Technology behind Sony's Qrio: Surviving a Fall Unscathed

The content of this page is taken from the official Sony Qrio website at http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/QRIO/. Unfortunately the page closed at the end of March 2007 - so we saved some of the info before the site was taken down.

Part 1:
Walking Stably

Part 2:
Surviving a Fall Unscathed

Part 3:
Remembering People & Talking

Part 4:
Seeing and Acting

Part 5:
Living with People

Responding to Outside Forces / Returning to an Upright Position

QRIO was built to live alongside human beings. We designed it to stay on its feet and adapt to the outside forces that it will encounter living with people. Still, since there will be moments when it unavoidably loses its footing, we also designed it to instantly react to lessen the shock of a fall, and once toppled, to stand up again on its own.

Responding to Outside Forces

If pushed by someone, QRIO will take a step in the direction it was pushed to keep from falling over. The control system senses that it has been pushed through the pressure sensors in the soles of its feet and its position sensors, and acts to maintain stability. It can detect an outside force acting on it from front, back, right or left.		In addition, it determines when responding to an outside force will be difficult, and immediately ceases all body motion (fall avoidance).

Returning to an Upright Position

When QRIO determines that its actions will not prevent a fall, it instinctively sticks out its arms, swivels its hips, and assumes an impact position. At the same time, the control system instantaneously commands the servos in the joint actuators to relax slightly. In this way it lessens the shock of the fall, enabling it to survive unscathed.		QRIO is also programmed to check its position after a fall, turn itself face up, and recover from a variety of prone positions.