isento: A Robot for Every Household

In this talk

1. 0:45

   A robot people can print and adapt

   PIB, short for Printable Intelligent Bot, is designed so people can make its parts at home with a 3D printer. Isento opened the project so contributors worldwide can study and modify it. Baier says schools are also using PIB to teach students.

2. 1:54

   Building and testing PIB

   PIB’s upper body is made from white PETG plastic and supported by a bowl-shaped mount that gives access to its electronics. It can move its arms, hands, and head, imitate hand and finger movements, and track people with its head. The team was iterating toward a stable version, including a three-kilogram arm and a redesigned thumb intended to improve gripping.

3. 9:14

   Community contributions shape the design

   Baier says Isento’s 65 employees could not develop a humanoid robot alone, so the company invited specialists to contribute to the open-source project. Community members proposed the shoulder’s two degrees of freedom and a wire-driven finger design that moves motors into the upper body, making the arms lighter. Baier invites interested listeners to join the project’s Discord.

4. 13:56

   A household helper is a longer-term goal

   Baier imagines general-purpose robots helping with everyday chores, such as finding keys, making coffee, and tidying the kitchen. He says reaching that point depends partly on continued community contributions and estimates PIB could become a useful household member within a few years.

5. 15:41

   Onshape supports shared design work

   PTC’s representative says Onshape runs in a browser, making it accessible to contributors on computers, phones, and tablets. Its shared database keeps models and documents current for the team, supports branching and merging, and records who made each edit and when.