Tesla is looking to create a humanoid robot that is sure to draw comparisons to Star Trek’s beloved android Data.
Elon Musk has been a major critic of artificial intelligence, leading him to cofound OpenAI in an effort to ensure AI research and development is done in a responsible way. Tesla is working to build on that research with the Tesla Bot.
The company’s describes the project’s goal:
Develop the next generation of automation, including a general purpose, bi-pedal, humanoid robot capable of performing tasks that are unsafe, repetitive or boring. We’re seeking mechanical, electrical, controls and software engineers to help us leverage our AI expertise beyond our vehicle fleet.
Tesla Bot Standing – Credit Tesla
Recognizing the potential danger such a robot could pose (think I, Robot), Musk has said the robot is “intended to be friendly.” In addition, Tesla is designing the robot so that at “at a mechanical level, a physical level, you can run away from it [its top speed is 5 MPG] and most likely overpower it.”
In the presentation announcing the company’s plans, Musk drew a direct comparison to Tesla’s vehicles, saying the company was already one of the biggest robotics makers on the planet. Taking its existing advancements and applying them to a humanoid robot was the next evolution of the company’s ambitions.
Google has launched Intrinsic from X, its moonshot factory, in an effort to reinvent industrial robots.
Intrinsic CEO Wendy Tan-White made the announcement via a blog post.
Intrinsic is working to unlock the creative and economic potential of industrial robotics for millions more businesses, entrepreneurs, and developers. We’re developing software tools designed to make industrial robots (which are used to make everything from solar panels to cars) easier to use, less costly and more flexible, so that more people can use them to make new products, businesses and services.
Alphabet and Intrinsic see easier-to-use, less expensive robotics as a way to help countries around the world improve their manufacturing processes.
By unlocking access to these incredible productivity tools, we hope to support a shift towards a more sustainable and equitable way of making things. Currently just 10 countries manufacture 70% of the world’s goods. This means most things are made far away from their end consumers, which drives global transport emissions, and many countries and businesses miss out on economic opportunities. Even countries with strong manufacturing sectors need help meeting demand: the US manufacturing industry alone is expected to have 2.1 million unfilled jobs by 2030.
While Alphabet’s X division has a mixed track record, in terms of building successful companies, Intrinsic certainly seems poised for success, addressing a viable need.
Boston Dynamics’ robots showed some impressive dance skills, with four robots dancing to The Contours’ Do You Love Me.
Boston Dynamics is one of the leading robotics firms in the world, and has a history of showing off its robots in whimsical ways. In 2018, its SpotMini danced to Bruno Mars’ Uptown Funk.
The company’s robots have now upped their game, with four robots, representing three different models, dancing in sync to Do You Love Me.
Hyundai recently announced it was acquiring a controlling interest in Boston Dynamics. Hyundai is working on non-traditional automobiles, including ones that switch from wheels to walking legs for travel over uneven terrain that would otherwise not be traversable, making Boston Robotics a perfect fit.
With Hyundai’s stake in the robotics firm, who knows, perhaps we’ll one day see dancing cars.
The Raspberry Pi Foundation has just released the Raspberry Pi 400, a desktop PC in a keyboard.
Raspberry Pi computers were initially developed to aid in teaching, especially in communities and countries where cost was the prime factor. Over time, the computers became popular with programmers and tinkerers and are widely used in certain fields, such as robotics.
Now the foundation has released its latest version, which is built into a keyboard, being the closest to an all-in-one machine the foundation has ever produced. Sticking with its low cost-of-entry, the Raspberry Pi comes in at a mere $70.
The keyboard computer features a quad-core 64-bit processor, 4 GB of RAM, WiFi, 4K video playback and dual-display output. It also ”comes with a mouse, power supply, micro HDMI to HDMI cable, and SD card preloaded with Raspberry Pi OS.” All a user needs is a monitor and they’re ready to go.
