TJBot: An open source DIY cardboard robot for programming cognitive systems

Abstract

TJBot is an open source, interactive robot designed to encourage people to build with cognitive services in a fun way. He is a paper robot, which can also be 3D printed, and comes with an initial set of recipes that bring him to life. Recipes are a combination of step-bystep instructions plus sample code that walk people through the assembly of the robot, its hardware components, and software code that connects him to Watson cognitive services. TJBot can be programmed to listen, speak, see and recognize, shine his LED, understand emotions, and wave his arm. TJBot was designed for two communities: makers, who enjoy the DIY aspects of building and programming novel devices, and students, who can learn about programming cognitive systems. At our demo, people can build their very own TJBot out of cardboard and interact with him through speech.