History and creation

NAO was created by the Frenchman Bruno Maisonnier, who is also the CEO of Aldebaran Robotics.

NAO is presented for the first time to the public at the end of 2006.

Six prototypes of this robot were developed :

January 2005 to March 2006 : AL-01, AL-02 et AL-03
September 2005 to July 2006 : AL-04
June 2006 to June 2007 : AL-05.a
May 2007 to December 2007 : AL-05.b

At the end Mars 2008, a first succeeded version was delivred to the participants of the RoboCup : the NAO RoboCup Edition.
NAO project is sponsoring by 8 companies :

Austriamicrosystems
Cogmation Robotics
Creapole
Solidworks
Gostai
PM'up (région île-de-France)
CRITT (Centre Régional d'Innovation et de Transfert de Technologie)
Oséo Anvar