Proceeding of the Second American University of Sharjah International Symposium on Mechatronics, Sharjah, U.A.E.
April 19-21, 2005
UBIQUITOUS ROBOT: THE THIRD GENERATION OF ROBOTICS
Jong-Hwan Kim, Kang-Hee Lee, and Yong-Duk Kim
Robot Intelligence Technology Laboratory,
Dept. of EECS, KAIST,
Guseong-dong, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 305-701, Republic of Korea
{johkim,khlee,ydkim}@rit.kaist.ac.kr
ABSTRACT
This paper introduces ubiquitous robot (Ubibot) as a third gener-
ation of robotics, incorporating three forms of robots: software
robot (Sobot), embeded robot (Embot) and mobile robot (Mobot),
which can provide us with various services by any device through
any network, at any place anytime in a ubiquitous space. Sobot is a
virtual robot, which has the ability to move to any place through a
network. Embot is embedded within the environment or in the
Mobot. Mobot provides integrated mobile services, which are
seamless, calm and context-aware. A Sobot, Rity, is introduced
to investigate the usability of the proposed concept. Rity is a 3D
synthetic character which exists in the virtual world, has a unique
IP address and interacts with human beings through an Embot im-
plemented by a face recognition system using a USB camera. To
show the possibility of realization of Ubibot by using the current
state of the art technologies, two kinds of successful demonstra-
tions are presented. Also robot genome is proposed to implement
a genetic robot, which is to investigate ”The Origin of Artificial
Species.” To implement the robot genome, artificial chromosome
is introduced. This paper shows the personality of genetic robots
is decided by their genome.
1. INTRODUCTION
This paper is to investigate the feasibility of implementation of
ubiquitous robot (Ubibot) by using the current state of the art tech-
nology, which can be defined as a third generation of robotics.
Also it is to define genetic robot to investigate ”The Origin of Arti-
ficial Species.” The genetic robot can be considered as an artificial
creature created by artificial chromosome.
In an ubiquitous era we will be living in a world where all
objects such as electronic appliances are networked to each other
and a robot will provide us with various services by any device
through any network, at any place anytime. This robot is defined
as a ubiquitous robot, Ubibot, which incorporates three forms of
robots: software robot (Sobot), embeded robot (Embot) and mo-
bile robot (Mobot) [1, 2, 3].
The Ubibot is following the paradigm shift of computer tech-
nology. The paradigm shift of robotics is motivated by ubiquitous
computing and the evolution of computer technology in terms of
the relationship between the technology and humans [4, 5]. Con-
sidering the evolution of robot technology, the first generation was
dominated by industrial robots followed by the second generation
in which personal robots are becoming widespread these days, and
as a third generation in the near future, Ubibot will appear. Com-
paring the paradigm change between the personal robot and ubiq-
uitous robot eras, the former is based on individual robot systems
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and the latter will be employing multiple robot systems using real
time broadband wireless network based on IPv6.
The Ubibot has been developed based on the robot technol-
ogy and the concept of ubiquitous computing in the Robot Intel-
ligence Technology (RIT) Lab., KAIST since 2,000. In the future
we will live in a ubiquitous world where all objects and devices are
networked. In this ubiquitous space, u-space, a Ubibot will pro-
vide us with various services anytime, at any place, by any device,
through any network. Following the general concepts of ubiqui-
tous computing, Ubibot will be seamless, calm, context-aware, and
networked.
Although this paper is to investigate the feasibility of Ubibot,
the basic concept leads us to seek the essence of “what it means to
be robot in the third generation of robotics.” So far most of robot
researchers have been devoted to develop and improve function-
alities of robot such as intelligence, human-robot interaction, and
mobility, without mentioning the essence of the robot as an artifi-
cial creature.
Since “The Origin of Species” by Charles Darwin in 1859,
the concept of evolution has been widely spread around the world.
Motivated by his discovery of evolution, the simulated evolution
has been applied to engineering problems to get an optimal so-
lution by employing the concept of chromosome representing the
solution candidate. In 1976, Richard Dawkins claimed that “We
and other animals are machines created by our genes” [6]. In the
third generation of robotics, genetic robot can be proposed, which
is created by artificial chromosome [7].
This paper introduces a new concept of artificial chromosome
as the essence to define the personality of a genetic robot and to
pass on its traits to the next generation, like a genetic inheritance.
It is an essential component for simulated evolution, which nec-
essarily defines ”The Origin of Artificial Species.” If we think the
origin in terms of the essence of the artificial creatures, the essence
should be a computerized genetic code, which determines a ge-
netic robot’s propensity to “feel” happy, sad, angry, sleepy, hungry
or afraid.
The first part of this paper presents the definition and basic
concepts of Ubibot incorporating three forms of robots; Sobot,
Embot, and Mobot. A Sobot, called Rity, developed at the RIT
Lab., KAIST, is introduced to investigate the usability of the pro-
posed concept of Ubibot [8, 9]. Rity is a 3D synthetic character
which exists in the virtual world, has a unique IP address and in-
teracts with human beings through an Embot implemented by a
face recognition system using a USB camera.
Rity is an autonomous agent which behaves based on its own
internal states, and can interact with a person in real-time. It can