This new addition to the Raspberry Pi family will no doubt be a big hit and make it even easier for people to get onboard.
H-E-B is planning to use Swisslog robots to improve its curbside delivery services through the use of micro-fulfillment centers.
As the coronavirus pandemic has impacted how people go about their daily lives, curbside grocery pickup has experienced major growth. In an effort to improve curbside pickup, without negatively impacting the in-store expense, H-E-B is turning to robotics.
The goal is to create a number of automated micro-fulfillment centers to meet customers needs. As an added benefit, because of their smaller footprint, it should be possible to place micro-fulfillment centers closer to neighborhoods, making it easer and faster for customers to pick up their groceries.
“Swisslog is pleased H-E-B put their trust in us to automate and support their facilities with state-of-the-art automation and software,” said Mitch Hayes, vice president of e-commerce and retail, Swisslog Logistics Automation, Americas. “COVID-19 and anticipated behavioral changes have created increased urgency around the need for automation within many grocery operations. E-grocery automation is no longer an option…it’s a requirement for survival and continued growth.”
IBM and AT&T are deepening their 5G and edge computing partnership, with the goal of accelerating the business world’s digital transformation.
The two companies are working at IBM’s Thomas J. Watson Research Center, where they are “deploying AT&T’s 5G and multi-access edge computing (MEC)—a private cellular, low latency solution that can process data on a business site’s premise, instead of routing traffic over public networks.”
The two companies have a years-long history of working together, a partnership that helped them both respond to the coronavirus pandemic by helping customers with their work from home needs. Now the two companies are building on that track record, working on new ways to enable remote work, especially in those industries where it has not yet been possible.
“Combining 5G with edge computing, for example, could open the door to breakthroughs in robotics and the ability to perform intricate machine work from remote locations,” write Mo Katibeh, AT&T Chief Product and Platform Officer and Steve Canepa, IBM General Manager of the Global Communications Sector. “One of the tasks we are exploring at Yorktown Heights envisions enabling a researcher to remotely adjust locations of IoT network devices in a laboratory. Another envisions allowing a systems administrator to remotely rewire machines in a data center to provide a more agile environment.”
At the same time, the two companies are working to help employees be able to safely return to work.
“We are addressing workplace safety in a system driven by IBM AI and made feasible at scale by AT&T LTE and 5G mobile network technologies,” continue Katibeh and Canepa. “That includes AT&T MEC. This solution from AT&T enables the development and deployment of new capabilities that rely on ultra-low latency, higher security and privacy, improved bandwidth conservation and greater control of data.
“The low latency of 5G allows for remote operations in industrial settings, helping to keep workers from harmful situations. And if any dangerous situations do arise, edge computing is designed to let businesses capture and analyze data quickly without extra storage or processing on a central cloud.
“That same processing ability can help employees look after their health with devices to monitor their temperature, oxygen levels and blood pressure with instantaneous feedback. Hospitals can even take advantage of similar advances to make their current infrastructures more reliable, while implementing advances like wireless surgery, robotics, virtual reality simulations.”
IBM and AT&T’s partnership is poised to leverage emerging technologies to help companies now and in the future.
Researchers at the University of Maryland have developed ProxEmo, an “end-to-end emotion prediction algorithm for socially aware robot navigation among pedestrians.”
ProxEmo is designed to help robots interpret human feeling, based on their gait. This enables a robot equipped with ProxEmo to better interact with humans, giving them more or less space depending on their mood.
According to the researchers—Venkatraman Narayanan, Bala Murali Manoghar, Vishnu Sashank Dorbala, Dinesh Manocha, Aniket Bera—ProxEmo “achieves a mean average emotion prediction precision of 82.47% on the Emotion-Gait benchmark dataset,” and outperforms competing algorithms.
ProxEmo is a novel approach to AI and robotics, and could have a wide range of applications as the technology matures.
Walmart and Nuro have partnered to bring driverless grocery delivery to Houston, Texas, according to an announcement Nuro posted on Medium.
