BuddyBot — a state of the art companion robot — is a bright and happy face to greet you when you come home in the RV when you're on the road. The combination of a face display, helping hand for keys and coat, and a sweets dispenser makes for a welcoming sight anytime you see BuddyBot.
BuddyBot resides in a "sleeping" idle state while waiting for user input. Upon detecting a single head-pat from the capacitive touch sensor, BuddyBot will wake up and enter the welcome state, reflected on the display with corresponding audio output. This begins a 60 second interaction session. Audio instructions are given on how to select your mood for the session, and the display will change accordingly based on what actions you have taken.
In the welcome state, the user has three main options: mood selection, helping hand actuation, and gameplay. Mood selection can be achieved by pressing any one of the three mood buttons on the main user panel. Upon pressing a button, the corresponding musical output will play, and the LED for that mood button will turn on for the duration of the music. Helping hand servo actuation can be triggered by waving your hand in front of the two IR sensors within 0.25 seconds, which will either retract or extend the arm based on which state it is already in, with the default start position being up. When the helping hand is down, you can then place various items on it, including keys and coats.
The gameplay can be triggered by double-patting the capacitive touch sensor within 0.25 seconds. This will start a 25 second game routine with corresponding music, where the user can use the joystick to control a grabber on screen to pick up fish that swim horizontally across the screen. Moving the joystick horizontally will move the grabber at different speeds based on joystick position, and moving the joystick vertically will move the grabber down to attempt to grab. At the end of the game, the servo-powered dispenser will dispense a single sweet for the user as a reward, and a goodbye audio will trigger.