Enchanted Tools: A heart for robots and hospitals

The Digitec and Galaxus editorial team will be reporting on site from IFA 2023 in Berlin. You can find all the news and background information published so far in our overview:

There's also this at IFA: inventors who want to make the future a little bit friendlier without the backing of big brands. In the form of robots, for example. Sorry, characters - that was the big mistake that Jerome Monceaux, founder and CEO of Enchanted Tools, made at the beginning. According to Monceaux, we humans find it difficult to trust machines. But if you gave them a soul, a character - a story - everything would be different.

Monceaux's creations have one: The two models built so far are Miroka and Miroki, sister and brother, and they are so-called Mirokaï, who come from a distant planet where they have harmonised nature, magic and technology. Now they want to turn to us, the humans, to help us make everyday life easier and focus on the things that matter: finding each other.

But their planet is too far away for them to show up in person. So they project their consciousness millions of light years across the universe, where Enchanted Tools has built them a robot-like suit that allows them to manifest on Earth.

Smart everyday helpers with smart runes

"Nice, cute robots!", I say to my colleague Florian, who has stumbled across Miroki, the brother, while wandering through the exhibition halls with me, "but... what exactly do they do?"

At the start, Miroki and Miroka's tasks are simple, we are soon told. They are supposed to lift, move and transport things. Enchanted Tools has already entered into initial partnerships with large hospitals in France for this purpose.

"You have no idea how many kilometres nurses travel every day just to pick up things like medication or bring them to someone," a man with a French accent explains to us in English. The Mirokaï are supposed to do this, he continues. This leaves the carers more time for what is important: caring for their patients.

Further locations are also already planned. In hotels, for example. Restaurants. Airports. Or in shopping centres. Anywhere where people travel many kilometres a day for what are essentially simple transport routes.

The two cute little guys move on a sphere. This is easier than designing legs that are capable of all the microsteps required in their areas of use. Another clever idea is to have Miroki and Morka grasp things they know: Sticks. Their hands were designed for this purpose. The rods themselves are attached to things - such as trolleys or toolboxes - that need to be transported. This saves the tedious configuration, development and programming of dedicated gripper hands for all possible form factors. It is sufficient for their hands to be able to grip the Enchanted Tools wand.

Another component is the small smart tag. Or Rune, to stay in Mirokaï-speak. The tag is assigned to a specific object or person via voice input. For example: one smart tag is in "medicine box A", another smart tag is in "Doctor Zhivago". Sister Mary Clarence can now say: "Miroki, please fetch medicine box A and bring it to Doctor Zhivago". Miroki will now know exactly where to get what and where to take it based on the location of the two smart tags.

Apropos: Miroka and Miroki got the comic look in collaboration with the French film studio Gaumont. If you're interested in their full story, including animated videos and charming concept art, click here.