Nuro is a robotics company specializing in electric, self-driving vehicles. The company already operates a delivery service in Houston for Kroger. In their blog post, Nuro emphasized the benefits of working with Walmart, a company that revolutionized the supply chain and retail experience.
The service will be available to a select group of pilot customers at first.
“Nuro’s self-driving technology and fleet will power this pilot with Walmart to provide customers in Houston with another innovative, accessible option for getting the groceries they need day-to-day.
“To start, self-driving deliveries will be available to a pilot group of participants who have opted in to try the service, teaching us more about how to best serve those customers. Through the pilot, we’ll gain insights that will enable us to further develop and refine our service, while helping Walmart create the best end-to-end customer experiences.
“At Nuro, we believe in the power for self-driving technology to support and improve local commerce, and see this technology as a key part of our future. We’re working to expand our footprint in Houston, to maximize the impact of our delivery platform for the community at city-scale. Throughout 2019, we’ve been building toward this objective, and this partnership represents another step forward.”
Should the Nuro/Walmart venture prove successful, it’s a safe bet communities around the country may start getting their groceries delivered this way.
In a recent Brookings Institution report, authors Mark Muro, Jacob Whiton and Robert Maxim make the case that better-paid, white-collar professionals are most at risk of losing their jobs to artificial intelligence.
As the report points out, past studies have had little actual data to go on and have, instead, relied on case studies and subject assessments to predict which jobs and industries were most vulnerable.
“What’s more, most research has concentrated on an undifferentiated array of ‘automation’ technologies including robotics, software, and AI all at once,” the report says. “The result has been a lot of discussion—but not a lot of clarity—about AI, with prognostications that range from the utopian to the apocalyptic.”
In contrast, a new method devised by Stanford University Ph.D. candidate Michael Webb compares job descriptions with AI-related patents, giving a higher degree of accuracy.
The new data shows that low-wage jobs will continue to be heavily impacted by automation and robotics. When it comes to true AI, however, “the present analysis suggests that better-educated, better-paid workers (along with manufacturing and production workers) will be the most affected by the new AI technologies, with some exceptions.”
Professions that have a high amount of predictive work, or pattern-oriented tasks are the kind of jobs AI is particularly well-suited to take over.
“At the high end of AI involvement, for example, are numerous well-paid occupations that had relatively low exposure in our earlier, all-encompassing automation analysis. They range from market research analysts and sales managers to programmers, management analysts, and engineers. Often analytic or supervisory, these roles appear heavily involved in pattern-oriented or predictive work, and may therefore be especially susceptible to the data- driven inroads of AI, even though they seemed relatively immune in earlier analyses.”
In addition, individuals “with graduate or professional degrees will be almost four times as exposed to AI as workers with just a high school degree.” The data also shows that high-tech metro areas will be more susceptible than most rural areas.
The original, in-depth report is 46 pages long and is a fascinating read, providing some all-new insights into the far-reaching impacts AI will have on all economic sectors.
LG has announced another shakeup of its leadership, appointing Brian Kwon to the post of CEO.
Brian Kwon headed LG’s TV division until he was put in charge of the company’s ailing mobile business in 2018, where he succeeded in stemming losses. Thanks to his performance, he has been tapped to run the entire company as CEO.
“LG Electronics (LG) today announced that Brian Kwon, currently head of LG’s Mobile Communications and Home Entertainment companies, has been named to take the helm as Chief Executive Officer effective December 1. Other changes announced for 2020 include: Park Hyoung-sei as president of the Home Entertainment Company, new Mobile Communications Company president Morris Lee, William Cho in the newly created position of Chief Strategy Officer and Chief Financial Officer Bae Doo-yong.
“Brian Kwon has played an important role at LG in his more than three decades at the company. Mr. Kwon (56), joined Goldstar in 1987 and has held a variety of positions including business planning at LG Wales and head of the monitor division before being promoted to oversee the Home Entertainment Company in 2014. Mr. Kwon is a native of Busan, receiving his bachelor’s degree from Seoul National University and MBA from Aalto University in Finland.”
