Innovation

NAO  the Robot: A Versatile Companion

At our company, we have been working with humanoid robots for a while, and Pepper has been our go-to for the past few years. However, we attended a workshop by Weegree One some time ago, and learned about NAO, a smaller humanoid robot created by Aldebaran Robotics. As we delved into using and programming NAO, we gained valuable insights into the robot's capabilities and possible applications. Read the article to find out more.

Diving into Retail with a Humanoid Robot: Our First Adventure

By removing all shoes from the shelves, eObuwie.pl has done the opposite to what most shoe stores do. They have taken the success of their online eCommerce to the next level by opening innovative brick-and-mortar stores where customers can shop by browsing on tablets and waiting 3 minutes for a delivery of shoes to try on from the warehouse. Their latest store opening took place in Gdańsk on the last weekend of June, and this time Snowdog team was there with Pepper robot to make a first step towards implementing a humanoid robot in retail.

Revitalizing Retail Commerce: Exploring the Impact of Kiosk Shopping and Interactive Robotics

Last year we worked with eobuwie.pl, one of the largest online shoe retailers in Poland and Central Europe to open a physical shoe store without any products on display. Utilizing Snowdog’s Magento Kiosk app, the store allows customers to browse on tablets through the entire catalogue, select shoes to try on and then collect them at a service point. It was a huge hit at the latest store opening in Gdańsk, where Pepper also featured as a guest store greeter and entertainer.

Unveiling the Mechanism: How Robots Recognize Faces and Pepper's Journey to Remember and Greet Familiar Visages

Today’s world is focused on face detection more than ever before. Just take a look at latest release of smartphones; most of them now allow you to unlock your phone with face, or at least capture the picture of someone potentially stealing your phone. Looking to social media, Facebook offers to automatically tag you and your friends, or find images in which you are included but not yet tagged. Snapchat is providing us with the ever popular face filters to make us look like a pirate or puppy. In Google Photos, we are able to group photos by similar faces to easily find all photos of our best friends. Finally, face detection technology has been involved in some controversial topics such as DeepFakes or FindFace.

Teaching a robot new languages - How to do it?

We love working with cool technologies, and the Snowdog robotics department is no different. Our work with Pepper has taken us to many different events thanks to the great collaborations and interest in using robotics as a commercial and organizational resource. On our last event on June 12–17, we traveled with Pepper on tour to Hessentag, the largest state festival in Germany held in Bad Hersfeld. Hessentag is a cultural fair and festival, bringing people from all over Germany to learn about Hessian culture, traditions, and contemporary lifestyle and issues. We attended on behalf of Wielkopolska, who is a partner of the region of Hesse. This was the first event where Pepper had the opportunity to go abroad, learn a new language and tell visitors about his hometown. It was a special experience and we learned a lot from it.