Category: Robots

KAWASAKI BEX: RIDEABLE GOAT FROM INTERNATIONAL ROBOT EXHIBITION

By Isaiah Richard

Kawasaki made a rideable electric goat, and the company released this for the world to see via the International Robot Exhibition in Tokyo, Japan. Instead of a bipedal human that resembles the method of humans by standing on their two feet, it stands on all fours. Unlike humans, the new Kawasaki Bex robot is a quadruped device that owners can modify to anything fully modular. 

According to an online video posted via YouTube by Kazumichi Maruyama, Kawasaki’s take on the IREX 2022 event in Tokyo is to bring a rideable goat as its latest innovation for mobile machines. The device resembles the Ibex, a wild goat usually found in mountainous regions of East Africa, North Africa, and Eurasia.

Kawasaki named this the “Bex” and is a quadruped robot that walks on all four legs and has been a long-term project from the company since 2015. The Bex came from the Kaleido Program. Its focus is to give the world a robot that can perform multiple tasks by carrying the load and transporting it, even for mountainous regions.

As global demand soars, extractive industries are embracing automation.

Written by Greg Nichols

A mining outfit in Australia is making a big bet on big robots. Following a recent proof of concept at a gold mine, mining contractor MACA will retrofit a fleet of 100 very large vehicles to create one of the largest autonomous heavy equipment fleets in the world.

This is a pretty significant rollout and a proverbial canary in the gold mine for the sector’s broader automation ambitions. With the world hungrier than ever for precious and rare earth metals, technology is increasingly called on to make mining operations more efficient and cost-effective while unlocking increasingly scarce resources.

Powering the new rollout is autonomous heavy equipment company SafeAI and its Australian partner, Position Partners. This new generation of autonomous heavy vehicle technology is a major upgrade from the first generation retrofits, which had limited onboard processing power and took a long time to see ROI in most cases. Early versions of autonomous vehicle technology in the sector also operated with closed legacy systems, preventing mixed fleets from communicating. Industries like mining have had this tech for 20 years now, but the lack of accessibility means it hasn’t really taken off yet.

Autonomy 2.0 is changing that. AI-powered and armed with multimodal sensors (lidar, radar, camera), these new systems have significant onboard processing power to reduce network reliance and enable fast decisions. It’s also open, interoperable, and vehicle-agnostic — meaning tech like SafeAI’s retrofit autonomy can be applied to any vehicle, at pretty much any age from any manufacturer.

Have a clogged pipe? GE has a new robot that could help.

Everyone who lives in an older home knows that plumbing is hell. The smallest problem involves a plumber cursing at your bathtub with a metal snake, or worse, a giant truck drilling its way through tree roots that are causing backups. You might even need to have a new pipe installed . . . simply to access your old ones! It’s as costly as it is absurd.

But what if there were something like a Roomba for keeping your piping clear? That’s exactly what’s being developed by GE Research as it debuts the Pipe-worm. It’s a long, soft-bodied robot that inches its way through pipes, just like an earthworm—while mapping its way in the dark, just like a cockroach. The tool is being designed for city infrastructure first, but could make its way into houses in the future.

“You could imagine, you put it inside your pipe and you never have to think about it again,” says Deepak Trivedi, a mechanical engineer at GE Research. “Because the robot lives there and takes care of your pipes without you ever worrying about it.”

THE COLMENA PROJECT WILL PUT ROBOTS ON THE MOON THIS YEAR

By Joshua Hawkins

The Colmena Project has officially launched with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Mexican Space Agency. The state of Hidalgo has also backed the project which will put five robots on the surface of the Moon next June. UNAM, the National University of Mexico, leads the project, which has been made possible thanks to over 200 students involved with the Space Instrumentation Laboratory (LINX).

The Colmena Project is a monumental move for Mexico. Omar Fayad, Governor of Hidalgo, says that it is a representation of the country’s priority for the future. This is a unique moment for the world’s push for space, and Mexico playing a part will help spur even more science and progression throughout the country’s universities.

“COLMENA highlights all the values of the UNAM, and gives Mexican society a new way of seeing and understanding the modern world and the confidence that things are possible and that we can overcome our own limits,” Fayad said in a press release. Fayad says that the move may even inspire the next astronaut or leader of future missions.

The Virtrover mower robot.

By EMILIANO BELLINI

Developed by a French start-up, the robotic mower can be used in a 50-unit herd across a property of around 50 hectares and a radius of 20 km. It is powered by polycrystalline cells and equipped with battery storage. The system can operate with a maximum slope of 15% and reach a speed of 300m/h.

French start-up Vitirover has developed an automated PV-powered robotic mower for applications in vineyards and other agricultural fields.

“The robots are built at our headquarters in Saint-Émilion, in the Gironde department of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in southwestern France,” the company’s CEO and founder, Arnaud de la Fouchardiere, told pv magazine.

The 20 W device relies on polycrystalline solar cells, a battery and MPPT optimization. “Their price depends on the terrain, the state of the soil, the number of obstacles per hectare, the height of the solar panels, the way in which the motors are installed if they are trackers, and many other variables,” de la Fouchardiere explained.