The company made it clear that it will focus on businesses with strong potential.
“Going forward, LG will expand its focus on future core and common technologies with the establishment of the Future Technology Center to support the existing Artificial Intelligence Lab, Advanced Robotics Lab and Software Business Project Management Office under the CTO division. Future businesses with strong potential, such as smart home, content partnerships and beauty care will be bolstered and broadened. Other organizational changes to speed up decision-making in critical areas will be implemented with some overseas responsibilities for research and development, production, purchasing and design transferred to headquarters.”
Boston Dynamics unveiled a robot dog named Spot in September and now, according to CNN, a Massachusetts police department has put the dog through its paces.
The Massachusetts State Police deployed Spot alongside its bomb squad for 90 days to see how the robotic K9 would perform in a real-world scenario, using Spot on two different occasions.
“Massachusetts State Police have used robots to assist in responses to hazardous situations for many years, deploying them to examine suspicious items and to clear high-risk locations where armed suspects may be present,” Massachusetts State Police director of media communications Dave Procopio said in a statement to CNN. “As part of our continual emphasis on examining the application of new technologies to our mission, we recently completed a test program of the Boston Dynamics robot known as ‘Spot.’”
The ACLU has express concern about Spot and how it will be used, citing past examples of how dogs and technology have both been used to harm civil liberties. In spite of the concern, Boston Dynamics’ lease agreement specifically covers using Spot in dangerous situations, such as investigating a suspicious package without putting humans in harm’s way. In addition to police work, the company also envisions it being used in high-risk occupations, such as mining.
While police departments, military, mining and other high-risk industries often employ robots, few existing designs offer the speed, mobility and nimbleness of Spot, whose claim-to-fame is its near-doglike range of motion.
“We are on the cusp of ubiquitous automation,” says ROBO Global President William Studebaker. “We have an undeniable inflection point because of the performance capabilities of computing and the cost curve declining such that these now are technologies that used to be science fiction but now have actual use applications. Fast forward six years later and we are at a launching pad in terms of the economic activity that we’re seeing and the innovations. Every sector of the economy is going to benefit from robotics and AI.”
William Studebaker, President and Chief Investment Officer of ROBO Global, discusses how robotics and AI are at an inflection point where soon every sector of the economy is going to benefit in an interview on CNBC:
Every Sector of the Economy is Going to Benefit From Robotics and AI
We were fortunate six years ago to develop an index that tracks the growth in robotics and AI because we saw these technologies changing the way we live and work. We are on the cusp of ubiquitous automation. We have an undeniable inflection point because of the performance capabilities of computing and the cost curve declining such that these now are technologies that used to be science fiction but now have actual use applications. Fast forward six years later and we are at a launching pad in terms of the economic activity that we’re seeing and the innovations. It’s being spread out to all parts of the economy. Every sector of the economy is going to benefit from robotics and AI.
We try to identify the companies that we think have the highest revenue threshold that corresponds directly to selling the technologies. We’re looking for high revenue purity. We’re also looking for large technological mode around their business and we have an interesting lens to capture this. We actually have seven PhDs on our team. They’re really the who’s who in robotics and AI that have built technologies, built businesses, or academic researchers, etc. That gives us a great lens to see not what yesterday’s winners are but what the future winners are likely to be. That gives us an interesting lens.
A World of Prediction, Prevention, and Individualizing Medicine
The official fee is 95 basis points. We do rebate securities lending which is effectively their 25 basis points. So the actual costs are 70 basis point to investors. With a team of industry experts that we have tracking this, I think that we do a pretty good job. We are generally the Alpha that investors are looking for. The index is up a little over 20 percent year-to-date and the last three years is probably close to up 15 percent. We think the inflection is starting here and we’ve got years if not decades of growth ahead of us.
