Luna – Is the Personal Robot of our Dreams Getting Closer to Reality?

I so wish that I could own a personal robot someday. Which could be able to do the basic domestic stuff. Like cleaning, sweeping, basic cooking, serving food, serving drinks, etc. In short a domestic servant without any privacy problem and without requiring any salary (but the robots initial cost will cover all that) anyways it will be great. And hopefully this is not far from reality now after the launch of Luna.

Luna by RoboDynamics is the world’s first personal robot designed for mass adoption. It’s a beautiful 5’2? (157cm) capable of telepresence on its 8 inch LCD touchscreen face. It’s being designed by SchultzeWorks. It’s a tall, its open source and is also affordable with $3000 not cheap? yes but its cheaper than the other robots of similar kind.

It’s expected to be available in fourth quarter of 2011. RoboDynamics will be auctioning off the first 25, and selling another 975 first come first serve at $3k.

Amazing thing is that the Luna will have its own app store so that will make this robot extensible with new apps. Imagine many developers developing many new innovative apps daily. This will surely make this robot incredible.

Its specs are 2 GHz processor, nVidia9000M graphics card, 8 GB flash memory (which you can upgrade to 32GB), WiFi, 8 MPx camera with digital zoom, 8 inch touchscreen LCD, 3 microphone array, speakers, 10 bit wheel sensors, PrimeSense’s 3D sensor, lot of expansion ports, and its battery should last between 4-8 hours and recharge in about the same time.

There’s a carrying handle on the back so you can easily lift the 65 lb (~30kg) bot and take it up stairs. Luna will run on the a Linux based OS which is very aptly named LunaOS.

Checkout this recently released video by RoboDynamics to watch Luna in action:

After knowing much about Luna, I must say that it will surely revolutionize the way we will use personal robots in the future. Whats your take on it? Do let us know in the comments!

This is a guest post by Namit Gupta. He is the founder and editor of Theitechblog. He loves Technology, more precisely the “Internet” and striving to make a fortune online.