Roboy's 2020, a review menu.

History is bound to repeat itself, so just like the roaring twenties of the twentieth century started late around 1924, so let's start the roaring twenties of the 21st century in 2021.

To start fresh, reflection and subsequent closure is needed, and in doing so I’ve started writing this post at least four times by now. I really want to make it interesting to you! But like never before, I feel people are in so many different places emotionally. So there's no one text that will work. Maybe 2020 was good to you, and you found focus and success; maybe you're sad and lonely in need of some joy. Or you worry for the future of our society, and the world our children will inherit. Or you are just very fed up with all the restrictions, longing to travel, go back to seeing and experiencing people. Maybe the world has become too shallow for you, and you need some deep thoughts? I hear you!

Since you all are in a different place, I’ve decided to approach this post differently: This is Roboy’s 2020, a review menu. It’s surprisingly loaded, despite the pandemic. Feel free to taste here and there, devour one of the courses to its fullest, or indulge in the whole menu. It's up to you, in the hope that it adds something to your day.

Yours,

Rafael, Roboy & the team

Chapters

• Appetizers - Short bits and pieces, making hungry for more
• Main Courses - Take some time to consume, but hopefully leave you with a cozy, satisfied feeling
• Side Dishes - Will make sure, that you've seen everything!
• Reader's Digestif - Sometimes it takes a good read to complete a full menu, so take the time and dive into the different articles covering aspects of Roboy.
• Desserts - The exciting & delicious (recognition), rounding up the buffet.
• Nightcaps - The inside stories, kitchen trash and background heroes

Appetizers

short bits and pieces, making hungry for more

Suspense à la 3.0

Our shortest! 25 seconds titillating your palate for our hottest main course: Roboy 3.0. A short amuse bouche, asking the one question everyone asks! (10/2020, Cook: Kristof Sarnes)

The Unencumbered Student Triple

3 Ideas, 3 Visions, 3 Results - be it the artificial nose, the HUD straight out of science fiction or a robot learning to run over a bouncy castle, these short videos show what dedicated teams of students can do in a short few months. Started before the big change, this selection of 3 times 3 shorts sparkles with creativity and leaves you with an unencumbered feeling of the possible. (03/2020, Cooks: Valentin Starlinger, Max Pittner, Philip Hagemann (RoboySmells), Janik Müller, Philipp Neugebauer, Max Heimbrock, Leenert Specht (OUI2), Alexander Koch & Stanislav Lukyanenko (Parkour Challenge))

Feel from Home!

In this invigorating double, find the student team of summer semester 2020 dreaming up a device which allows you to feel the world from home. Meet ExoForce, the fullbody force-feedback robot and it's creators and leave with a feeling that while you might not go out, you can certainly feel as if. (04/20 & 09/20, Cooks: Michael Heiß, Karim Alweheshy, Manuel Lañas, Marisa Ripoll, Nada Chatti & Daniel Lorencic)

Mélange Mascotte

In this unique melange between Swiss solve-AGI-foundation Mindfire and the Swiss Roboy Student Team, you'll get to experience what many miss most: A good old party! The beat, the lights - it'll all soon be real again! (02/20, Cooks: Stefan Kaspar, Christoph Zollinger, Pascal Kaufmann, Dominic Fierz, Tom Wartmann, Darius Stulz)

Instant Mobility with a Side of Humanoid Robots and VR Gear

Got 10 minutes for a new idea? This instant talk about instant mobility will fix you up. Get a fresh perspective on where we stand on teleportation with Robots. The talk was part of the AI4Growth Industrial Days at ECML PKKD conference 2020. (06/20, Recipe: Beatrice de Keyzer, Leen Verlinden)

Main Courses

Take some time to consume, but hopefully leave you with a cozy, satisfied feeling

Gâteau Galilée - Half a man, a sitting robot, but an unwavering vision (D)

