About James Chow
James Chow the founder of UBTECH, has 15 years of robotic R&D experience and 10 years of leading a group of scientists in cutting-edge humanoid robotic development. He has dedicated his life to bringing robots into the family and has made several technological and design breakthroughs. UBTECH today is the world leading pioneer in humanoid robotics.

Can you give us an overview of Alpha 2?

Alpha 2 is a humanoid robot, the first ever designed for practical household service and companionship.  The robot helps improve family life by performing tasks such as:

• Managing weekly calendars and provide verbal reminders for scheduled tasks

• Free talk and following verbal instructions

• Taking high quality photographs and posting to social media

• Performing home security monitoring and alerts

• Entertaining children, guests and even pets

• Reporting the weather, searching the web, downloading applications

Alpha 2 can wake you up at your desired time every morning and give you a weather report and news of the day to starts your day. He can then brief you on your schedule for the day and then activate your house alarm after you close the door behind him.  If you have a family dog, Alpha 2 will do its best to keep him entertained until you get back.  After you get home and eat dinner, you can have Alpha 2 assist with bedtime by telling a story to your child to help put him to sleep.  Last, Alpha 2 will set the house alarm before you get into bed to ensure the house is safe.

What sets Alpha 2 apart from other robots on the market?

One of the technology breakthroughs of Alpha 2 is the servo technology that was designed specifically for this robot.  The servos are miniaturized while providing maximum torque giving Alpha 2 the dexterity and range of movements currently only seen in robots costing 20K or more.

In addition, Alpha 2 delivers powerful cloud services, open interface and application platform, and supporting “VAPP” (UBTECH’s proprietary voice application development platform) development to meet more demands of customers.

With VAPP, after receiving voice information, Alpha 2 makes corresponding behaviors. Furthermore, Alpha 2 supports web search, simultaneous translation, face detection, weather reporting and more.  

How did you come up with the idea for Alpha 2?

I have always dreamed that one day we can have a robot like “WALL-E” who can understand us humans and interact just like a real family member. I began to believe the growth potential of bringing an intellectual robot into the household after seeing how smartphones have had a profound impact on daily life around the globe.

Who and where are the primary markets for Alpha 2 and how much will it cost?

The family is our primary target and the market price has not finalized yet, but can be expected to be between $1500-2000.  We have a special price of $499 for those who want to take advantage early via our Indiegogo campaign.

Can you run us through a typical day scenario where Alpha 2 is used as a personal assistant?

Alpha 2 can wake you up at your desired time every morning and give you a weather report and news of the day to starts your day. He can then brief you on your schedule for the day and then activate your house alarm after you close the door behind him.  If you have a family dog, Alpha 2 will do its best to keep him entertained until you get back.  After you get home and eat dinner, you can have Alpha 2 assist with bedtime by telling a story to your child to help put him to sleep.  Last, Alpha 2 will set the house alarm before you get into bed to ensure the house is safe.

What is your long-range goal for UBTECH and Alpha 2?

Alpha 2 is only part of our planned intellectual robot for the family product line. We will have different series of robot products come to market in the near future. UBTECH vision is to be the No. 1 brand of humanoid robotics in the world.

Can you give me an overview of UBTECH?

UBTECH Robotics develops, manufactures and evangelizes robotic technology around the world. The company is the first dedicated to commercializing humanoid robots for mainstream use and enjoyment. The company’s elite hardware and software developers are among the most respected robotics engineers in the industry.

Here is a link to the current Ubtech Indiagogo Crowdfunding Campaign

The content & opinions in this article are the author’s and do not necessarily represent the views of RoboticsTomorrow

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