Healthcare is probably one of the most exciting areas for investors to think about. Why? We’re going to a world of prediction, prevention, and individualizing medicine. Effectively, we’re going to create much healthier livelihoods for us but more pulling longer longevity. We live in a world that’s been historically sick care. We deal with the problem after it happens. We’re now going to a world of prevention, prediction, and individualizing medicine. A lot of healthcare structures tend to focus on therapies. We’re actually focused much more on the prediction and the prevention; diagnosis, medical instruments, regenerative medicine, and prevention. These are the kinds of technologies that investors need to embrace when they’re thinking about healthcare.
Every Sector of the Economy is Going to Benefit From Robotics and AI, says ROBO Global President William Studebaker
We’ve been talking about 5G for a very long time and now the opportunity is really here, says Kathrin Buvac, President and CSO of Nokia Enterprise. “We’ve said for a number of years that 5G will enable the Industrial Revolution.” Buvac added. “It’s clear that 5G has to be a lot more than mobility services. When I talk with enterprise customers I really do believe that these productivity gains that are spoken about are real. Operational efficiencies, process automation, all the way to dark factory operations to full autonomy, that is really what’s coming.”
We’ve been talking about 5G for a very long time and now the opportunity is really here. We’ve said for a number of years that 5G will enable the Industrial Revolution. It’s clear that 5G has to be a lot more than mobility services. When I talk with enterprise customers I really do believe that these productivity gains that are spoken about are real. Operational efficiencies, process automation, all the way to dark factory operations to full autonomy, that is really what’s coming.
Before we go to the deep depths of 5g technology I think they’re really two things. One is the convergence of IT and OT technologies. Enterprises need to bring their enterprise IT services and the operations technology together. That is not so easily done. The other thing is digital. Think about Amazon and Netflix and what they’ve done transforming physical goods, books into eBooks, and DVDs into streaming. That will not be possible unfortunately with Industry 4.0, meaning we cannot digitize a crane or a truck in a mine. That’s just not possible.
Industrial Digital Twins Powered Via 5G
What we will do is create digital copies of the big machines or robots. That is what we call the digital twins. What that has to do with 5G technology is that it all starts in connecting these sensors, these machines, these robots, these devices, the co-workers in the factories, in the minds, and in the energy networks. That is where ultimately we will need 5G technology because of the big promise of lower latencies or higher bandwidth capacity, etc.
I think there are a few geographies that are leading the industrial automation. I would say from our standpoint it’s clearly the US. It is clearly Germany where car manufacturing and many manufacturing opportunities are coming. It’s Japan and it’s a few other geographies across the globe that are really leading the pack right now in terms of the Fourth Industrial Revolution that we have to look into.
The Industrial Opportunity is Striking
One thing that is striking me is the industrial opportunity. Over 15 million industrial sites will be deployed in the next decade. We have today 6.5 to 7 million base stations deployed in LTE worldwide. So it’s more than double the number of industrial sites that we somehow all together need to deploy to enable IoT. How are we going to do that?
There is the issue of spectrum availability. We have to be super creative, whether that is shared license, CBRS, 3.5, large scale carrier subleasing spectrum, and making money through that. It’s so critical and that also determines which country, which geography, which enterprise customer will go first. Industrial devices will just not be as quickly available as the smartphone’s which will be made available this year. There is still a lag.
5G Is a Complete Redefinition of the Network
5G is a complete redefinition of the network. We have all discussed AI, edge, and cloud. But we have to bridge now for a couple of years for enterprise customers as we take them to 5G. The question is really because enterprise customers want to leverage productivity gains now, not tomorrow, like yesterday. The question is really how do we do that? Can we potentially provide private wireless networks, with the help of our telco customers, to enterprises that can then just be a software upgrade to 5G? We would do this while we deploy industrial sites today based on LTE technology.