According to popular comments not quite Boston Dynamics yet, but certainly Jake Harper, meet Roboy 3.0 and me in this documentary 9 minute piece aired in Germany's largest private TV channel Pro7. Galileo, Germany's most popular science show visited Roboy in his Lab and got confused, because somehow I was already Roboy? But see yourself. (12/20, Cooks: Alona Kharchenko, Luis Vergara, Michael Sausmikat, Joscha Hüttel, Jürgen Lippl, Sebastian Krüger)

Our most exclusive - Roboy Unveiling (sold out)

Good things need time, and so we've waited patiently to unveil our newest baby - Roboy 3.0. Originally planned for Mobile World Congress 2020 in February, but as it became the first large event that fell victim of the pandemic, we've dry-aged our robot to perfection and at the end of October he was perfect and ready like never before. 40 invited guests found their way to Botanikum in Munich to witness an event that will be history - the birth of a robot. Find some memories of the most exclusive event Roboy has ever dreamed up, and a reminder that even in today's situation we can create magical physical moments. (28/10/20, Cooks: Alona Kharchenko, Jürgen Lippl, Daniel Lorencic, Joscha Hüttel, Kristof Sarnes, Michael Sausmikat, Luis Vergara, Lora Koycheva, Simon Trendel, Joseph Birkner, Daniel Camillieri, Wotan Wilden, Bernd Hops, Manuel Hollfelder, Pierre-Alexis Mouthuy, Hilal Agil, Stefanie Goetz, Marina Behr, Barbara Schilling, Constanze Kroher)

The Latest Punk! (D)

Another German Highlight from the Roboy Kitchen, we present a daring assemblage of Vision, Gin-Tonic and a naughty Roboy. Leaving you with a feeling of shifting what's possible, Business Punk Editor-in-Chief Alexander Langer talks to me & Roboy about indefinite curiosity and the way thereto. (Cooks: Alexander Langer, Dhi Matiole Nunes, Anna Strauss)

Transdisciplinary Deep Thoughts with a World's First

In this collaboration with Europe's best university and my alma mater ETH Zurich, we brought together ETH's Strategic Foresight Advisor and infallible gentleman Chris Luebkeman; the Head of Disney Research & Professor in Computer Graphics (and my former MSc. thesis advisor - a witness to the most embarrassing moment of my life: my thesis defence, which I hope he doesn't remember ...) Markus Gross; anthropologist Dr. Lora Koycheva as Roboy (Hint: that's the first); and me talking about telepresence bridging people. A course that needs time to be savoured accordingly, but if you have the mental capacity, this is the unexpected gem in today's menu. (11/20, for Berlin Science Week, Cooks: Alona Kharchenko, Lora Koycheva, Chris Luebkeman, Markus Gross, Elisabeth Pöschl & Jürg Brunnschwiler)

Haute Cuisine: Empathie, plus ou moins?

For the true connoisseurs, this paper published by Dr. Lora Koycheva as part of her research on Roboy team at the world's most reputable business anthropology conference EPIC definitely lives up to the conference's name. But be warned! If you are a design thinker, don't read it, as it might topple the foundations of your beliefs. Everyone else, take a good glass of wine, sharpen your wits, and empty your evening's schedule, because if you take the time for this complex piece, it will reward you with a nuanced bouquet of flavoured insights unpacking in front of you - shifting your perspective. Comes with the revelation how Roboy learnt to hug as a side. (11/20, Cook: Dr. Lora Koycheva)

Side Dishes

Before we come to the desserts, these sides will make sure, that you've seen everything!

The Cake is a Lie - 1e9 Conference

Live from one of Munich's most stellar locations - the former planetarium of Deutsches Museum, we start our list of sides with a highlight - the first public conversation of GPT-3 enabled Roboy. Clearly a prototype, Roboy is not yet the most understanding robot here, but all the more adorable - and it was live! Not bad though, given this is less than two weeks after his birth! The question this video answers is "why?" - why indeed, this is a formidable start with Munich's most future-oriented community 1e9. (Cooks: Wolfgang Kerler, Aki Hertlein, Prof. Dr. Wolfgang M. Heckl)

Cas de Deux: Future of Work à la (or le?) Robot.

