Consumer Robotics Show – TechCrunch

CES has all the time been a bizarre present for robotics. That’s not an indictment of the present itself, a lot as a touch upon the state of robotics typically. It’s true the group behind the present dropped the identify “Consumer Electronics Show” some variety of years in the past (a reality it continues to be very insistent about in its press supplies), however at its coronary heart the present continues to be very a lot about client applied sciences.

For robotics, client has been an exceedingly troublesome nut to crack, for causes of pricing, scalability and the final unpredictability of working in uncontrolled environments. In a lot the identical manner that the robotic vacuum has lengthy been the primary exception to that rule, robotic vacuums have been the one constant function on the present over the previous decade-plus.

Back in 2020 (the final time TechCrunch attended the present in individual), I wrote a chunk titled, “Companies take baby steps toward home robots at CES.” Fittingly (for causes that might be made clear beneath), the primary individual I quoted within the piece was Labrador Systems co-founder/CEO Mike Dooley, who informed me, “I believe there are fewer pretend robots this yr.”

“Fake” is, clearly, a loaded phrase on this — and nearly any — context. But it’s additionally not unsuitable. CES has been — and can proceed to be for the foreseeable future — a platform for pretend robotics. There are a lot of causes for this, however the primary one is easy: robots are a straightforward manner of visualizing sci-fi stuff. Robots, flying automobiles, house and now the metaverse. If you desire a shorthand manner of telling the world that your organization has its head within the clouds in probably the most pragmatic manner, you wheel out (or stroll out) a robotic.

They’ve been a typical fixture over time at press conferences from firms with an arguably restricted funding in actual robotics R&D. And there’s a giant, gaping gap between science fiction and that yr’s umpteenth robotic vacuum. What we’ve began to see is firms start to fill in that hole. Startups have performed an necessary function on this. But simply as necessary is the function performed by automotive firms.

In the lead as much as CES, I wrote a 10-year piece reflecting on the most important tendencies of CES 2012. One of the issues that struck me is the shift the present has made away from issues like handsets (Mobile World Congress has taken a whole lot of wind out of these sails) and towards different industries — mobility particularly. Carmakers have a giant function to play in all of this, each by way of how they use robotics within the manufacturing course of and in addition the function these applied sciences play in the way forward for the businesses — beginning with autonomous driving and shifting nicely past.

Image Credits: Hyundai

For these causes, I’m seemingly not shocking anybody by saying that the combined Hyundai/Boston Dynamics press conference grabbed the most important headlines from the robotics world. Tuesday evening’s present rode the road in an fascinating manner. As an organization, Boston Dynamics has all the time taken a practical method to robotics. Sure, they appear to be the stuff of science fiction to many, however the merchandise the corporate showcases are very actual.

It was a distinction from the kinds of fantastical ideas Hyundai put heart stage. Watching a video of Spot hanging out on Mars to function a real-world avatar for a household cruising by means of the metaverse was, in a phrase, unusual. Boston Dynamics has recommended many potential jobs for its quadrupedal robotic over time, however in some way, to the perfect of my data, Martian avatar hadn’t come up. I had the chance to ask founder Marc Raibert a few questions, and opened with that, asking how the Hyundai acquisition will affect what has been an aggressive — however sensible — method to creating robots.

Last evening’s presentation was a bit on the fantastical aspect.There was a sci-fi projection out into the long run. How profound an affect will the Hyundai acquisition have on Boston Dynamics’ roadmap going ahead?

It’s early days, six months. I’d say that, on the one hand, there appears to be a dedication at Hyundai for us to maintain doing what we’re doing. I believe you’re going see all of the issues we’re doing, actually in an enhanced state, proceed to go on. We’re going to do [Atlas, Stretch and Spot]. There’s extra funding going into there. Productization and analysis, within the case of Atlas. We’ll add further robots onto what I’ll name the Boston Dynamics aspect. While that’s occurring, we’re additionally constructing connections with Hyundai, and beginning some tasks […]

Hyundai is a giant firm. There are a whole lot of totally different sub-companies, however we’re speaking to all of them. We’re not precisely certain who all the interplay companions might be, however we’re planning to have a sturdy set of interactions. I don’t have any sense that Hyundai goes to come back in and say, ‘Stop being who you might be. Be one thing totally different.’ To the opposite, if something, they’ve been very keen about us persevering with. Although we’ve been making merchandise, we’ve additionally been an R&D firm for a very long time. I believe they see worth in that and they’ll proceed investing in that, so we will proceed the legacy, in addition to the industrial aspect of issues.

During the occasion, he was clearly having fun with himself. It is, in a whole lot of methods, a great place for a lifelong roboticist: abruptly seeing an entire inflow of sources from new company house owners trying to ship the moon and stars — or, on the very least, Mars. I do recognize Raibert’s off-handed point out that Mars continues to be a methods off for Spot.

Hyundai CES 2022 plug n drive

Image Credits: Hyundai

I had a follow-up query with Hyundai’s VP and head of Robotics Lab, Dong Jin Hyun, who stated, equally, that the Personal Mobility PnD plug and drive plaftform can be very a lot a “proposal/idea,” including that the corporate would “present the true purposes of PnD quickly.” For now, a minimum of, we’re caught with some far out movies.

