Robot News: The ANYmal Robot Is Incredibly Talented at Getting Around!
The ANYmal is an impressive feat of modern robotics. It is hard to believe how far we have come in regard to this field. Thinking about to the most basic robots I remember hitting the market I do recall when the iRobot released a robotic vacume cleaner which used motion sensors to get around, I was amazed. Going back even further I can only remember that robots were something out of science fiction movies like Star Wars with the adorable R2D2 and C3PO. Boy have things changed!
Can you believe how far robots have come in this decade alone! They used to be a thing of sci-fi and had no place in the world other than the odd factory here or there. Now they are being used for all sorts of things and a team in Zurich has recently come as far as to make one that can summon lifts and use them to travel to distant floors of office buildings!
Get a look at this new robot here if you don't believe me:
I learned about this new development from an article published in The Verge entitled 'I could watch this well-organized robot summon an elevator all day.'
A few interesting points were made in this article that I would like to comment on...
The robot in this video is the Anymal, a quadruped bot built by ETH Zurich. (It looks similar to some of Boston Dynamic’s creations, but that’s just because four legs is a good model for building stable robots. Even when they break down, they’re still left standing up.) The video above is just a tiny update on the bot’s progress, but it’s been under development for more than a year now, with ETH hoping it will one day be used for tasks like search and rescue.
The first thing I thought when I watched the video was that this new robot looked extremely similar to one I had seen developed by Boston Dynamics. I believe the army has had access to a similar model of robot for quite some time now. Apparently getting robots to walk and balance themselves is a lot harder than we would normally think.
And although, yes, it seems odd to laud a 12-second video, creating robots that can navigate indoor spaces is pretty essential. We shouldn’t have to build an entirely new infrastructure for future robots doing things like making deliveries in buildings, or helping the elderly. They should adapt to our environments, not the other way round.
The potential for robotics applications in regard to navigating indoor spaces is huge and the company that wins this race may present an opportunity like amazon has done for online shopping. Be ready to put your money on the line folks!
Here's another video that shows a pretty impressive robot doing it's thing!
What do you guys think about lift taking robots like the ANYmal? Would you feel comfortable with these type of robots walking around your office place? Here's a chance for @Techblogger readers to chime in with opinions! Lets get a robo discussion going!
Source:
I could watch this well-organized robot summon an elevator all day - The Verge
Image Source:
The Verge
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thats so sick
What I really want to know is when I can get one of these to replace my dog :)
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You should watch the 'dog' episode of the Black Mirror series...
I saw it! Creepy stuff indeed!