In this cas de deux solved by Lora Koycheva and me, we not only reveal how we've looked as children, but more importantly, how the children of the future need to be skilled, to succeed in a world, where AI & automation made more jobs redundant, than we can reskill to. This provocative piece will not leave you desperate though, as with any problem we discuss solutions and end on a high note for a possible and equitable future! (Cook: Silke Schmidt)

My first Podcast with SAP

Not a magic pony, but definitely also not a pipe dream, in this podcast by SAP CX, Sven and Erica explore Roboy's world with me - where we talk the baby steps and the impacts in society! Take the hour for a laid back talk that will make your commute ... whom am I kidding ... that will make you stay an hour longer in bed - enjoy! (06/20, Cooks: Erica Davis, Sven Haiges)

The Proof of the Pudding & Café avec ARM

So far, there has been very little tech, but we are building Robots after all! So enter Alona & ARM's Developer Café. In this hour we're doing the full menu: Why build humanoids? What is telepresence? And embodiment? We even talk about the open source tech stack of Roboy and the big vision behind it! And of course, the proof is in the pudding, so you'll see Alona become Roboy. (12/20, Cooks: Alona Kharchenko, Alessandro Grande)

Kids Menu

Of course, Roboy is kids-friendly. Which is why we have a specially prepared section for our future Stars.

Molecular Kitchen for the Little Ones - KidsLab

Our children are our future, so we need to prepare them accordingly for a world in which the only constant is an ever increasing pace of change. In this Podcast with Sven we talk about Kickstarter-Success Roboy & Lucy and how it's the right content to future-proof your kids. Being one of my love projects, I am always excited to see Roboy & Lucy being highlighted. (12/20, Cook: Sven Haiges)

Wuselstunde - Vorlesemomente (D)

Schools still closed? Kids at home and no time for yourself? Then the Wuselstunde is just for you! This prize-winning super-food was developed with a team of marvelous heroes, and became the best thing after the pacifier for stressed out parents: Every day a new video is uploaded of a story children's book read by a professional speaker. The publishers loved it so much, we have by now more than 20 on board! (Cooks: Daniela Dietz, Sina Franke, Beatrice Richert, Anna, Marius Hanke, Kirsten Socher, Anna Rüde & Victoria Rüde)

Fusion Kitchen for Kids: Wuselstunde x Roboy! (D)

What's better than Wuselstunde and Roboy & Lucy? You got it, Wuselstunde with Roboy & Lucy and German Actress Lena Klenke! (Cooks: Lena Klenke, Alfred Bozesan)

It's all a matter of taste! Which is why I can only cordially recommend the beautifully sonorous voice of Roboy & Lucy's Author Albert Bozesan as an alternative read:

Roboy & Lucy - Take-Away!

Of course we also have the take-away version, head over to our website and get your very own book for home. In German or English! :) (Cooks: Masha Khomich, Jutta Juliane Meier, Sophie Barocas, Albert Bozesan, Kris Sarnes)

Reader's Digestif

Sometimes it takes a good read to round up a full menu, so take the time and dive into the different articles covering aspects of Roboy.

Ein Roboter der Menschen unsterblich machen soll - Wolfgang Kerler (D)

Starting with Munich's finest futurist community 1e9 and written by the unparalleled Wolfgang Kerler, we come straight to Roboy's Vision in Focus online:

https://1e9.community/t/ein-roboter-der-menschen-unsterblich-machen-soll/5489

Menschliche Nähe durch Maschinen - Pascal Kaufmann, Finanz & Wirtschaft

In this collaboration with Mindfire's Founder and Switzerland's best known AI-Entrepreneur Pascal Kaufmann, we explore how robots can bring back human connection in an unwillingly touchless time. (Supported by Daniela Suter)

Wer hat Angst vor Künstlicher Intelligenz - Carmen Graf, RBB (D)

For our more audiophile visitors, we here have a beautiful radio broadcast by Carmen Gräf exploring the risks - or lack thereof - of artificial intelligence!

