EP.14 ROBOT THAT LOOKS LIKE A HAMSTER BALL
Gecko combined with magnets, Meta focuses on robotics, a cheap robot-dog and much more...
Hamster ball robot can fly over obstacles 🐹
Evolute Robotics, a tech company from Arizona, has amazed the robotics world with its latest creation, the Hybrid Mobility Robot (HMR). This robot features a spherical cage that can fly like a multi-copter or roll skillfully using gyroscopic gimbal rings, leaving spectators in awe. The brilliance of the HMR lies in its lightweight exoskeleton, acting as a clever shock absorber upon landing and isolating key electronics from vibrations while navigating rough terrains with ease.
During flight mode, the cage ensures safety around the four propellers, making it suitable for indoor applications despite its intimidating appearance. Founded by the visionary University of Arizona graduates, Revolute Robotics plans to position the HMR as an autonomous inspection robot for confined spaces. Its flight mode allows it to ascend vertical pipe sections effortlessly, unlike traditional wheeled robots.
Revolute envisions the HMR as an autonomous security drone with potential military applications. Intelligent swarms of HMRs could offer diverse perspectives on targets, opening up exciting possibilities for the future. In mining, search and rescue, and hazardous activities like bomb disposal, the HMR can excel, ensuring enhanced safety and efficiency compared to human intervention.
With $115,000 secured through a successful StartEngine investment crowdfunding campaign, Revolute Robotics is closer to commercial deployment and manufacturing, propelling the world of robotics into a new era.
Gecko robot climbing walls and ceilings 🧗🏼
The Magnecko robot, a creation of eight engineering students from ETH Zurich research institute, combines the climbing abilities of a gecko and a spider. This quadruped robot utilizes special electro-permanent magnet modules developed at ETH's Robotic Systems Lab, allowing it to autonomously transition between walking on both horizontal and vertical ferromagnetic surfaces without needing electricity.
Each module consists of multiple smaller magnets that can be magnetized and demagnetized within a fraction of a second using a short electric pulse. These powerful magnets, when magnetized, enable the robot to walk upside-down, with just one foot capable of holding up to 2.5 times its total weight.
The robot can be equipped with various sensors, including a depth-sensing camera, further enhancing its capabilities. Currently, the Magnecko robot is operated using a wireless handheld controller, but the team plans to equip it with autonomous obstacle avoidance and route planning capabilities in the future. Its insect-style configuration and magnetic feet offer versatility, making it suitable for inspection, surveillance, and even potential maintenance or remotely operated repair tasks.
Meme of the week 🤖
I wonder when this will become a reality. As you can see, last-mile delivery still remains a job for people.
Meta collaborates with Boston Dynamics 🦮🤖
Meta AI and Fundamental AI Research (FAIR) have collaborated with Boston Dynamics' Spot to advance the capabilities of embodied AI agents for challenging sensorimotor skills. The Meta researchers focused on enhancing Spot's high-level reasoning and planning abilities, aiming to make it adept at handling unfamiliar environments and understanding natural language instructions.
They trained three Spot robots using simulation data, exposing them to retrieving everyday objects in various settings like homes, apartments, and offices.
Their efforts led to two significant breakthroughs. The first was the development of an artificial visual cortex called VC-1, which either matched or outperformed best-known results on 17 different sensorimotor tasks in virtual environments.
The second breakthrough involved the creation of a new approach called adaptive, or sensorimotor, skill coordination (ASC), which achieved nearly perfect performance on robotic mobile manipulation testing. With ASC, Spot exhibited a remarkable 98% success rate in locating and retrieving unfamiliar objects, compared to just 73% with traditional methods.
Zack Jackowski, the general manager for Spot at Boston Dynamics, expressed enthusiasm about how Meta is utilizing Spot as they had hoped, envisioning a future where Spot can handle more complex tasks based on verbal commands.
Quadruped robot from $1600 💸
Chinese company Unitree has launched the second-gen robot dog, Go2, which is an incredibly athletic and agile companion. Weighing about 15 kg (33 lb) and standing 40 cm (16 in) tall, the Go2 can follow you at jogging speeds, perform gymnastic feats, and even engage in GPT-powered conversations, writing code on the fly.
Equipped with super wide-angle LiDAR and HD cameras, the Go2 can navigate its environment in real-time, walking alongside you, avoiding obstacles, and adapting to various terrains, including stairs and rocks. The Pro model boasts 30% more torquey motors, enabling it to jump, perform backflips, and maintain extraordinary balance.
The highlight of the Pro model is its GPT-enabled speech engine, allowing natural language conversations. Impressively, it will also attempt to write code in response to verbal requests, interpreting intentions and offering assistance. While its practical utility might be limited at this stage, it showcases fascinating possibilities.
Despite the pricing being somewhat disingenuous, the Go2 offers remarkable value when compared to Boston Dynamics' Spot robot dog, which costs closer to $75,000. With various accessories available, such as a back-mounted robotic arm and grabber, depth cameras, and radar modules, the Go2 can be programmed through an app if voice control isn't preferred.
🚨 BREAKING NEWS
Major patent lawsuit concludes: AutoStore to compensate Ocado with $256M
Ocado Group and AutoStore Holdings have reached a complete settlement in their global patent dispute. AutoStore, which had accused Ocado of infringing upon six of its patents, will pay £200 million (approximately $256 million) to Ocado in installments over the next two years.
As part of the agreement, both companies will cross-license each other's pre-2020 patents, enabling them to continue using and marketing their existing products without challenge. The settlement allows both Ocado and AutoStore to focus on advancing their respective technologies and business goals.
Source: The Robot Report - https://www.therobotreport.com/autostore-to-pay-ocado-256m-in-patent-lawsuit-settlement/
Free robotics courses:
🤖 Stanford, AI in robotics: https://www.classcentral.com/course/udacity-artificial-intelligence-for-robotics-319:
Learn how to program all major systems of a robotic car with a focus on AI and robotics, led by the Google and Stanford autonomous driving teams, offered as part of the Georgia Tech Masters in Computer Science, featuring a final project involving chasing a runaway robot.
🤖 MIT, Underactuated robots: https://www.classcentral.com/classroom/mit-opencourseware-underactuated-robotics-spring-2009-40949
Explore the control of underactuated mechanical systems using machine learning methods, focusing on nonlinear dynamics of passive robots (walkers, swimmers, flyers), motion planning, partial feedback linearization, energy-shaping control, analytical optimal control, and reinforcement learning/approximate optimal control, with insights from biology and applications in legged locomotion, compliant manipulation, underwater robots, and flying machines.
🤖 Stanford, Robotic car: https://www.classcentral.com/course/udacity-cs-8802-artificial-intelligence-for-robotics-programming-a-robotic-car-1021
Learn from the leader of Google and Stanford's autonomous driving teams, and master programming major robotic car systems with a focus on AI, covering probabilistic inference, planning, localization, tracking, and control, through extensive programming examples and assignments, offered in the Georgia Tech Masters in Computer Science, culminating in a final project involving chasing a runaway robot.
Job offers:
🦾 FANUC: Technical Support Engineering - IoT
📍Luxembourg, Europe
🦾 ABB: Technology Manager Software & Digital, Robotics
📍Sweden, Europe
🦾 ABB: Robotics Engineer
📍Spain, Europe