provide us with an entertainment or a help through various interac-
Proceeding of the Second American University of Sharjah International Symposium on Mechatronics, Sharjah, U.A.E. April 19-21, 2005
tions in real life. To realize this, it needs an autonomous function,
artificial emotional model, learning skill, sociableness, and its own
personality [10, 11]. It can be used as a character on a game or a
movie or for the purpose of education [12, 13].
An architecture of Rity can be divided into five modules: per-
ception module, internal state module to implement motivation,
homeostasis, and emotion [14, 15, 16], behavior selection module
[17, 18], interactive learning module [19], and motor module.
To show the possibility of realization of Ubibot, two kinds of
demonstrations are carried out by using the current state of the art
technologies.
In the second part, Rity is considered as an artificial creature
living in a virtual world of a PC. It is a genetic robot which has
its own genetic information. Rity is employed to test the world’s
first robotic “chromosomes,” which is a set of computerized DNA
(Deoxyribonucleic acid) code for creating genetic robots that can
think, feel, reason, express desire or intention, and could ulti-
mately reproduce their kind, and evolve as a distinct species.
Using this concept, a way to build artificial chromosomes is
proposed for genetic robots that would be capable of human-style
evolution. Thus, the genetic code should be designed to represent
all the traits and personality of artificial creature: a manner of re-
sponse to stimuli, the desire to avoid unpleasantness, to achieve
intimacy and control, to satisfy curiosity or greed, and to prevent
boredom, feelings of happiness, sadness, anger and fear to stimuli,
and states of fatigue, hunger, drowsiness and so on, in order to im-
bue the artificial creature with “life.” It can react emotionally to its
environment, learns and makes reasoned decisions, based on an in-
dividual personality. The programmed genetic code is modelled on
human DNA, though equivalent to a single strand of genetic code
rather than the complex double helix of a real chromosome. The
main functions of the genetic code are reproduction and evolution.
This paper is organized as follows. Section II presents the
definition and basic concepts of Ubibot. Section III describes the
overall architecture of the Sobot. Demonstrations of the Sobot,
Rity are provided in Section IV. Section V proposes genetic robot.
Finally, concluding remarks follow in Section VI.
2. UBIQUITOUS ROBOT: UBIBOT
Ubibot is a general term for all types of robots incorporating soft-
ware robot (Sobot), embedded robot (Embot), and mobile robot
(Mobot) which exist in a u-space. Ubibot exists in the u-space
which provides physical and virtual environments.
2.1. U-space and Ubibot
Ubiquitous space (u-space) is an environment in which ubiquitous
computing is realized and every device is networked. The world
will be composed of millions of u-spaces, each of which will be
closely connected through ubiquitous networks. A robot working
in a u-space is defined as a Ubibot and provides various services
through any network by anyone at anytime and anywhere in a u-
space.
Ubibot in a u-space consists of both software and hardware
robots. Sobot is a type of a software system whereas Embot and
Mobot are hardware systems, Figure 1. Embots are located within
the environment, human or otherwise, and are embedded in many
devices. Their role is to sense, analyze and convey information
to other Ubibots. Mobots are mobile robots. They can move
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Figure 1: Ubibot in ubiquitous space
both independently and cooperatively, and provide practical ser-
vices. Each Ubibot has specific individual intelligence and roles,
and communicates information through networks. Sobot is capa-
ble of operating as an independent robot but it can also become the
master system, which controls other Sobots, Embots and Mobots
residing in other platforms as slave units. Their characteristics are
summarized in the following. For details, the reader is referred to
[2].
2.2. Software Robot: Sobot
Since Sobot is software-based, it can easily move within the net-
work and connect to other systems without any time or geograph-
ical limitation. It can be aware of situations and interact with the
user seamlessly. Sobot can be introduced into the environment
or other Mobots as a core system. It can control or, at an equal
level, cooperate with Mobots. It can operate as an individual en-
tity, without any help from other Ubibots. Sobot has three main
characteristics, such as self-learning, context-aware intelligence,
and calm and seamless interaction.
2.3. Embedded Robot: Embot
EmBot is implanted in the environment or in Mobots. In coopera-
tion with various sensors, Embot can detect the location of the user
or a Mobot, authenticate them, integrate assorted sensor informa-
tion and understand the environmental situation. An Embot may
include all the objects which have both network and sensing func-
tions, and be equipped with microprocessors. Embots generally
have three major characteristics, such as calm sensing, informa-
tion processing, and communication.
2.4. Mobile robot: Mobot
Mobot is able to offer both a broad range of services for general
users and specific functions within a specific u-space. Operating
in u-space, Mobots have mobility as well as the capacity to pro-
vide general services in cooperation with Sobots and neighboring
Embots. Mobot has the characteristics of manipulability by imple-
menting arms and mobility which can be implemented in various
types, such as wheel and biped. Mobot actions provide a broad
range of services, such as personal, public, or field services.
Proceeding of the Second American University of Sharjah International Symposium on Mechatronics, Sharjah, U.A.E. April 19-21, 2005

