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IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Evolution Robotics Begins Shipping First-of-Its-Kind Robot Developer Kit

Evolution Robotics provides developers and manufacturers with a comprehensive software and hardware kit to create autonomous personal robots.

Pasadena, CA May 1, 2002 Evolution Robotics, Inc., a robotics technology and professional services company, today began shipping its Robot Developer Kit. Following the companys successful launch in February 2002, Evolution Robotics completed the development of an industrial-strength kit, made up of the necessary software and hardware tools needed by developers and manufacturers to quickly create autonomous personal robots for the home and workplace, with minimum complexity. In bringing the kit to market, Evolution Robotics has added a servo motor option and a new personality software module to allow the creation of more effective human-robot interactions.

The Robot Developer Kit (RDK), built to support application development using the Evolution Robotics Software Platform, allows developers to create behaviors and applications for various prototypes as they move through the product design and development lifecycle. The RDK comes with easy-to-assemble aluminum hardware, plug-and-play expandable electronics, stepper or servomotors, and a copy of the Evolution Robotics Software Platform, developer tools, APIs and documentation. The platform has a complete robot control architecture with ready-to-use capabilities, such as following a target, detecting and avoiding obstacles, listening for voice commands and responding with speech, and exhibiting personality.

The Apple II and the IBM PC launched and, in many respects, created the PC revolution by providing small inexpensive computers to end users and developers, who then invented the amazing set of applications we have today, said Don Norman, Professor of Computer Science at Northwestern University and guru of workable technology, as cited by Newsweek. Evolution Robotics has done the same thing by facilitating the first affordable home robot for the right set of users and developers to give us the amazing applications of the future. Today, the personal robot has taken its first step toward becoming a standard member of society.

Evolution Robotics has added to its original offering this year, a customizable personality module that will enable developers to create unique personalities and digital characters to enhance the user interface of their robots. The personality module comes with three predefined faces that tie directly into the software architecture of the robot and display emotions based on the robots ability to complete a task. Revealing and demonstrating the inner workings of the robot will greatly enhance the experience of owning and working with a robot, said Bill Gross, Executive Chairman and Visionary Leader of Evolution Robotics. When robots begin to enter our daily lives, it will be critical that they are designed to help their human owners understand how they work and when they might need assistance that is what our personality module is designed to do.

Evolution Robotics includes twelve months of free upgrades, including its upcoming object recognition module that will be available in Q2 of this year.

The Robot Developer Kit we have developed is a clear sign of Evolution Robotics commitment and passion to bring to market the next wave of personal robot products for the home and workplace, said Bernard Louvat, President and COO of Evolution Robotics. By providing the Evolution Robotics open software platform as the fundamental building blocks for the Robot Developer Kit, we have created a standard upon which all future personal robots can be built and developers can depend. Furthermore, our professional services group of accomplished and proven scientists, engineers and consultants can serve to assist developers and manufacturers in incorporating advanced robotic technologies into their product lines with efficiency and devotion.

Specifically, the standard Robot Developer Kit will include:

• A robot control module - control up to two stepper motors or two servo motors with separate encoder inputs

• Sensors nine infrared IR sensors, one USB Camera, bump sensors and a microphone

• Drive and power two stepper or servo motors, differential steering and 12v battery

• Variable modular aluminum chassis components and plastic connectors for quick and flexible construction of hundreds of different designs

• World-class technical support, developer tools, and documentation including the application program interface (API) for the

Behavior modules (such as speech, vision, and personality) Behavior layer Hardware layer Application utilities

Evolution Robotics offers the Robot Developer Kit in two configurations one configured for lab or team use, and the other configured for individual use at three price levels, ranging from $1495 to $9995.

For more details, visit http://www.evolution.com/

Evolution Robotics will be participating at the upcoming ICRA Conference, May 11-15 in Washington DC, and the E3 Expo, May 21-24, 2002, at the Los Angeles Convention Center. The company will be demonstrating its latest technology and software accomplishments with a variety of robots.

About Evolution Robotics
Evolution Robotics, Inc. is a robotics technology and professional services company that is creating what will become the dominant open software platform for the personal robotics industry. This standard software platform will greatly accelerate the development of personal robots by allowing OEMs and developers to build personal robots and robotics applications quickly and cost-effectively. Based in Pasadena, California and founded in March 2001, Evolution Robotics has developed the Evolution Robotics Software Platform, a proprietary, open, behavior-based, modular, portable, customizable, hardware-independent and scalable software architecture that will foster the creation of a variety of personal robots and applications. Evolution Robotics is an operating company of Idealab, a creator and operator of technology businesses.