CoroWare Technologies, a wholly owned subsidiary of CoroWare, Inc., announced today availability and pricing for the CoroBot Jr™, the most affordable intelligent unmanned ground vehicle ("smart UGV") for robotics researchers and developers.

Mobile robotics researchers and developers are looking for affordable and flexible platforms on which they can develop applications and services for UGVs. Low cost platforms in the marketplace typically lack the integrated computing platforms, while smart UGVs are typically unaffordable.

The CoroBot Jr is an affordable smart UGV that includes a water resistant chassis with an integrated PC-class CPU, on-board infrared sensors, an HD 1080p camera, and a wireless controller for teleoperation. The CoroBot Jr is available with two chassis options: 3 wheeled (2 drive motor) chassis and 4 wheel (4 drive motor) chassis.

The CoroBot Jr is available with either of two operating system options: Ubuntu Linux with Robot Operating System (ROS), and Microsoft® Windows 7 Professional for Embedded Systems.

"The CoroBot Jr was designed to minimize the cost and complexity of developing mobile robot applications," said Joe Daziel , business unit manager at CoroWare Technologies. "Combined with our software development kits for Linux and Windows, we are confident that the CoroBot Jr will be a powerful tool for robotics researchers and application developers worldwide."

The CoroBot Jr is also available with two robotic arm options: one capable of lifting up 100 grams, and the second capable of lifting up to 600 grams. Both CoroBot Jr robot arms are capable of up to five degrees of freedom. The CoroBot Jr water resistant chassis can be mounted with additional hardware components and allows researchers and developers to modify and customize each robot to meet specific requirements.

"The CoroBot Jr is a remarkably affordable option for researchers and developers that are prototyping new robotic applications and solutions," said Dan Kara , robotics industry analyst and President of Electra Studios. "The platform provides a high level of functionality at relatively low cost, and in doing so it will spur the development of innovative applications that can be deployed across a range of ROS-based UGV platforms in a number of vertical market segments."

Pricing and Availability
The CoroBot is expected to begin shipping in March 2013. The list price for the CoroBot Jr is US $2,299 and ranges up to US $3,999 depending on choice of chassis and robot arm configurations.

Source: http://www.coroware.com