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Meet RoCo, the Coolest Robot at the Clark School

The story "This robot follows you around and blasts you with air conditioning" ran in The Washington Post on June 30, 2016. The article describes RoCo, a "roving comforter" robot. It's a heater and air conditioner on top of a mobile base that can autonomously follow you around, gently blowing warm or cold air at you to keep you at a comfortable temperature. Researchers at the University of Maryland's Center for Environmental Energy Engineering designed and built RoCo with the goal of reducing the cost of heating and cooling buildings. The project is funded by the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E).

Click here to read the article and watch a video about RoCo.

Additional Media Placements

Bloomberg, "Here Are the Energy Miracles Bill Gates Is Hoping For." March 1, 2016.

Greentech Media, "The New Frontier in Energy Efficiency on Display at ARPA-E: Personal Heating and Cooling." March 3, 2016.

CityLab, "To Save Big on Energy, Heat People, Not Air." March 4, 2016.

IEEE Spectrum, "ARPA-E Funding Personal Climate Control Systems with Robots, Foot Coolers, and More." March 10, 2016.

Smithsonian.com, "Five Technologies That Would Heat or Cool People and Not Entire Buildings." March 15, 2016.

Tampa Bay Times, "Yes, please! This robot follows you around and blasts you with air conditioning." June 30, 2016.

Wireless Design & Development, "3 Super Creepy, Semi-Useful Robots." June 30, 2016.

Published July 1, 2016