The Pioneer Navi Robo is a robot in the form of a crab. It has been designed to sit on the dashboard of your car to translate the directions from your GPS into easy to interpret claw movements.
So, here it is: the crab that tells you where to go…
There’s a lot of reasons why this is one of my favourite robots of the moment. For one, of course, it’s definitely not humanoid, but maybe more important is the clever use of a form that seems non-intuitive, but works well in this context.
Here it is close up
I have always been fascinated by watching videos of crabs signaling to one another, in fact they’re even more entertaining and interesting when you watch them in real life (but you have to creep up on them or they all scuttle back home). Rather than communicating with other crabs, the Navi Robo’s claws really lend themselves to signaling the direction to take in your car. It would seem to be easy to catch sight of the robot out of the corner of your eye, while remaining primarily focused on the road. This is just a prototype, but I like the way that the crab calmly signals on the run up to the turn, and then flashes its eyes and jiggles the appropriate claw as the turn becomes imminent.
While some people might ask whether this robot would be too distracting for drivers, it is also possible to argue that by utilising peripheral vision, as opposed to encouraging the driver to focus on the GPS screen, this robot could well be a positive safety development. In addition, it might be a vital component of a GPS system for someone who is deaf or finds it difficult to hear the spoken instructions provided by most GPS systems.
Ultimately though this robot wins me over because it’s something I never expected to see, certainly not in this context, it’s just excellent!
