Robbie the Robot proves a perfect match for Joanne

He’s just 4ft 7in in height, bald, not much of a talker, and almost impossible to cuddle, but the new guy in Joanne O’Riordan’s life might just be the man of her dreams.

In fact, you could say Robbie was made for her. But then that’s exactly what Joanne, who was born without arms or legs, asked for when she addressed a UN conference two years ago and challenged engineers worldwide to build her a robot personal assistant.

The challenge was taken up by the School of Engineering at Trinity College, Dublin, which last year secured €50,000 from the UN agency, the International Telecommunications Union, (ITU) to work on a prototype.

Robbie, the result of months of round-the-clock work, made his first public appearance yesterday when the head of the ITU, Dr Hamadoun I Touré, popped by to see how he’s been getting along.

After a demonstration of his capabilities, Dr Touré declared he’d passed the UN inspection with flying colours. “ITU is very proud indeed to have been a part of this pioneering project,” he said.

Robbie just blinked and smiled, as his creators have designed him to do.

“We had to make sure that the design was friendly and aesthetically pleasing,” explained chief engineer on the project, PhD student, Conor McGinn.

“We designed it in such a way that it will engage positively with people.”

Most importantly, he has to engage with Joanne and the design team spent time with the Cork teenager, who turns 18 next month, to see what kind of environment Robbie will have to negotiate and what jobs he needs to do.

Already he can perform the basic task Joanne outlined — picking up the objects she drops when directed to do so by iPad or voice command.

But future versions of Robbie will be able to perform far more intricate manoeuvres, carry out a sequence of commands, and negotiate steps and other obstacles.

He’ll also be lighter, be quicker on his feet — or rather wheels — and have a much longer battery life as currently he needs a battery swap every 40 minutes.

Kevin Kelly, assistant professor of engineering, who heads up the project, said the possibilities for Robbie — and for Joanne — were endless.

“There are three stages to any new design. Make it work, make it better, and make it cheaper. We are at the ‘make it work’ stage but we also hope it shows a vision of how this type of design would be able to do all the types of things Joanne would like it to do.”

He won’t however, be made too human: “We actually made a latex ‘skin’ for him which could be zipped up around him but people didn’t like it. They like to see the mechanics.”

Funding the refinement of Robbie is the next big challenge and the team are on the lookout for financial backing so they can take their design to the next stage.

Conor said whoever provides the investment can be sure they’ll get more than their money’s worth from the 10-strong team of students and teachers who worked voluntarily into the small hours night after night to get their creation right.

“We’ll do it again too because this isn’t a chore to us. Some people get into engineering to make a difference, some people because they just want to make something nobody has made before. This ticks all the boxes and hopefully it will attract support from people who see engineering in different ways but ultimately are excited by what it can achieve.”

Dr Touré paid tribute to Joanne for inspiring the project, describing her courage and energy as “formidable“.

Busy Joanne couldn’t attend yesterday because unfortunately there’s one thing Robbie can’t do for her yet — study for her Leaving Certificate.