Enterprise customers are wired a little bit differently than us consumers. think about uplink video. We’re just so used to down-linking from tablets as consumers. We need a lot of uplink capacity if we use email or if we browse. If for a millisecond the network doesn’t work it bothers us, but it’s not the end of the world. But we need six nines reliability in the network in order to make sure we have the unmanned vehicles in the mines or the robots and the factories running precisely with that accuracy. A lot of work is needed still to get the 5G networks where they need to be, but it’s really exciting times to build that infrastructure.
The recent USPS shipping structure changes will increase retailers shipping costs, says Rakuten CEO Mike Manzione. What Rakuten does is help retailers offset these increases by utilizing a network of order fulfillment centers, thereby controlling shipping costs while decreasing shipping times. “With the change to zone-based pricing for First Class Packages, all clients must reconsider how to locate their product closer to their customers,” says Manzione.
Retailers Must Locate Products Closer to Customers
Our continued expansion into major metropolitan markets is a commitment to our clients. We’re creating a network that provides our clients a greater choice and flexibility that aligns their customer base with their product. With the change to zone-based pricing for First Class Packages, all clients must reconsider how to locate their product closer to their customers.
By 2021, worldwide retail e-commerce sales are projected to be 4.9 trillion dollars (USD). At the same time, customers are demanding shorter shipping timelines. RSL is uniquely positioned as an industry leader with our nationwide network of fulfillment centers. With our increased major metropolitan presence, RSL will reduce ground transit delivery to within one day.
RSL To Open 6 New Ecommerce Fulfillment Centers
Houston and Los Angeles will be our first 2019 expansion markets. The new Houston facility will be strategic for our clients importing product and materials from all over the world – including Brazil and Germany. Los Angeles will be strategically located near the Port of Los Angeles, a major container port. The Los Angeles location will be instrumental for our clients that import product from Asia.
As a leader in the order fulfillment industry, RSL will also be employing state-of-the-art technology in all six new facilities. In 2018, RSL began deploying ‘order fulfillment robots’, developed by inVia Robotics, in its facilities nationwide and will be expanding with inVia’s automation technology in the new warehouses.
About Rakuten Super Logistics
RSL Fulfillment Centers have been carefully managed from the ground up, to create unique, high-velocity operations:
Maintain complete control of your fulfillment with a cloud-based fulfillment management system.
Save on shipping costs and expedite shipment times with the 2-Day Delivery Network.
Improve customer satisfaction and earn repeat business from shoppers.
Focus on your business by partnering with the industry leader in eCommerce order fulfillment.
The CEO of Geek+ Robotics Robotics, a China-based company, says they don’t see any strong competition outside of China and this includes the United States. “We’ve already entered Japan, Europe, Australia, and the United States and we are seeing a big demand for robotics and automation,” said Zheng Yong. “We almost cannot see any strong competitor outside of China.”
We think the market potential is quite high. We hope in the next four years we can deliver 20,000 to 50,000 robots per year. Our customers come from two directions. One is the retail companies including ecommerce. The second direction is the manufacturing companies.
There is very strong competition in China with lots of strong robotics companies that are growing very fast. We are not only starting automation solutions with robots to our customers, but we also provide logistic service to our customers. We own a lot of operational experiences and we combine those experiences inside our system. We have a lot of data and that will be a long-term advantage.
No Strong Competitor Outside of China
We haven’t got any money from the Chinese government directly. But because the government is promoting this concept in their Made in China Industrial Plan it can help us in the market. Overseas expansion will be our first priority next year. We’ve already entered Japan, Europe, Australia, and the United States and we are seeing a big demand for robotics and automation. We almost cannot see any strong competitor outside of China.
Our business is being impacted by the trade sanctions, taxes are higher. Our plan to grow our business in the United States is a little bit slowed down. We want to see the results of the trade conference between China and the US.