Ort der Zukunft - Max Haarich & Björn Lütdke (D)

Unfortunately, given the situation, this year did not leave room for a lot of art. Nonetheless, shortly before it all began, the incredible and incredulous Max Haarich, Munich ambassador of Užupis, gave an insight into his embassy and the important work Roboy as world's first naturalisation robot is doing.

There's no problems, only opportunities!

In this article I am exploring our reaction to the limitations induced by the first lock down! Published by my alma mater ETH Zurich, this article is for every one in need of a good dose of "f*k it, we'll be doing this anyways"

Telepresence Solution

In this, what Dyana Penkova called "Very emotional and yet with a sense of techie-rationality behind it" article by Dr. Lora Koycheva and me, we reflect on the value of physical presence! Like no other, it highlights our why: "What we are working on is for new ways of ensuring that, come what may, we will be there for each other". So head over if you need a sense of community. (German Version) - Featured as LinkedIn Editor's Pick

R3 - Roboy's Research Reviews

This is for the technical minded among you! From time to time, students at Roboy's review research and create videos out of it. Inspired by the fabulous 2-minute papers YouTube Channel, Roboy reviews Research takes what's hot in robotics, and turns it into explanatory videos, check them out!

Op-Ed's

As a final digestif, completing the course: two articles who are only indirectly related to Roboy, but which might still serve as an inspiring side. Enjoy!

Desserts

What is missing? The exciting & delicious things, rounding up this very varied buffet.

Falling Walls Cake, finalist Edition

This year, I was nominated as a finalist in the Emerging Talents category of the Berlin Falling Walls. While telepresence robotics is obviously too far out in a time where tangible short-term solutions are required, it fulfils me with an enormous personal satisfaction, that they've let me capture the biggest wall imaginable: Space AND time! Thinking big in its truest sense.

Not Peking Duck, but award-winning Shanghai Roboy

Our collaboration with Infineon at CIIE 2019 in Shanghai was such a blazing success that it got awarded as "Best in Tradeshow" by the SABRE Asia-Pacific Awards 2020! There's no robot that's more hug- and selfiable! (Cooks: Infineon Technologies, Klaus Walther, Bernd Hops, Dr. Helmut Gassel, Michael Schinke, Hua Su, Jonathan Liu)

Nightcaps

Since you've made it until here, you probably really care for Roboy, so let's tell the inside story.

The Kitchen Trash

What we've presented in this menu, are just the most delectable highs of what was otherwise an extremely tough year. So in the sense of full disclosure for the ones who really want to taste it all - here's the kitchen trash: Failed menus, over- and undercooked sides and broken tools. 2020 was tough, a year that has left us with quite some bruises. But each time we stumbled, we've stood up again, brushed off the dirt and kept cooking.

Wonder about that video? Read on, here's a selection of our most juicy obstructions:

• As the Mobile World Congress was cancelled unveiling the robot became a constant replanning effort: First March, then April, June, September and it finally happened end of October. Seeing what we've done in just November and December, just imagine what we could've done with a full year like this.
• Also, because of a very unfortunate misunderstanding ... all the professional movie material that was shot for the Unveiling? We don't have access to it ...
• And then, there are the burn scars all of us at Roboy team will feel for a long time. Pre-pandemic we've earned most of our revenue by going to fairs and events - there weren't that many in 2020 - instead of being able to hire more of my former beloved students into the team, we were forced to cut with a very heavy heart. And one of my most beloved Roboyans decided to go and search for new adventures.
• Some of our partners were busy fixing their own problems, loosing sight of us, and since they couldn't take us to events, it was unclear where the budgets for us would come from.
• We lost a new partner on the very last step: what was turning into a huge love story, with joint vision videos already produced and both sides being deeply infatuated with each other's culture, fell apart the very last moment, because in the meeting where we've shown these vision videos to close the collaboration, they've also learned from upper management, that the whole division will be restructured and cease to exist. This almost happened a second time similarly, but this time it had a better outcome, you'll hear from it very soon!
• We've submitted at least 8 grant applications, and got 0.
• Also Tech: Who would have thought you can take 8 months, just to produce some motor boards. Chose the wrong solder mask color? There go 2 months.
• And last - that video on top? It's an 27m long inflatable race track! I've got it in September 2019, crossing a major item off my bucket list. We could set it up once at the finals, where it rained, then winter came, and then the pandemic. I am still looking forward SO MUCH to being able to use this! (It's not just for fun, I promise.)