Sobot
Sensors
Vision Sound Tactile Gyro IR Timer
Perception
module
Symbolizer
Attention selector Reward/penalty
Symbol vector
signal

Preference Voice Learning

learner learner module

Motivation Homeostasis Emotion

Virtual environment

Curiosity Fatigue Happiness

Sensor
Intimacy Hunger Sadness
value Internal
Monotony Drowsiness Anger state
module

Masking
Inherent
behavior Behavior
Urgent
selector
flag
module
Behavior selector

Behavior Behavior End signal

Actuator
Motor
module

Figure 2: Internal architecture of Rity

3. IMPLEMENTATION OF SOBOT 3.2. Internal state module

Sobot is a software robot which recognizes a situation by itself, be-
haves based on its own internal state, and can interact with a person
in real-time. Sobot should be autonomous; it must be able to select
a proper behavior according to its internal state such as motiva-
tion, homeostasis and emotion. Also, Sobot should be adaptable;
it should adapt itself to its environment. For the purpose of achiev-
ing these functions easily and efficiently, Sobot mimics an animal
which is an autonomous and adaptable agent in nature. Fig. 2
shows an internal architecture of the proposed Sobot, Rity, where
necessary modules are defined as follows: 1) Perception module,
which perceives environment through virtual and physical sensors,
2) Internal state module, which includes motivation,homeostasis
and emotion, 3) Behavior selection module, which selects a proper
behavior, 4) Learning module, which learns from the interaction
with a people, and 5) Motor module, which executes a behavior
and expresses emotion.
3.1. Perception module
The perception module includes a sensor unit, a releaser having
stimulus information provided by a symbol vector and a sensitivity
vector, and attention selector. This module can perceive and assess
the environment and send the stimulus information to the internal
state module. Sobot has several virtual sensors for light, sound,
temperature, touch, vision, gyro, and time. Sobot can perceive 47
types of stimulus information from these sensors. Based on these
information, Sobot can perform 77 different behaviors.
The internal state module defines the internal state with the mo-
tivation unit, the homeostasis unit and the emotion unit. Motiva-
tion (M ) is composed of six states: curiosity, intimacy, monotony,
avoidance, greed, and the desire to control. Homeostasis (H) in-
cludes three states: fatigue, hunger, and drowsiness. Emotion (E)
includes five states: happiness, sadness, anger, fear, and neutral.
According to the internal state, a proper behavior is selected.
3.3. Behavior selection module
Behavior selection module is used to choose a proper behavior,
based on Sobot’s internal state as well as stimulus information.
When there is no command input from a user, various behaviors
can be selected probabilistically by introducing a voting mecha-
nism, where each behavior has its own voting value. The algorithm
is described as follows: 1) Determine temporal voting vector, Vt
using M and H, 2) Calculate voting vector V by masking Vt with
attention command and emotion masks, 3) Calculate a behavior
selection probability, p(b), using V , 4) Select a proper behavior b
by p(b) among various behaviors.
Initially, the temporal voting vector is calculated from the mo-
tivation and homeostasis as follows:
³ ´
VtT = MT DM + HT DH
(1)
=[vt1 , vt2 , · · · , vtn ]

