When I was growing up I wanted to defend a dog because of the influence of the TV series Lassie and Benji. Dogs are featured in the series as intelligent, cute, spoiled pets and can help their masters solve worldly problems. But the fact is that I am Malay and the taboo of buying dogs was very thick when I was growing up in the 80s.
So the dream of buying a dog is buried just like that. The Malay taboo on defending dogs has now diminished but is still viewed obliquely. So when the Xiaomi Cyberdog was announced in August last year I was excited because this would probably realize the dream of buying a dog but the “holy” version without hands needs to be worn all the time.
The bad news for those of you who have the same dream is that Cyberdog cannot be purchased with only 1000 units produced by Xiaomi under the Xiaomi Academy initiative. Robots are given to selected institutions to produce interesting software and features that can make a Cyberdog more than just a robotic dog.
The good news for you is that there are three Cyberdog units and Xiaomi Malaysia will take it on a nationwide tour starting next June. We have been given access to try this dog for a while.
Is Cyberdog
It is a robot the size of a Schnauzer dog or about three adult cats. All four Cyberdog legs use 12 servo motors developed by Xiaomi. This is matched with 11 sensors such as Intel RealSense 3D camera, 2D camera, 3D ToF and LiDAR to allow it to move safely in the real world. The NVIDIA Jetson Xavier NX platform is used as a brain with the ability to process 21 TOPs. Xiaomi says with this range of sensors, the Cyberdog can move accurately on a centimeter scale.
In addition there is also a microphone that allows the Cyberdog to always listen to voice commands given by the user like a real dog. During the test session the Cyberdog used only understood the instructions in Mandarin as it used Xiao Ai which is the virtual assistant of Xiaomi devices in China. Each time an instruction is received, the light on the face will change to blue before it barks to indicate the instruction is understood.
Among the voice commands that are understood is to provide the weather status as well as the battery charging level. According to a Xiaomi representative through the Xiaomi Academy initiative due to the use of open source, it is hoped that Cyberdog can understand the instructions of other languages such as English.
Control can be done through a smartphone application. Cyberdogs can be controlled like a remote control car or given a routine to patrol a specific area after a complete 3D mapping has been done. This feature is similar to the Boston Dynamic Spot robot which can be credited as the first cyber dog with high autonomous capabilities to be used as a social prison monitor in Singapore during a pandemic.
All of these components are housed into a 14 -kilogram robot that looks heavy but is actually lighter than the weight of a real dog of the same size. It can be lifted comfortably using one hand and I even managed to make it like a weight in the gym.
Cute technology
The ability to follow the owner wherever they move except down the stairs can also be seen. With the ability to move at a speed of around 11 km/h, you can still escape if chased. Much slower than the world's fastest Greyhound, which can reach 72 km/h.
For the near future we do not have to worry about killer robots as if the Dogs from the Black Mirror series will hunt us down to become an endangered species. With no more murder threats, Cyberdog tries to pinch users ’hearts through some cute routines.
It can do a back-and-forth like a Black Panther, roll over, stand on two legs and “ask for alms” and give one leg to be held exactly like a real dog. While trying it out in Xiaomi’s office grounds, our filming session interrupted some of us because people wanted to take pictures with Cyberdog. The consensus from the public is that this cyber dog is cute without any killing aura like in a work of science fiction.
What is the Real Function?
What the real function of Cyberdog is was the first question we gave to a Xiaomi representative because the company doesn’t have a long history of robotics. The short answer given is that it is an affordable robotics platform to attract programming interest among robotics enthusiasts. With open source used, Cyberdog recipients are free to do whatever they want with the limits being personal creativity only.
The longer answer is that it becomes a testing platform for various new technologies that are not yet ready to be used on Xiaomi’s commercial products. For example, Cyberdog's LiDAR system and RealSense 3D camera can be used as a platform to test the self -driving technology that will be used on Xiaomi's electric car, which will be shown its prototype this year. Cyberdog face recognition feature has already been used on the Xiaomi 12 series that is already on the market now.
Where to look?
If you are interested in seeing Cyberdog for yourself and interact with it, Xiaomi will be doing a series of tours throughout Malaysia starting next June. The location and date of the event are still being refined so Xiaomi said please pay attention to their social media accounts for upcoming announcements.
Personally I feel the Cyberdog is still a first generation device that has potential but also clearly has some flaws that need to be improved before being offered to the public. In the case of Cyberdog, it provides a bright future for all of us to have a cute cyber dog at home instead of a scary multimesta like Black Mirror.