The Spacebok robot (shown here) has the ability to leap across complex terrains.

The Mars-bound Perseverance rover is as sophisticated as it gets. The robotic vehicle features six science instruments, six cameras, six aluminum wheels, and even a helicopter. 

But can it jump?

Hendrik Kolvenbach, PhD researcher at the ETH Zurich Robotics Systems Lab, sees the best way to get around on the Moon as less of a step and more of a giant leap. Listen to our episode of Here’s an Idea to learn how Kolvenbach and his team are creating a technology that’s part space robot and part African springbok.

The “SpaceBok” can hop three feet in the air, continuously. The pogo-like hop is an efficient way to someday get around the low-gravity surfaces of the Moon, according to the robot inventor. 

“We have footage of astronauts who had been on the Moon and who would use a jump or a skipping gait, and they find it as the best way to travel,” Kolvenbach told us in our latest episode of Here’s an Idea.

SpaceBok measures about 2.5 feet long by 1.5 feet wide — the size of a small dog, says Kolvenbach. 

BY DAVID EDWARDS 

To meet farmers’ demands for more sustainable and profitable growing practices, Verdant Robotics has expanded its robot-as-a-service (RaaS) model to ensure access for more specialty crop farmers.

Founded in late 2018 by a leading roboticist, a software engineer, and a California farmer, Verdant has raised $21.5 million to develop the industry’s first multi-action, autonomous farm-robot capable of millimeter-accurate spraying, laser weeding, and AI-based digital crop modeling. 

Together with farming partners, Verdant uses these tools to deliver better outcomes: larger produce, greater yields and significant savings.

Verdant has already contracted to service approximately 40 percent of the US carrot market exclusively for the next five years and is currently scaling to meet the needs of the US multi-billion-dollar fruit and vegetable industry.

Usually, a single apartment unit takes up to 4 man-days of manual painting, while MYRO can auto-paint it within 4 hours

Arab News

Dubai: UAE-based Emaar Properties has deployed robots to complete the painting works of its luxury high-rise residential project in Downtown Dubai.

The robots for painting works are developed by MYRO International, a Singapore-based company known for distributing robotic products and automation solutions for the construction, painting, and coating sectors.

MYRO bots are currently deployed to Emaar’s residential project Forte, for a stage 1 trial. 

The productivity of these robots is nearly 1000 sq ft/hour, which is ten times faster than manual painting. 

Usually, a single apartment unit takes up to 4 man-days of manual painting, while MYRO can auto-paint it within 4 hours.

Coco bites into Texas. Photo courtesy of Coco

By Chantal Rice 

Austin’s decades-long transformation into a tech mecca is officially complete.

Sure, we’ve got more than our fair share of tech behemoths — Dell, Tesla, Oracle, WP Engine, Indeed, Google, and Bumble — and a healthy smattering of smaller tech enterprises that further advance the Capital City as the next Silicon Valley.  

But the true indicator that a city has become a tech hub is found in its proclivity to not rage against the machine. And that’s precisely what drew the city’s newest robots to Austin.

Coco, the Los Angeles-based business that offers a remotely piloted delivery service, has hit the streets of Austin with its food-delivery bots as part of its expansion to targeted markets. Fueled by a recent funding round that garnered the company $56 million, Coco’s expansion plans also include rolling out bots in the Houston, Dallas, and Miami markets soon.

“When evaluating markets for expansion, Austin stood out to the team as a perfect match,” says Zach Rash, co-founder and CEO of Coco, via a release. “Austin’s entrepreneurial spirit, top-notch food scene, and commitment to supporting small businesses makes it an ideal fit for Coco.”

Here’s how it works: Customers place a restaurant order like usual, then a Coco bot — operated by a “trained pilot” — drives to the restaurant to pick it up. The restaurant staff loads the bot as soon as the food is ready, and Coco arrives at the customer’s door within 15 minutes. Each bot is locked until it reaches the customer, so no one can tamper with your pizza or egg rolls.

A robot dog showing off capabilities during testing in Lorton, Virginia.

The American Southwest is a region that blends a harsh landscape, temperature extremes and various other non-environmental threats that can create dangerous obstacles for those who patrol the border. The territory is vast and monitoring it is critical to our nation’s security. That’s why the Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) is offering U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) a helping hand (or “paw”) with new technology that can assist with enhancing the capabilities of CBP personnel, while simultaneously increasing their safety downrange.

S&T has a deep understanding of CBP’s technology needs in the field. In its role as the research and development arm of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), S&T is always identifying solutions to support the complex CBP mission. For instance, S&T is currently supplementing CBP’s bipedal human personnel with quadruped mechanical reinforcements to help the agency better allocate resources. In this case, Man’s best friend comes with a very futuristic twist.

“The southern border can be an inhospitable place for man and beast, and that is exactly why a machine may excel there,” said S&T program manager, Brenda Long. “This S&T-led initiative focuses on Automated Ground Surveillance Vehicles, or what we call ‘AGSVs.’ Essentially, the AGSV program is all about…robot dogs.”