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Proceeding of the Second American University of Sharjah International Symposium on Mechatronics, Sharjah, U.A.E. April 19-21, 2005

Even if a behavior is selected by both internal state and sensor

  information, there are still some limits on providing Sobot with
dM 11 dM 12 ··· dM 1n natural behaviors. ‘Inherent behavior selector’ makes up for the
 ..  weak points in the behavior selector. It imitates an animal’s in-
 dM 21 dM 22 . 
DM =


 stinct. For instance, as soon as an obstacle like a wall or a cliff is
 .. .. 
. . found, it makes Sobot react to this situation immediately. Since it
dM x1 dM xn uses only sensory information directly, its decision making speed
  (2) is faster than that of the behavior selector. The deterministic in-
dH11 dH12 ··· dH1n
herent behavior selector and the probabilistic behavior selector are
 .. 
 dH21 dH22 .  complementary to each other for realizing a natural behavior. This
DH = 


 means that it can help Sobot do right thing while carrying out var-
 .. .. 
. . ious behaviors.
dHy1 dHyn
3.4. Motor module
where n, x and y are the numbers of behaviors, motivations, and
homeostases. vtk , k = 1, · · · , n, is the temporal voting value, The motor module incorporates an actuator to execute behaviors
DM and DH are weights connecting the motivation and home- and present emotions subject to the situation.
ostasis to behaviors, respectively.
As a next step, various maskings to the temporal voting vector,
3.5. Learning module
Vt are implemented considering emotion and external sensor infor-
mation. Here, three kinds of masking are implemented to the tem- Learning module consists of preference learner and command learner.
poral voting vector. These three kinds of maskings are ‘masking The former is to teach Sobot likes and dislikes for an object. If
for attention,’ ‘masking for command,’ and ‘masking for emotion.’ Sobot gets a reward or a penalty, the connected weights from the
The masking process is to select a more appropriate behavior such symbol to internal states are changed. On the other hand, the latter
that it prevents Sobot from carrying out unusual behaviors. For is to teach Sobot to do an appropriate behavior which a user wants
example, a behavior when it recognizes a ball should be different Sobot to do.
from that when it recognizes a person. When Sobot does not see The learning can be considered as adjusting weighting param-
the ball, ‘masking for attention’ to the ball is carried out such that eters between commands and behaviors; if Sobot does a proper
behaviors related to the ball are masked out and are not activated. behavior for a given command, the weight between the command
An attention masking matrix Qa (Sa (t)) is obtained by the at- and the behavior is strengthened, and others are weakened. How-
tention symbol, Sa (t). Each attention symbol has its own masking ever, there are usually tens of behaviors. Thus, the learning process
value and the matrix is defined as follows: requires lot of time. Also it may be difficult to expect a desired
behavior for an ordered command. To solve these problems, anal-
  ogous behaviors are grouped into a subset before learning. For in-
q1a (Sa (t)) 0 ··· 0 stance, the set ‘SIT’ is composed of behaviors such as sit, crouch,
 .. 
 0 q2a (Sa (t)) .  and lie, and so on, as similar behaviors to ‘sit.’ If a proper behavior
Q (Sa (t)) = 
a