Before we transfer on from Boston Dynamics utterly for the week, a enjoyable apart from Raibert. In the corporate’s previous flirations with the house/client market, “we even labored for years with Sony Aibo, making ones you’ve by no means seen, however had been extra succesful.” The newest Aibo was a really cool piece of equipment, however you’ve acquired to marvel how a pet Boston Dynamics canine would have regarded. Less cute and extra technologically spectacular, if I needed to guess. Hopefully it by no means acquired so far as determining the best way to open doorways.

As I discussed final week, the massive factor trendwise on the robotics entrance at CES are UV-C disinfecting robots. This makes a whole lot of sense on the face of it. It’s a method to leverage present indoor mapping/navigation applied sciences with a significant scorching button subject in the course of the pandemic. The record contains:

Image Credits: UBTech

  • ADIBOT, which is available in S (stationary) and A (autonomous) fashions. Of the latter, the corporate says, “ADIBOT-A is the fully-loaded autonomous disinfection answer that may be programmed and mapped to independently navigate one or a number of flooring plans. ADIBOT-S offers 360-degree radiant mild protection, highly effective UV-C disinfection, autonomous motion utilizing U-SLAM mapping, secured app, devoted server and cloud-based connectivity, automated recharging, and clever security options together with the usage of ‘danger mitigation’ cameras, PIR sensors.”
  • LG technically introduced the excitingly named Autonomous Robot With Disinfecting Light late final yr. “This autonomous UV robotic comes at a time when hygiene is of the best precedence for lodge friends, college students and restaurant prospects,” Robotics VP Roh Kyu-chan stated in a press release. “Consumers can have the peace of thoughts that the LG UV robotic will assist scale back their publicity to probably dangerous germs.”

John Deere acquires Bear Flag Robotics to speed up autonomous know-how on the farm. Image Credits: Bear Flag Robotics

John Deere additionally made headlines this week with the long-awaited arrival of its fully autonomous 8R tractor. The system, which options six pairs of stereo cameras, a pair of Nvidia Jetson modules and a GPS steering for absolutely automated operation, might be obtainable in choose components of the U.S. beginning this fall.

“This exact location-sensing know-how (already) allows farmers to position seeds, unfold vitamins and harvest their crops with out having to the touch the steering wheel,” CTO Jahmy Hindman stated in a launch. “Without this self-driving know-how, farming is extremely exhausting mentally and bodily. GPS know-how permits farmers to spend their time within the cab of a tractor wanting on the real-time information they’re accumulating in the course of the job they’re doing and making changes.”

Image Credits: Labrador Systems

Getting again to Mike Dooley, Labrador lastly confirmed off a manufacturing model of its assistance robot, Retriever. It’s one of many extra compelling dwelling robots I’ve seen in a while — specifically as a result of it offers with the very actual subject of serving to older and mobility impaired individuals stay on their very own. At its coronary heart, it’s a robotic shelf, however one that may probably provide a whole lot of help to individuals who need to maintain residing independently.

Labrador additionally used the chance to announce a $3.1 million seed, co-led by Amazon’s Alexa Fund and that iRobot Ventures.

I’m nonetheless crawling by means of the digital halls for extra fascinating robotics co’s this week, and count on just a few extra to trickle into subsequent week’s publication. In the meantime, a lightning spherical/stray ideas.

Image Credits: Yukai Engineering

  1. After being a mainstay for the final a number of CESes, there are not any robots on the Samsung press convention; the corporate seems to have pivoted totally to speaking about sustainability. I’m all for sustainability speak, clearly, however I do marvel what this implies for the corporate’s robotics ambitions. Frankly, I’ve by no means been totally certain how far the extends/prolonged past exhibiting off some cool demos.
  2. French (the place else) robotics agency Naïo showed off its winery robotic, TED, which its aiming to deploy in California fields. “Labor points and the necessity to scale back the usage of pesticides are international challenges,” COO Ingrid Sarlandie stated. “With its autonomous agricultural robots Oz, Dino and Ted, Naïo addresses these points to make sure a sustainable agricultural manufacturing in part with individuals and the setting.”
  3. Doosan introduced that it has bought 1,000 cobots and raised $33.7 million, because it confirmed off its new robotic digicam system. “We’re wanting ahead to expediting the expansion of our enterprise with the current funds raised,” stated CEO Junghoon Ryu, CEO at Doosan Robotics. “We will additional improve the competitiveness of recent merchandise and software program which might be mounted with our proprietary know-how and attempt to realize the place as primary market share holder within the international cobot market.”
  4. And, in fact, I’d be remise if I didn’t point out Amagami Ham Ham, the most recent robotic from Qoobo maker, Yukai Engineering. I’ll let this quote in regards to the finger-nibbling cat robotic converse for itself. The robotic makes use of a particular algorithm, “HAMgorithm,” to randomly choose from two dozen “nibbling patterns” to maintain customers . The firm is launching a crowdfunding marketing campaign for the robotic this spring.

Image Credits: Bryce Durbin/TechCrunch

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