About Geek+ Robotic
Focusing on Logistics and Warehousing, Geek+ leads the technology revolution, by applying advanced robotics and AI technologies to realize high-flexibility and intelligent logistics automation solution. Geek+ provides leading, reliable, one-stop enterprise-level service with strong technological strength, precise customer understanding, thorough after-sales service, and ISO 9001: 2008 quality system.
Geek+ R&D team consists of Ph.D. and master graduates from Tsinghua, PKU, CAS, BEIHANG, USTB, etc., with much solid research and practice experience in the fields of robotics, embedded development, software engineering, artificial intelligence, most of them have joined domestic/international robotic contests and won the championship. All products are developed independently and possess the core patents, with a world-class level performance.
In that’s just wonderful news, the Google-owned Boston Dynamics is now testing its ATLAS humanoid robot outdoors, which led to this incredibly creepy footage:
No, ATLAS isn’t particularly agile – yet. But the way it ambles along, like a drunk, homicidal toddler, is more than a little unnerving.
That’s a Google-owned robot that can pretty much ruin your camping trip.
According to Boston Dynamics, ATLAS is “a high mobility, humanoid robot designed to negotiate outdoor, rough terrain. Atlas can walk bipedally leaving the upper limbs free to lift, carry, and manipulate the environment. In extremely challenging terrain, Atlas is strong and coordinated enough to climb using hands and feet, to pick its way through congested spaces.” It’s meant to be a rescue bot.
It’s partially funded by the US military (DARPA) and includes “28 hydraulically-actuated degrees of freedom, two hands, arms, legs, feet and a torso.”
Boston Dynamics was acquired by Google in 2013 and put under its X labs. With the new restructuring efforts, it’s unclear if this robotics division will remain under Google or be put under Alphabet.
Neato Robotics put out a fun late Friday press release asking what the big deal is about Google’s driverless cars.
As you’ve probably heard, Google has been showing off a new prototype for the future of automobiles, which goes so far as to remove the steering wheel, and gas and brake pedals.
“What’s the big deal? We’ve had a self-driving robot without a steering wheel and brakes for many years!” said Nancy Nunziati, Neato’s vice president of marketing. “There are lots of similarities, but Neato is available now. And you don’t need seatbelts or approval from the US Department of Transportation to use it.”
Are you lonely? Can’t find a partner and/or pet to make the journey we call life more bearable? Would a humanoid robot buddy make living less of a chore? If so, you can now build your own with a 3D printer and some off-the-shelf parts.
Inria Flowers Lab has just recently revealed its latest creation – the Poppy humanoid robot. It’s a lightweight robot made with 3D printed limbs and a variety of cheap motors and electronics. The most impressive aspect of the Poppy is that it can move like more advanced robots for a fraction of the cost thanks to its bended legs, light frame and small motors that help it keep balance.
The creators of the Poppy have generously decided to make its design open source so anybody can make their own Poppy while adding their own tweaks to the design to make it even better. All you need is about $10,000 worth of parts to make it a reality. While that might sound like a lot, it’s actually really cheap for a robot of this sophistication.
While the Poppy is already at an impressive stage of development, it’s not finished just yet. The team says that it’s about 75 percent done, but it needs your help. It’s currently looking for beta testers who want to build their own Poppy robot and test various features. They’re also looking for people to help them work on the software. You can find out more about that here.
While I am inherently distrusting of robots, there’s something about the Poppy that I can trust. Perhaps its the open source nature of the project, or that it’s just so adorable. Either way, I’m sure I’ll regret it when an army of Poppy robots invade the country.
Despite being around for over two decades, the 3D printer hasn’t really changed all that much. You still have an extruder that moves in straight lines across a bed to create a 3D printed object from the bottom up. What would happen then if we turned that concept on its head with a 3D printer that can print on any surface in any direction?
Researchers at the TU Delft Robotics Institute have partnered with Oce Technologies to create a new kind of 3D printer that’s unlike anything we’ve ever seen before. The two equipped a robotic arm with a high-end extruder to create a 3D printer that can print on just about any surface. It can print objects on bent surfaces, or even add onto currently existing objects.