 is carried out for a certain command, all the corresponding weights
 .. .. 
. . of the subset are strengthened and vice versa. The update law is as
0 qna (Sa (t)) follows:
(3)
Wij (t + 1) = Wij (t) + ρRi (6)
where n is a number of behaviors, q a (·) is a masking value, and (
0 ≤ q a (·) ≤ 1. Similarly, command and emotion masking matri- +Cr on reward
Ri =
ces are defined. −Cp on penalty
From these three masking matrices and the temporal voting where Wij is a weight between the ith command and the jth be-
vector, the behavior selector obtains a final voting vector as fol- havior subset, ρ is an emotion parameter, Ri is for a weight change
lows: for reward or penalty, and Cr and Cp are positive constants. When
Sobot receives a patting (hitting) through a tactile sensor or a praise
VT =Vtemp
T
Qa (a)Qv (c)Qe (e) (a scolding) through a sound sensor, the perception module trans-
(4) lates it as a reward (penalty). Weight is increased on reward, and
=[v1 , v2 , · · · , vn ] decreased on penalty as shown in (6). It should be noted that an
emotion parameter, ρ is employed to consider the fact that learning
where vk , k = 1, 2, · · · , n, is the kth behavior’s voting value. rate depends on internal states. That is, learning speed is fast when
Finally, the selection probability p(bi ) of a behavior, bi , i = happiness value is high and vice versa.
1, 2, · · · , n, is calculated from the voting values as follows: Although the learning has been done on a behavior subset
vi level, considering the direct contribution of the selected behavior
p(bi ) = P
n . (5) the command masking values are assigned differently as follows:
(vk )
k=1
v
By using the probability-based selection mechanism, the be- qm (ci ) = αWij
(7)
havior selector can show diverse behaviors. q v (ci ) = βWij

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Proceeding of the Second American University of Sharjah International Symposium on Mechatronics, Sharjah, U.A.E. April 19-21, 2005

with α > β > 0

v
where qm (ci ) is a masking value of a behavior, bm carried out just
now by the command, Ci and q v (ci ) indicates masking values of
other behaviors in the same subset, Bi and α and β are positive
constants. The command masking matrix is updated in proportion
to weight values. A behavior activated just now and other behav-
iors in the same subset influence different weight changes by α
and β. Since α is bigger than β, the activated behavior gets a
larger weight value than others in the same subset.

4. DEMONSTRATIONS FOR UBIBOT

To demonstrate the usability of Rity for Ubibot, a Sobot, Rity is

developed in a 3D virtual world. The following two demonstra-
tions show seamless and omni-presence properties of Sobot.
Figure 4: When Rity recognizes its master

4.1. Seamless integration of real and virtual worlds

This section will demonstrate how, in a virtual environment, Rity
will continuously cooperate with the real world with the help of a
USB camera. The face recognition system stored in a PC watches
the neighboring environment through the USB camera and, when a
human is detected, analyzes, recognizes and authenticates the face.
The result is to be sent to Rity through the network. Sobot will then
react to the vision input information as it would normally react us-
ing the virtual sensing information. If the human is Rity’s master,
Rity will tend to stare at the master and happily greet him/her.
Fig. 3, 4 and 5 are photographs of computer screens show-
ing the virtual pet, Rity, in a virtual 3D environment. The small
window at the bottom right of Fig. 3 shows the visual information
in the form of a recognized face. A PCA method[20], which has
been enhanced based on the evolutionary algorithm, was used for
face detection. The window at the top right shows the graphical Figure 5: When Rity detects a stranger
representation of the internal states of Rity.

