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LAS VEGAS — CES 2024 featured a variety of rising applied sciences, from health units and videogames to autonomous autos. But robots all the time have a major presence within the sprawling exhibit halls.
The Robot Report visited quite a few cubicles within the Eureka Park part of CES, in addition to within the different targeted sections of the occasion. Here are some highlights from this week’s occasion:
Mobinn climbs stairway towards success
Mobinn is a Korean startup targeted on last-mile autonomous supply autos. While the idea of last-mile supply isn’t new, Mobinn demonstrated an modern wheeled robotic that may climb stairs.
The robotic is able to going up and down stairs by way of the implementation of compliant wheels. A self-leveling field on prime of the robotic retains the cargo degree, so your drinks and meals don’t spill out of their containers.
Glidance guides individuals with imaginative and prescient impairments
The newest prototype of the Glidance machine is absolutely purposeful for public demos and features a digital camera within the deal with and radar sensors within the base. | Credit: The Robot Report
RoboBusiness PitchFire 2023 winner Glidance additionally gained a CES 2024 Innovation Award and confirmed the most recent purposeful prototype of its Glide machine in its sales space. The robotic Glide guides sight-impaired people just like a information canine.
The startup is designing Glide to be reasonably priced and simple to discover ways to use when it begins delivery later this 12 months. I attempted Glide firsthand (whereas closing my eyes). The expertise was unimaginable, and I can solely think about how promising this expertise could be for a person with sight loss.
The crew at Glidance talked about to me that superstar Stevie Wonder got here to the Glidance sales space for a demo of the product throughout CES.
Unitree H1 humanoid steals the present
There had been two full-size humanoid robots at CES 2024.
Kepler Robotics had a stationary mannequin of the brand new Kepler Forerunner K1 in its Eureka Park sales space. The robotic consists of 14 linear-axis motors and 14 rotary-axis motors. Unfortunately, the corporate was unable to present stay demos of the Forerunner.
The Unitree H1 humanoid robotic makes use of sensors in its “head” to understand the world across the robotic because it navigates and avoids obstacles. | Credit: The Robot Report
The web influencer darling of CES needs to be the Unitree H1 humanoid, and the corporate was giving practically steady stay demos of the H1 at its sales space.
Kudos to the Unitree advertising and marketing crew for its now-infamous “kick the robotic” movies which were shared on social media over the previous six months. In the movies, H1 seems to be a strong humanoid platform with respectable steadiness and agility.
However, as a longtime robotics {industry} insider and skilled robotics purposes engineer, I assumed the Unitree H1 product demos at CES 2024 had been cringe-worthy, because the Unitree demo crew walked the H1 robotic into crowds of “web tech influencers” with their cameras ablaze.
The 150 lb. (68 kg) robotic danced with the general public inches away. A single tripping incident would have despatched the robotic tumbling into an harmless bystander and made on the spot headlines. It would have been a public relations catastrophe and a setback for the {industry}.
However, there’s no denying that the H1 was a crowd favourite at CES 2024, and the corporate and its robotic acquired numerous information media consideration.
Hyundai shows future mobility tech at CES 2024
Hyundai PnD Module idea
Hyundai obtained my vote as one of many industry-leading mobility and robotics leaders at CES 2024. It is the mother or father firm of Boston Dynamics, however at CES 2024, the Spot and Stretch robots performed minor roles in Hyundai’s story.
The firm had a number of large-scale cubicles exhibiting autonomy ideas for the longer term, together with autonomous mobility for each people and freight, in addition to a have a look at the way forward for autonomous building autos. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to witness both of the stay mobility demonstrations, however the Hyundai Construction Xite idea tractor was a formidable incarnation of autonomous building designs.
Hyundai offered an idea for the way forward for autonomous building gear with the show of the Construction Xite tractor (Editors word: for scale, the bucket arm is over 10 ft tall). | Credit: The Robot Report
AV24 rolls into the showroom
The Indy Autonomous Challenge (IAC) had a formidable sales space within the automotive corridor of CES 2024, surrounded by well-known model names. On show was a totally purposeful model of the latest AV24 autonomous racecar, exhibiting off the combination of a wholly new autonomy stack within the automobile.
