Humanoids are evolving. Sprout is a new robot that was introduced to the market. It’s not meant for carrying boxes or stacking shelves. Instead, the charming model that is relatively cheap, about the same size as a child of 9 years old, will help guests in restaurants, hotels and shops.
“We said, ‘What if we could build something lightweight, engaging, and safe to be around, and capable enough to do some exciting things?'” Robert Cochran is the cofounder and CEO at Fauna (the startup that created Sprout).
Sprout can be purchased starting at $50,000. Cochran said that his company has already begun talking to hotels to use Sprout in a similar way to Sprout, bringing toothbrushes and items for guests.
Sprout, which was launched in April of this year, is part a growing sector within the United States. Humanoids are booming in the US, despite it being unclear whether they will prove useful or practical. Boston Dynamics is one of more than 12 US firms working on the development of humanoids. signed a deal to use Google’s AI in its robotsTesla is working on a new system, Optimus, as well as startups such Agility Robotics and Figure AI.
Unitree is a Chinese robotics manufacturer. found success selling inexpensive humanoids for entertainment and research purposes. Unitree offers humanoids that cost as little as $20,000. They cost about the same when fully equipped with sensors, computers and other devices.
Fauna’s customers are Disney who already use robots within some of its theme park, as well as Boston Dynamics which produces a variety of industrial robots, such larger and stronger humanoids.
Cochran says Sprout was designed to be simple to program. This makes it useful for research. It comes equipped with software that allows it to scan its surroundings, walk independently, use language models and much more. It can also be controlled by teleoperation, which is useful for robot-training purposes. New York University scientists are using Sprout for research on new robotic manipulation techniques and robot-human interaction. The company says that it also has proprietary technology for Sprout to recover its balance if the robot stumbles.
Cochran said that while some humanoid robotic workers are already in use by the auto industry, Cochran believes Fauna’s first target market is the entertainment and services industries.
Cochran demonstrated Sprout’s interfaces, which included an app to show the robots perspective as well as a coding tool that could be used in real-time programming. Sprout was designed to interact with people, and unlike other humanoids it has mechanical eyebrows for expressions of interest, surprise or confusion.
Cochran was previously employed by Meta. Google has also contributed to the founding team. Cochran points out that AI-based systems capable of identifying objects, such as those developed for smartglasses, are also useful to robots designed to interact with human environments.
Sprout was asked to check the contents of the refrigerator at one stage during the demonstration. The robot understood the order using an LLM, and then walked to the corner of the room in a way that was similar to that of a 9-year old. Sprout walked over to the corner of the office and inspected the sodas through the door.
Cochrane thinks this kind of ability could be used to help humanoids overcome. “You can kind of get a ‘Hello World’ example of a robot where you can talk to and autonomously map and navigate its environment effectively,” “He says” “And from there, the world’s your oyster.”
