voice operation.

Here is a performance of Alpha Taijiquan, which shows the delicacy of its movements:

summary

Alpha robot, which costs 5500 yuan, can complete a variety of delicate actions. Through the supporting PC software, people who have no programming foundation can also make an interesting dance movement. If there is any more musical element, the dance teacher can use it to demonstrate some basic dance movements, which is very reliable.