Meet the AMBIDEX from NAVER LABS: a 7DOF 2-arm robot arm with a unique cable driven mechanism that can operate safely around humans. It has a lightweight design and can high-five a human at 5m/s without hurting them. This robot is controlled with a haptic device. It can be used to assemble things and perform a wide variety of other tasks. The below video shows it in action:
Robots can play all kinds of games. We have already covered a few of them that play chess, basketball, rock-paper,-scissors, and even badminton. Namiki’s Air-Hockey Robot is also worth a look. It is smart enough to change is strategy depending on your playing style. It uses a 4-axis robotic arms and two high speed cameras to pull it of.
AI is going to make robots a whole lot smarter. They will be able to take certain actions before we do. Take Emo for instance: it is a silicon robotic face that uses AI models to replicate a person’s smile before they even smile. It has 26 actuators.
Here is a robotic pool cleaner with an underwater vision system to get the job done more efficiently. The Valor P10 has 8000GPH suction power. It can detect fallen leaves, branches, and floor drain. It uses a camera, laser, sonar, geomagnet, and IMU to get the job done.
Meet the ROMATRIS: an autonomous mobile robot designed to transport loads on challenging terrains. It is able to follow rescue workers on rough terrains and carry over 100kg of load. It can independently drive back and forth between two points. As the researchers explain, they tasked the robot with carrying a 120kg generator across railway tracks and over a dike hill.
In the past few years, we have covered drones that carry a wide variety of items. Transporting poles can be quite challenging though. Researchers have come up with an aerial robot (Geranos) for this very purpose. It grabs poles at their center of mass to reduce the effect of inertia. It requires only 2 actuators for gripping.
This drone can transport poles up to 2m in length. It weighs 3kg and has under 5cm placement accuracy.
[HT: Nicolas Gorlo, Samuel Bamert, Rafael Cathomen, Gabriel Käppeli, Mario Müller, Tim Reinhart, Henriette Stadler, Hua Shen, Eugenio Cuniato, Marco Tognon, Roland Siegwart]
Here is another app connected robotic mower that cuts your grass without you having to break a sweat. The Padbot robot has a silent design and can cover an area of up to 9600sqft. It has various safety features built-in, including lift sensor and emergency stop.
The idea of using robots and drones to inspect wind turbine blades is nothing new. We have already covered a few services for that. Aerones uses drones for autonomous visual inspection of wind turbine blades. It captures 100m images. These drones an insect one turbine in 30 minutes.
Boston Dynamics is behind some of the smartest robots we have seen. Their robot dogs have gotten a lot of coverage in the media. Spot is smart enough to take on challenging safety and incident response tasks. It has a variety of sensors and can be used to gain situational awareness from a distance.
Spot has a robot arm that can manipulate objects. It can detect hazardous materials. These robots can even be used to place camera and radios for reconnaissance.
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Flying Kyxz has uploaded a bunch of videos showing their flying hoverboards. The Hoverboard Air from the Philippines can take a person off the ground and move in the air in a stable fashion. This new video shows this manned drone flown in Batangas.
