PLEN Project Committee

PLEN2 Project has started!

About PLEN PLEN is a small bipedal walking robot made as an experimental platform for our vision of future

robotics. Its design and control have been developed with a priority on harmony with human

users. In order for researchers and power users to develop and experiment freely, the robot's

control board comes with open source firmware.

HISTORY of PLEN ■Year 2005: Public unveiling of the prototype

Youtube footage of PLEN in action attracts great interest and becomes Youtube’s number one ranked video in

the Science & Technology section for 2005.

■Year 2006: PLEN goes on sale (200 robots manufactured)

Its Youtube success leads to increased media attention.

■Year 2009 onwards: PLEN is a permanent exhibit at the Ars Electronica Center (Austria), an international hub of art and new media.

Gerfried Stocker, Art Director at the centre, comments that PLEN is “a work of art”.

■Present: All 200 robots have been sold

Utilizing the technology and software built up through PLEN, we are

currently working on installations and other educational projects.

PLEN2 Project has started The current project aims to promote PLEN as a de facto standard in humanoid robotics.

■STEP 1: Open source

In addition to the open source software, we will disclose the control board's circuit diagram and the mechanical designs for the robot's parts.

■STEP 2: Creating opportunities for promotion

We will open PLEN stores making all relevant parts available.

Some examples of commercial products:

- Motion data

- Motion development apps

- Robot controllers

- Custom firmware for PLEN control boards

- Custom built control boards for specific uses

- Machine parts

etc...

■STEP 3: Users become makers

Since all structural elements, including hardware specifications, are to be disclosed, PLEN's users can become its next generation of makers.

Business model of the PLEN2 project ■Licensing business:

The PLEN project will provide PLEN's guiding principles and its design diagrams, enabling corporate enterprises to manufacture and sell the robots

under license.

■Robot equipment stores:

The PLEN Store not only provides apps, such as software and videos (similar to iTunes Store and Google Play). It will also promote the establishment

of the PLEN standard, and act as a business place for all hardware and software relating to the robot, including control boards and user-developed

extension parts.

Contact details for further enquiries PLEN Project Committee

Representative: Natsuo Akazawa

E-mail: akazawa@plen.jp