Rity Rity’s internal state 4.2. Omni-present Sobot

Voice command Emotion Master’s face recognition
Figure 3: Seamless integration of real and virtual worlds
Fig. 4 shows an example, in which Rity recognizes its master.
Rity then shows a happy look and welcomes him, with an increase
of such internal states as curiosity, intimacy, and happiness.
In Fig. 5, when a human who is not the master appears, Rity
ignores him/her. In this case, for example, the internal state keeps
as it has been.
This section discusses how Sobot can be connected and transmit-
ted any time and at any place. Fig. 6 shows the interaction between
Sobot A, owned by User A and Sobot B, owned by User B.
For example, Sobot A is implemented at a local site, connects
to the network and then invites Sobot B, located at a remote site,
into its local space. Both Sobots (A and B) should have their own
individual IP addresses. The User B will type in the ID and pass-
word and the IP address of Sobot B in order to access the remote
site. Once access is approved, Sobot B, carrying its native charac-
teristics and behavior patterns, can enter the local environment of
User A.
In Fig. 7, there are two Sobots in the local space. They look
the same but have different characteristics. If the user gives the
same stimulus to the two Sobots, for example, clicks once to pat
or twice to hit, each Sobot will react differently because of their
different characteristics. Fig. 7 shows the results of the experi-
mentation after applying 10 instances of patting, or clicking, on
both Sobots A and B. The figure shows the changes in internal
states, facial expression and their behavior. As the amount of cu-
riosity, intimacy and happiness increases, Sobot A starts moving
around with a happy face, Fig. 7(a). On the other hand, in the case
of Sobot B, the drowsiness increases making it sad and eventually
sleepy. Fig. 7(b) and7(c) shows a comparison of the internal states
of Sobot A and B.

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Proceeding of the Second American University of Sharjah International Symposium on Mechatronics, Sharjah, U.A.E. April 19-21, 2005

(a) (b)

Figure 6: Omni-present Sobot (a) connection with another Sobot

in a remote site (b) IP address of a Sobot in a remote site, username
and password for certification (a)

Sobot can be downloaded and sent regardless of whether the

site is local or remote. This is made possible by defining a common
platform of the 3D graphic environment along with sensors and
behaviors.

5. ROBOT GENOME

This section presents a way to build an artificial creature that would

be capable of human-style evolution. As is well known, there are (b) (c)
no one gene - one trait relationships in naturally evolved systems
because of the pleiotypic and polygenic nature of the genotype,
Figure 7: Omni-presence (a) Sobot A in a local site and Sobot B
where pleiotypic nature has the effect that a single gene affects
downloaded from a remote site (b) Internal state of Sobot A (c)
multiple phenotypic characters and polygenic nature has the effect
Internal state of Sobot B
that a single phenotypic character is affected by multiple genes. It
means a single genetic change can affect every phenotypic charac-
teristic. with
To reflect this nature, unlike previously devised methods that
associated stimuli with responses, Rity’s chromosomal coding con-    I   B 
tains a sophisticated weighting system provided in the internal ar- xF
1 x1 x1
chitecture (Figure 2). Internal relationships created by the weight-  xF   xI2   xB 
 2  I   B  2 
ing system allow Rity to be an individual capable of more than xF k = ..  , x k =  .. ,x k =  ..  (9)
 .   .   . 
purely mechanistic response. Also it has a kind of programmed
xF
p xIq xB
n
favoritism for one subtle shade of emotional or rational response,
over another. where p, q, and n are total numbers of F-genes, I-genes, and
Rity has fourteen artificial chromosomes by which its traits B-genes in a chromosome. In Rity, p = 5, q = 47, and n = 77.
can be passed on to its offspring. It perceives 47 different types Consequently, a robot genome G, which means a chromoso-
of stimuli and can respond with 77 different behaviors as its re- mal set with genetic codes determining Rity’s personality, is de-
sponses. Figure 8 shows its 14 chromosomes, where chromosomes fined as
C1 -C6 are related to motivation, C7 -C9 to homeostasis, and C10 - £ ¤
C14 to emotion. Also, motivation is composed of six states (chro- G = C1 C2 · · · C14 . (10)
mosomes): curiosity (C1 ), intimacy (C2 ), monotony (C3 ), avoid-
ance (C4 ), greed (C5 ), and desire to control (C6 ). Homeosta- F-genes represents fundamental characteristics of Rity, includ-
sis includes three states (chromosomes): fatigue (C7 ), drowsiness ing genetic information such as volatility, initial and mean value of
(C8 ), and hunger (C9 ). Emotion includes five states (chromo- each internal state, some intrinsic parameters, etc. Volatility means
somes): happiness (C10 ), sadness (C11 ), anger (C12 ), fear (C13 ), whether the internal state is volatile or non-volatile since operating
and neutral (C14 ). point in time. F-genes can also include sex, life span, color and so
Each chromosome Ck , k = 1, 2, · · · , 14, consists of three on to define its fundamental nature.
kinds of genes: F-genes xF k , I-genes xI k , and B-genes xR k , de- I-genes includes genetic codes representing its internal prefer-
fined as ence by setting the weights between the stimulus and internal state.
Theses genes shape variety of the internal state affected by stimuli
  and have information of whether the stimulus satisfies, amplifies,
xF k or has nothing to do with the internal state. After the birth, the
Ck =  x k 
I
(8) preference can be trained on-line by adapting the weights like pet
xB k training.