Check it out:
So, what kind of applications could this have? One obvious application is the restoration of complex objects. For example, the above 3D printer could be used to restore the hull of a boat. It could also be used in construction. The current idea behind 3D printed housing is to lay concrete in straight lines. With a 3D printer like this, one could design far out architectural designs that just aren’t possible through normal construction.
The above examples won’t come to fruition anytime soon though as TU Delft’s 3D printer is still just a prototype. In fact, it can only lay a single layer at this time. As the technology progresses, however, we’ll hopefully soon see robotic arms printing in all kinds of directions.
Your back is pressed against the wall of a crumbling and shaking building, dust collects in your face, and your ears ring from repetitive explosions that never stop. As you tuck your head in from the bullets that zip past you, you look through squinted eyelids and see something galloping closer and closer:
This little baby is Boston Dynamics’ “WildCat”, a machine part of their “Cheetah” series, and the fastest legged robot in the world that can run at 28.3 mph while it’s tethered on a treadmill. On flat terrain, with no tethers, the robot can reach speeds up to 16 mph. Humans can run up to 5 mph, but you can probably get occasional bursts up to 12 to 15 mph with all that adrenaline pumping in your arteries.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the same people that brought you the internet, is funding the robot developers over at Boston Dynamics through their Maximum Mobility and Manipulation program.
Boston Dynamics says the Cheetah has “an articulated back that flexes back and forth on each step, increasing in stride and running speed, much like an animal does.”
Cheetah is not the first, and definitely not the last.
On March 17th, 2008, Boston Dynamics revealed its first video on YouTube of Big Dog, a four-legged robot that rebalances itself when kicked, throws cinderblocks, and carries itself over hills.
Below, you’ll find the Legged Squadron Support System (LS3). It can carry 400lbs of payload, travel 20 miles without the need to refuel, and can be operated through voice commands.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W68VVn-d5uA
DARPA gave Boston Dynamics $10 million in funding the LS3, and wants the next-gen to be, “an enhanced version of the LS3 system with increased reliability and usability, enhanced survivability against small arms fire and a quiet power supply to support stealthy tactical operations.” The work is expected to be finished by March 31st, 2015.
This is PETMAN, the bipedal robot. Boston Dynamics says it’s an “anthropomorphic robot designed for testing chemical protection clothing. Natural agile movement is essential for PETMAN to simulate how a soldier stresses protective clothing under realistic conditions.”
Familiar with videogames? Because this is all starting to sound familiar.
In a serious instance of life-mimicking-art, Hideo Kojima, creator of video game series Metal Gear Solid (MGS) has given a glimpse of what the future on the battlefield holds. The robots you see in this video are called “Gekko”, and before any word of Big Dog came out, videogames like MGS, in a sense, predicted what the future holds on the battlefield.
Beyond the striking similarities of Metal Gear Solid’s mechas and the Boston Dynamics’ robots, Gekko actually bleeds, much like PETMAN which “simulates human physiology” actually sweats.
I would not doubt that Kojima knows the real history of war and our future.
War demands legs, not wheels.
In September of last year, DARPA introduced the world to its cheetah robot. It can run at speeds up to 29 MPH, but it posed no threat to humanity as it was confined to a treadmill and the connecting wires that powered it. Now that very same robot has been set free.
DARPA and Boston Dynamics introduced WildCat to the world this week. It’s the same cheetah robot as before, but now it’s fully autonomous. As long as the robot is on flat terrain, it can reach speeds up to 16 MPH. It wouldn’t be able to outrun sprint runners like Usain Bolt just yet, but it would have no problem catching the rest of us.
Pretty amazing, right? As the engineers continue to work on WildCat, they’ll no doubt reach a point where it will be able to reach test lab speeds on open terrain. Once it reaches that point, there’s no salvation for humanity. The robots will even win the Olympics just to rub it in our subjugated faces.
