At last week’s CES in Las Vegas, Japanese firm Aeolus Robotics introduced a dual-arm humanoid robot and is looking for US partners to provide a robot-as-a-service subscription model.

Called Aeo, the robot combines mobility with functionality to perform tasks such as opening doors, picking up objects and riding elevators. It suits various service tasks including delivery, security, eldercare, kiosk operation and ultra-violet germicidal disinfection.

Aeo is available as a robot-as-a-service with plug-and-play attachments and integration with third-party developers such as Asratec of Japan and Malibu AI in Taiwan. The dual arms have seven degrees-of-freedom (DoFs) allowing it to perform tasks such as delivery or disinfection with one arm, while the other arm is free for mobility tasks such as operating elevators and opening doors. The arms have a 3.6kg single-arm lift capacity.

Vision algorithms provide capabilities from determining the posture and position of residents for eldercare safety to detecting open windows or misplaced backpacks for security services.

“Our goal is to create robots that will enhance quality of life and advance the positive impact robots already have on society,” said Alexander Huang, CEO of Aeolus Robotics. “Our first single-arm robot in 2018 pushed the state of the art for what a robot assistant could achieve, but we wanted to do more. Our experience deploying robots in environments as diverse as senior care, hospitals, public transportation offices and hotels, led us to develop our dual-arm humanoid robot Aeo, what we consider a truly capable, multifunctional service robot for real-world facilities.”

The robot is deployed in Japan, Hong Kong and Taipei. In Japan, it is serving some of the largest eldercare providers, such as Medical Care Service, Cocofump and Himedic, along with some of the largest Japanese real-estate and property management companies, including Tokyu Group and Globeship.

Aeo offers a broad range of services such as night shift patrol for resident safety, delivering medical supplies across hospitals, disinfecting facilities, and patrolling offices and schools for intruders and misplaced items.

“Our company operates a timeshare membership hotel, which includes a senior care department that operates as a combination of hospitality, medical care and nursing care,” said Kayo Kojima, general manager at Himedic. “The robot is already one of our colleagues and a key member of our team. The robot takes on completing simple tasks that frees up our staff to have more time to interact with patients and staff. As a result, the resident and patient care interaction and hospitality services we provide will improve.”

Founded in 2016, with robots deployed in Japan since 2019, Aeolus Robotics is now expanding to markets around the world. It is soliciting partnerships with integrators and distributors in the USA to roll out Aeo through a robot-as-a-service subscription model.