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C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 C10 C11 C12 C13 C14

F-GENES

I-GENES

(a) (b)
B-GENES

Figure 9: Two different chromosome set of “Ritys”: (a) chromo-

some set of Rity A and (b) chromosome set of Rity B

Figure 8: Artificial chromosomes of Rity

B-genes includes genetic codes related to output behavior by

setting the weights between the internal state and voting vector.
These genes are in charge of behavior selection, its frequency, and
its activation level based on the internal state. They also include
masking information which prevents Rity from doing unnecessary
emotional expression and behaviors.
Genetic robot can be defined as a robot which has its own ge-
netic codes. This section verifies the concept of genetic robot by
implanting the artificial chromosomes into Ritys. The genes in
Figure 8 are originally represented by real numbers; values of F-
genes range from 1 to 500, I-genes from 0 to 5000, and B-genes
from 1 to 1000. Like a DNA analysis, these genes are normalized
to brightness values from 0 to 255, which are expressed to black-
and-white rectangles. The darker the color is, the higher its value
is.
Figure 9 shows two different chromosome set of “Ritys.” As
per their genetic codes, no two Ritys react the same way to their (a)
surroundings as shown in Figure 10. One was bored; the other was
panted and expressed “happiness” at the sight of their human han-
dlers because they had a different personality. It totally depends
on their genes.
Current version is equivalent to a single strand of genetic code
of real numbers rather than the complex double helix of a real chro-
mosome. One of future works is on the equivalent of X and Y
chromosomes that would confer sexual characteristics. Thus, if
male and female like each other, they could have their own chil-
dren. Also the software chromosomes will be implanted in a mo-
bile robot so that they will imbue the robot with life. Consider-
ing the concept of ubiquitous robot and ubiquitous computing en- (b) (c)
vironment, however, a key future work should be that the robot
genome is to be sent via the Internet to other computers or pieces
of hardware, becoming a sort of wirelessly transmissible ”soul” Figure 10: Rity A and Rity B in a virtual space: (a) Rity A and
that would invisibly control the actions and desires of future inter- Rity B, (b) Internal state of Rity A, and (c) Internal state of Rity B
connected appliances, from devices in a ”smart” home or office, to
cellphones or security cameras including ubibots.

AUS-ISM/05-7
Proceeding of the Second American University of Sharjah International Symposium on Mechatronics, Sharjah, U.A.E. April 19-21, 2005
6. CONCLUDING REMARKS
This paper introduced a ubiquitous robot, Ubibot, as a third gen-
eration of robotics, which integrates three forms of robots: Sobot,
Embot and Mobot. Rity, a Sobot or an artificial creature living in
a virtual 3D world of a PC, was implemented using two scenarios
to demonstrate the possibility of realizing Ubibot. The first sce-
nario illustrated how Rity, with the support of Embot, could recog-
nize its master and reacted properly. This was to show the seam-
less integration of real and virtual worlds. The second scenario
demonstrated how Sobots could be transmitted through networks
and be transposed into different locations. This was to demonstrate
the omni-presence capability by using Sobot. This paper also pro-
posed a new concept of robot genome to investigate “The Origin of
Artificial Species,” such as genetic robot. The robot genome was
implanted into Rity to test a feasibility that genetic robots could
have their own personality. The artificial chromosomes will lead
the genetic robot to reproduction and evolution.
In the new ubiquitous era, our future world will be composed
of millions of u-spaces, each of which will be closely connected
through ubiquitous networks. In this u-space we can expect that
Ubibot will help us whenever we click as Genie of the Magic Lamp
did for Aladdin.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the Ministry of information & Com-
munications, Korea, under the Information Technology Research
Center (ITRC) Support Program.
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