Bizzy and Martian Robots | 2019

Designers: Akifusa Nakazawa and Dan Harden, Whipsaw, Inc., San Jose, California, USA
Manufacturer: Bizzy Robotics, Inc. dba Martian Robots, Berkeley, California, USA

Bizzy and Martian are two robot concepts that came out of a Stanford Research Institute study. Home service robots will soon become ubiquitous, and this project was intended to explore what these robots could look like and how they would work.

Bizzy and Martian are affordable robots designed to perform simple chores, like picking up laundry and toys, fetching drinks, wiping counters, and watering plants.
These robots are compact moving appliances that roam around your house doing tasks you don't want to do or can’t do.
The single arm on each robot proved quite capable at grasping and placing. They can also reach down to floors, up to countertops, or go inside containers.
Each concept imagines advanced AI control and behavior-modifying machine learning, so they merge into one's lifestyle like a pet. Bizzy and Martian are profound visions of the near future.

Design Innovation
Home service robots don't exist yet, so Bizzy and Martian needed to establish a novel paradigm from scratch. Everything required original conception, including the robots’ aesthetics, functionality, usability, and business model.

This innovation includes:
- The ability to endlessly perform annoying but necessary tasks
- Uniquely integrated one-arm architecture, featuring extended reach capabilities
- New robot form languages that don’t look human
- New robot personalities are conveyed through display gestures and body movements
- Straightforward and essential-only functionality, so they are affordable (key to success)
- It proves how simple robots can be
- Bizzy’s arm tucks neatly aside the vertical column when idle. Martian’s arm remains horizontal and “at your service”
- Compact dimensions when stored and going to the task area and the capability to grow in height when needed to do specific tasks
- Intuitive AI control and programming interfaces on friendly round “faces”
- The touch and voice-controlled UX solution gives users complete intuitive command
- The cost of goods is less than $800.

The dream of owning your own household service robot that can do chores, while also being cute and intelligent, has remained elusive because robots are intrinsically complicated and expensive machines.

We brought this dream closer to reality by imagining a holistic solution that includes utility, affordability, acceptability, emotionality, and ease of use. The design profession has never had a more exciting subject than robotics, and Bizzy and Martian celebrate this vision.

Benefit to User
Bizzy and Martian have enormous benefits to users. They perform the daily tiring and thankless tasks, freeing people to spend more quality time together and engage in more enjoyable and meaningful activities at home.

Bizzy and Martian can mobilize anywhere in the house. They can lift up to five pounds, collect and carry items such as drinks, toys and laundry. They can walk a dog and water plants.
They have embedded A.I. to communicate, take Internet orders, secure the house, and more. Artificial intelligence gives them a lively personality and lets them guess and accurately respond to unknown situations.