Background Heroes

Some people I work with rarely see light shone on them because their roles are in the background. However, everything would fall apart if they weren't there. So here's to them (in alphabetical order):

• Fabian Claussen - always helpful, open and critical in the good way, Fabian is a true gentleman startup helper and always had an open ear and the right people to contact, thank you!
• Uta Engelmann & Alexander Lehrmann, Sunrise - I'll soon be able to talk more about this, very exciting! Thanks for believing into Roboy and it's vision!
• My Family - my parents, sister & two nieces. When you aim for the stars, it's so valuable to have a foundation to build on. My family is always there for me and shaped me into who I am. My creativity, my big dreams and sensitive nature - that's where it's rooted.
• Frank Halbritter - if there's one person in my life, who's been supportive from day one and never disappeared, it's Frank. I am immensely grateful for every moment of support, intro, idea, and just believing into me!
• Manuel Hartmann - the most helpful sales coach anyone can wish for, bringing my sales habits up to speed with a trove of ideas and a meticulous customer focus.
• Clemens Graf von Hoyos - if you see me on stage with perfect demeanour and a new presence, you'll know whom to thank for this! But it's going way beyond, not to say too much, I am very excited for what 2021 will bring! Also, check out his viral TikTok - 2 million views already on how to eat soup :)
• Darwin Lau - our collaboration partner of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. There's only two Roboy 3.0 because he's getting one! Really looking forward, what magic he'll be doing up with it.
• Alexander Lenz - managing the chair of Robotics & Embedded Systems and my liaison to TUM. There would be no Roboy at TUM without him anymore, thank you!
• Ute Lomp & Amy Bücherl - the two administrative magicians of the chair! It's such a joy to work with both of you!
• MakerSpace - a robot requires infrastructure to be built, and that means a lot of expensive machines! But thanks to MakerSpace, we had everything whenever we needed it!
• Mindfire - they believed in Roboy and made the Swiss Roboy Team a reality! While the pandemic forced this collaboration into hibernation, I am more than excited to rejuvenate it once travel and events become possible again.
• Anna Mokry - my life-partner of more than 10 years. Always there for me, the rock that grounds me, I love you!
• Pierre-Alexis Mouthuy - our collaboration partner of the University of Oxford. Our first university partner doing infinitely exciting things with our robot, I can't talk about - yet! I do hope, we'll find the means to extend this collaboration in 2021!
• Roboy Student Team - the current team has not made it into the menu, because they're still cooking it up. But let me already shout out to them, and thank them for their efforts - it's looking delicious!
• Simon Sabel - my corporate lawyer here in Munich. Always love to work with him, because it's fast, efficient but also very collegial. Hope we'll have the opportunity to do a lot more in 2021, that'll be a good sign!
• Tom Staelens - my Belgian Start-It community manager, always critical (in the best way) but extremely helpful and with just the right tips to move ahead! If you want to do anything with Startup in Belgium, Start-It @ KBC is the place to go - and Tom is a big reason that's the case.
• Christian Velbinger - organizer of the most unique startup-events in Munich, 2020 we did Telepresence on a boat, I am very much looking forward to what we'll be cooking up in 2021! Thank you for your support!
• Sebastian Wieland - my tax advisor, who's been keeping my back and was always very proactive - it's not that easy to explain why we have a 27m long inflatable race track! Can't recommend him enough!
• Finally, again, my core team: While they've been distributed throughout the menu and everyone got mentioned here and there, I can't thank everyone in my team enough for staying with me throughout the pandemic - I am deeply thankful and honoured that they keep putting their trust into me.