ATOM-7xp Robot Unveiled [Homebrew American Robot Uses Off-The-Shelf Parts]

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Most sophisticated humanoid robots we see are one-off robots from some giant Japanese conglomerate with completely custom parts and software. Enter the ATOM-7xp robot, built by a man named Dan Mathias with parts supplied by FutureBots. The ATOM-7xp is running Intel Atom processors and Windows operating systems.

FutureBot provides “robotic components for the Hobbyist and professional”, so everything that makes up the ATOM-7xp bot is commercially out there for you to buy. The ATOM-7xp is powered by not just one, but two Intel Atom processors (the 330 and 230, unfortunately – no Pine Trail), and has two ‘computers’ inside of him, one running Windows XP and one running Windows 7, or as the FutureBot website claims, “the worlds most advanced operating systems”.

The bot can run by himself or be controlled via a Telepresence bot. Despite being a homebrew bot, ATOM wasn’t cheap, and it cost Mr. Mathias “two mortgages and lots of sweat”, although it was still probably cheaper than the Japanese bots (for example, the Honda ASIMO costs $1 million USD to take one home – and that’s after 25 years of research and development).

For those interested in ATOM, Dan Mathias and ATOM-7XP will be featured in the upcoming issue of ROBOT magazine.