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Robot Maker Launches Open Source App Templates for Devs
Misty Robotics, creator of the Misty platform robot, recently announced the availability of new Misty as Concierge application templates for its Misty II machine.
The open source, customizable software templates give developers a starting point for building their robot dev skills, the company said, by providing code they can use to program Misty II for specific-assignment or task environments, such as entertainment and sports venues, hotels, eldercare, retail, commercial real estate and museums.
The templates consist of the code that facilitates the "concierge skill" (think of an office greeter), an implementation guide, and a recorded workshop on how to use it. The company is providing the initial templates, but expects them to be supported and maintained by an open source community in which developers extend the utility of the apps developed with those templates and contribute their own code.
The Misty I programmable robot was introduced by the company's founder, Ian Bernstein, at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas in 2018. The Misty II went GA last October. Both machines were developed to "open the world of robots to all software developers, as well as educators and researchers comfortable with code by removing existing barriers in the market," the company said at the time.
The Misty II is a cute, slightly humanoid "personal" robot, weighing in at about six pounds and just over a foot tall. The company promotes the little machine as a platform for software development, originally to Python and JavaScript coders, and more recently to .NET developers with the release of its latest SDK.
"There are more than 23 million developers around the world, and they are the key to unlocking the future of robots, previously only available to the world of roboticists," Bernstein has said. "For the price of a computer, developers can bring their code to life and free it from the 2D world of a browser."
The new Misty as a Concierge application templates leverage the robot's ability to detect humans in her presence, greet them, and interact with them. "She" can provide information and responses to their questions by integrating with third-party APIs, such as FourSquare. Developers can extend the utility of the concierge robot skill with other capabilities, such as reservations, point of sale systems, call for assistance, and directions.
"Since the launch of Misty II, we have received interest for a variety of use cases and wanted to provide developers a fast and easy way to get started using Misty in a business environment," Bernstein said in a statement. "One of the most popular requests has been to use Misty as a concierge or office greeter, so we created the Misty as a Concierge application template to give developers a starting point to accelerate deployment. With more utility application templates planned in 2020, we will continue to support our mission to help the community make robots a useful part of our daily lives in business and personal settings."
About the Author
John K. Waters is the editor in chief of a number of Converge360.com sites, with a focus on high-end development, AI and future tech. He's been writing about cutting-edge technologies and culture of Silicon Valley for more than two decades, and he's written more than a dozen books. He also co-scripted the documentary film Silicon Valley: A 100 Year Renaissance, which aired on PBS. He can be reached at jwaters@converge360.com.