Design and Development of a Pet Robot

Pet robots, a sub-class of robotic companions, have garnered the interest of the scientific community and the public recently, due to their potential to help humans with everyday activities and enhance the psychological well-being of individuals across various aspects, for example, they can either serve as mere products of entertainment or as an alternative solution to mental healthcare. However, challenges must be solved when developing and crafting a pet robot that can adapt to the mentioned uses. A significant problem is that pet robots must bring their owners the experience that is close to having a real pet, both physically and psychologically. Therefore, there are specific requirements for the robot design and the variety of robot behaviors to make the robot as friendly and interactive as possible. This research aims to develop a versatile companion pet robot suitable for individuals of all ages, featuring a user-friendly design and high-end functionalities. The robot can move around and is equipped with basic functionalities such as voice recognition, emotional expressions, etc. Additionally, the robot integrated an advanced feature of autonomous thought processing, enabling it to generate responses and interact more dynamically and intuitively with its users.