Keio-Led Team Demos 1 Soft Floating Robot for Safe Human Interaction
Updated
Updated · CNET · Jul 12
Keio-Led Team Demos 1 Soft Floating Robot for Safe Human Interaction
1 articles · Updated · CNET · Jul 12
Summary
Mingyang Xu’s team released a demo video showing a lighter-than-air robot gliding indoors as a quiet companion that can approach people with low injury risk.
Its soft body, light construction and lack of pinch points address a core robotics problem: making machines feel physically safe and emotionally approachable.
The design also aims to avoid the uncanny valley by using gentle full-body motion instead of near-human facial expressions, giving the robot a whale-like floating presence.
The video presents the robot as a dance partner, study buddy, alarm clock, reminder and entertainment device, pointing to broader uses for companion robots in daily life.