One of the more interesting companies entering the personal robotics space is White Box Robotics, which is planning to “…create and develop PC-BOTs — plug-and-play robots created almost entirely from off-the-shelf computer parts.”

The Model 914 PC-BOT is their first product, and features a raft of advanced features: speech recognition/synthesis, object recognition and vision-based navigation. The architecture of the robot is based entirely on common PC hardware standards, so it uses PCI slots, standard drive bays, common connectors for CD-ROM drives, etc. It’s a promising idea, and other companies are thinking the same thing: White Box joined forces in May 2005 with Ontario-based Frontline Robotics, a firm which manufactures mobile security robots. Another bonus: Whether intentional or not, model 914 also bears a passing resemblence to the squat, beloved R2 units featured so prominently in the Star Wars films. Check out the White Box website here and founder Tom Burick’s blog here.