The IAC has partnered with lots of the main automotive expertise firms to embed the most recent lidar, radar, imaginative and prescient, and GPS sensors throughout the automobile.
dSpace introduced an prolonged partnership with IAC that may ship digital twins of every college crew’s automobile together with digital twins of every of the race tracks. In flip, these will allow the groups to coach the AI drivers utterly in simulation after which port the AI fashions and drive code immediately the bodily race vehicles.
In addition, some sanctioned sim races are attainable later this 12 months, mentioned the IAC organizers.
Embodied AI shows up to date Moxie
The newest era of Moxie by Embodied AI was on show in Amazon’s sales space at CES. Embodied not too long ago introduced new tutoring performance with the most recent software program launch for Moxie, and it demonstrated the software program on the expo.
Amazon had a separate expo suite that featured all the bodily Amazon client and sensible house merchandise (Amazon Astro was noticeably absent from the show). Moxie entertained the gathered crowds because it demonstrated its interactivity.
Fingervision measures gripper power
My “Unknown Discovery” award of CES 2024 goes to a younger Japanese startup known as Fingervision. This was a serendipitous discovery of an innovation that makes use of tiny cameras constructed into the gripper fingers of an industrial robotic,
They present suggestions on the grip power and “slippage” of an merchandise held with the gripper. This is achieved by imaging the realm the place the fingers contact an object by way of an opaque floor. Thus the origin of the corporate identify.
The firm has deployed its first grippers into an software the place robots are selecting up fried hen nuggets and packaging them.
Honorable mentions from CES 2024
Gatik retains on trucking — autonomously
Gatik confirmed the third era of its on-road autonomous truck. The firm has made its mark on autonomous logistics by way of the deployment of driving algorithms that plans paths in order that the automobile solely makes right-hand turns, avoiding extra advanced and harmful left-hand turns.
Gatik first demonstrated absolutely driverless, freight-only business deliveries on the center mile with Walmart in 2021. Shortly after, it executed the primary absolutely driverless deployment for Canada’s largest retailer, Loblaw.
The firm additionally introduced a partnership with Goodyear tires to develop “Smart Tires” that may present real-time suggestions to the autonomous driver with knowledge in regards to the situation of the tires to assist preserve traction and management.
Bobcat Rogue X2 will get prepared to maneuver the earth
At CES 2024, Bobcat confirmed off an autonomous idea prototype, the Bobcat Rogue X2, at CES 2024. The all-electric, autonomous robotic is designed for dealing with materials motion and ground-altering operations at building, mining, and agriculture websites.
The design prototype of the Rogue X2 at CES had wheels somewhat than tracks, however manually pushed Bobcats could be geared up with tracks, so a manufacturing model of the Rogue might have related configurations.
Ottonomy IO companions with Harbor Lockers
Through a brand new partnership with Harbor Lockers, the most recent era of Ottobot can now be configured with a payload of Harbor Lockers. This consists of the Harbor Locker bodily locker infrastructure, in addition to the Harbor Locker software interface.
This is the primary time that Ottonomy is partnering with a third-party vendor to increase the autonomous last-mile supply resolution.
Lawn-mowing robots arrive in North America
CES is likely one of the world’s greatest client electronics exhibits. While The Robot Report doesn’t usually cowl client robotics, it’s notable that lawn-mowing robotics had been ubiquitous at CES this 12 months, with a dozen distributors exhibiting their autonomous techniques.
The European marketplace for client lawnmowers is already mature, however the North American market is within the early levels of adoption. Without testing all the completely different lawnmowing robots, it’s tough to find out the market leaders, however the two most promising options that I noticed on the present included the brand new Yarbo Lawn Mower and the most recent era of Navimow from Segway Robotics.
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