INTRODUCTION TO

NAO
ROBOTICS LABARATORY , KUMARAGURU COLLEGE OF
TECHNOLOGY COIMBATORE

NAO AN OVERVIEW
Nao is an autonomous, programmable humanoid
robot- Aldebaran Robotics, Paris.
The project NAO was launched in 2004
In March 2008, the first production version of the
robot, the Nao RoboCup Edition
5th version, about 9,000 NAOs have already been
sold throughout the world.
Aldebaran, Softbank Group 450 employees stands
unique in making one of the first commercial robots
in the globe

NAO AN OVERVIEW
Invented for teaching autistic children. The company has ever
researched on humane solutions
Academic research Robotics engineering, philosophical
experiments and psychology
NAO has one another twin PEPPER which concentrates more in
adapting to the emotions of human.
NAO has yet another brother- Romeo which is a 140 cm tall
humanoid robot, designed to explore and further research into
assisting elderly people and those who are losing their autonomy.

NAO - ANATOMY
Moving : 25 degrees of freedom , Inertial unit maintain his balance , to know
whether he is standing up or lying down.
Feeling : The numerous sensors in his head, hands and feet, as well as his sonars,
enable him to perceive his environment and get his bearings.
Hearing and speaking : With his 4 directional microphones and loudspeakers, NAO
interacts with humans in a completely natural manner, by listening and speaking.
Seeing : NAO is equipped with two cameras that film his environment in high
resolution, helping him to recognise shapes and objects.
Connecting : To access the Internet autonomously, NAO is able to use a range of
different connection modes (WiFi, Ethernet).
Thinking : We can't really talk about "Artificial Intelligence" with NAO, but the robots
are already able to reproduce human behaviour.

NAO V5 - REVOLUTION
NAO EVOLUTION has the most up-to-date operating system, NAOqi 2.0 which
is a LINUX based operating system.
Height (mm)

Depth (mm)

Width (mm)

574

311

275

Weight: 5.4kg
Material:
ABS-PC/PA-66/XCF-30 Thermo plastic materials

CONSTRUCTION

NAO BATTERY
NAO can be used while it is plugged in with the adapter. But the battery will
charge only if NAO is powered off and plugged to its adapter.
Battery type

Lithium ion

Nominal voltage/capacity

21.6 V / 2.25 Ah

Max charge voltage

25.2 V

Recommended charge current

1.8 A

Max charge / discharge current

2.3 A / 2.0 A

Energy

48.6 Wh

Charging duration

< 3h00

Autonomy

~ 60 min (active use) ~ 90 min

(Normal use)

CONTROL AND CONNECTIVITY

Motherboard:
ATOM Z530 1.6 GHz CPU
1 GB RAM
2 GB Flash memory
8 GB Micro SDHC
Communication:
Ethernet
WiFi
USB

NAO - INTERACTION
NAO is equipped with a stereo broadcast system made up of 2 loudspeakers
in its ears.
Microphon
es

x4 on the
head

Sensitivity

20mV/Pa
+/-3dB at
1KHz

Frequency
range

150Hz to
12kHz

NAO- Seeing
Two identical video cameras are located in the forehead.
They provide a up to 1280x960 resolution at 30 frames per second. They can
be used to identify objects in the visual field such as goals and balls, and
bottom camera can ease NAOs dribbles.

NAO - SENSORS
FSR stands for Force Sensitive Resistors.
These sensors measure a resistance change according to the pressure
applied.
The FSR located on the feet have a working range from 0 N to 25 N.

NAO - SENSORS
INERTIAL UNIT:
a 3-axis gyrometers with an angular speed of ~500/s,
a 3-axis accelerometer with an acceleration of ~2g.
SONAR:
Frequency: 40kHz
Resolution: 1cm-4cm (depending on distance)
Detection range: 0.20 m - 0.80 m
Under 20 cm there is no distance information, the robot only knows that an object is present.
Above 80 cm the value returned is an estimation. For further details, read the important tips
in US/Sensor (m).
Effective cone: 60

NAO - SENSORS

INERTIAL AND SONAR UNITS

NAO - SENSORS
JOINT POSITION SENSORS:
From 36 to 2 MRE (Magnetic Rotary Encoders) using Hall-effect sensor
technology.
12 bit precision, i.e. 4096 values per turn corresponding to about 0.1
precision.
CONTACT AND TACTILE SENSORS:
3 x head capacitive sensors.
2 x 3 x hand capacitive (3 for each hand).
2 x bumpers located at the tip of each foot. These are simple ON/OFF
switches, thus 4 in total.

NAO - SENSORS
TACTILE SENSORS:

NAO CHOREOGRAPHE
Choregraphe is a multi-platform desktop
application.
It allows you to:
Create animations and behaviors, Test
them on a simulated robot, or directly on a
real one, Monitor and control NAO.
In addition, it allows you to add your own
Python code to a Choregraphe behavior.